AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time since the May 24 shooting, the public can now see portions of video from the scene of the Uvalde shooting, including the first ever images of the shooter carrying out the attack, after the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV published footage Tuesday.
The video, abridged and edited to removed children’s screams, depict how police amassed inside Robb Elementary School three minutes after the gunman entered, but failed to take action for more than an hour, defying active shooter training that calls on law enforcement officers to take out a threat even at the cost of their own lives.
The footage also has sound of the shooter firing dozens of shots just after entering a classroom, committing a mass shooting that ultimately claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers.
The publication of the video comes as the chairman of a Texas House committee investigating the Uvalde school shooting indicated Tuesday that he would defy a local district attorney and release video from within Robb Elementary School to the public.
Lubbock Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows said on Twitter that he plans to show the more than hourlong video to victims’ families before releasing it to the public Sunday. The video depicts law enforcement in hallways of the school, but has been edited to remove footage of the shooter opening fire and police charging the 18-year-old gunman.
After the footage was published Tuesday, Burrows said he was glad some of the footage was available to the public, but that “watching the entire segment of law enforcement’s response, or lack thereof, is also important.”
“I am also disappointed the victim’s families and the Uvalde community’s requests to watch the video first, and not have certain images and audio of the violence, were not achieved,” he said on Twitter.
Burrows appears poised to defy Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee, who has barred the release of any video footage from the shooting citing an ongoing investigation. A chorus of state lawmakers, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have called on Busbee to release the video.
Burrows said on Twitter he would hold a meeting at 2 p.m. Sunday in Uvalde with victims’ families and then, at some point later that day, release the video to the public.
“We feel strongly that members of the Uvalde community should have the opportunity to see the video and hear from us before they are made public,” Burrows said on Twitter.
At a meeting of the House investigative committee into the shooting in Austin on Monday, Burrows stressed the need for the public to see the video to answer lingering questions about why police waited more than an hour to confront the 18-year-old gunman while he was inside a classroom with children.
“The committee can tell people all day long what we saw, but it’s very different to see it for yourself,” Burrows said Monday. “We think that’s very important, and we’ll continue to put pressure on the situation and consider all options in making sure that video gets out for the public to view.”
The video’s release will coincide with the publication of an initial report the committee is preparing on the shooting. The bipartisan panel including a former Texas Supreme Court judge has interviewed nearly 40 witnesses from Uvalde law enforcement, Uvalde schools and the Texas Department of Public Safety since it first met more than a month ago.
