On May 24, 2022, a gunman walked into Robb Elementary in Uvalde and opened fire in a classroom, killing 19 children and two teachers.
Since that day, the law enforcement response has been heavily scrutinized by the families of the victims, lawmakers, the media and the public at large. Not only has the response been scrutinized, but the handling of the investigation has as well.
Shortly after the shooting, media outlets from across the country, including KSAT, filed open records requests to obtain all documentation available to the public under the Open Records Act to help our audience better understand what happened that day. It resulted in a lawsuit to fight for the release of that information.
After more than two years, a judge recently ordered the City of Uvalde to release all of the bodycam footage, dashcam footage, 911 calls, radio transmissions and other documents relevant to the investigation.
Those records were released on Saturday.
KSAT has decided to publish most of the documentation we received to allow the public the opportunity to see what happened that day. The redactions in the documents, the blurring in the videos, and the editing of the audio were all done by the City of Uvalde and approved by the attorneys representing all of the media outlets. Out of respect to the families of the victims, KSAT has elected not to publish 911 calls from students inside the school.
While the video is difficult to watch and the audio difficult to hear, we made the decision to present everything to our audience as it was delivered to us. We believe the public has the right to know what happened that day.
A statement from Haynes Boone Media Law Chair Laura Prather, who is leading the litigation:
“We’re thankful the City of Uvalde is taking this step toward transparency. For more than two years, our Haynes Boone team has fought for the release of records related to the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary. We’re still waiting on Uvalde CISD, Uvalde County and Texas DPS to release dozens of interviews, hundreds of body camera videos and thousands of investigative files. Transparency is necessary to help Uvalde heal and allow us all to understand what happened and learn how to prevent future tragedies.”