UVALDE, Texas – Watching the footage of the failures unfolding on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School is frustrating and infuriating for family members like Jesse Rizo.
“The people that ultimately paid the price were the children and the teachers,” Rizo said. “My niece was there; she still had a pulse when they pulled her out; she could have lived.”
It took more than an hour for law enforcement to confront the shooter who killed 19 kids and two teachers.
Getting all of the City of Uvalde’s records from that day took a court order and more than two years.
In August, the city released hundreds of calls, texts, 911 calls, and videos—but not everything. Within days, a Uvalde police officer reported to the department that his footage was not included.
After an audit, which led to a Uvalde sergeant retiring, the city released 49 additional clips on Tuesday.
“What do you think about the fact that it took so long to get this second batch of videos?” asked KSAT reporter Daniela Ibarra.
“It’s disturbing,’ said Rizo. “It’s like— it’s almost like torture, insult to the families.”
Brett Cross, guardian to Uvalde shooting victim Uziyah Garcia, is highly critical of the law enforcement’s response. He said the videos are proof of the failures.
“They could have prevented it, they could have stopped it,” Cross said. “They could have saved a lot of the kids. But they didn’t.”
The footage is difficult footage to watch, but Cross and Rizo hope people see it all.
“I think that the whole world needs to see the failures that happened that day,” Cross said.
The City of Uvalde is the first entity to release records from the massacre. Uvalde CISD, the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety continue to fight against any release of their records.
