The mother of a 10-year-old girl killed in the Uvalde shooting was shoved by a Texas trooper when she tried to pick up her son so he could participate in a pacific protest against gun violence.
Ana Rodriguez was attempting to check her son out from Flores Elementary on 5 April when the unidentified trooper grabbed her by the arm and shoved her out of the building, NBC News reported.
Ms Rodriguez intended to pick up her son from school so he could join a protest on national gun violence walkout day. Other parents had arrived at the elementary school to remove their children from class and have them join the walkout.
During the altercation, Ms Rodriguez was holding a large picture of her daughter Maite, who was killed along with seventeen other students and two teachers after a gunman stormed inside Robb Elementary School on 24 May 2022.
Bodycam of the incident was released to ABC News on Friday following demands by Democrat San Antonio state Senator Roland Gutierrez. An investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety is now underway.
“When your daughter is murdered on school grounds, then you talk to me sir,” Ms Rodriguez is heard saying in the footage.
The incident sparked outrage online after Brett Cross, the father of another Uvalde fatal victim, posted cellphone footage of the moment the trooper forcibly removed Ms Rodriguez from the school lobby.
Pictures also shared by Mr Cross show Ms Rodriguez’s bruised arm, reportedly as a result of the confrontation with the state trooper.
“She [Rodriguez] had went in and they wouldn’t let her get her child, so she yelled for her son to walk out because they would not let her get her child and they pushed her out. And that is when I started filming,” Mr Cross told NBC News.
He added: “These children wanted to walk out because they are tired of being afraid to go to school ... she was trying to get her son. She was trying to get her son and they wouldn’t let her.”
“I think he should issue a public apology to her,” Mr Cross said. “She is left with bruises all over her arms and everything and he didn’t have to react that way.”
It comes as Uvalde law enforcement have faced backlash for their delayed response to the 2022 shooting.
According to an investigation from the Texas Tribune, police officers hesitated to enter the classroom where gunman Salvador Ramos was barricaded because they were afraid they were outgunned by his AR-15-style rifle.
The city of Uvalde said in a statement that the information in the Tribune report is “incomplete” and hasn’t been shared by the Uvalde County District Attorney with other city officials.
It took police more than an hour to locate and kill Ramos. They didn’t open a door into the classroom where gunman Salvador Ramo was hiding, believing it was locked.
The decision not to swiftly confront the shooter may have potentially delayed medical care to some of the survivors, and left Ramos in a classroom of panicked children for more than an hour before a Border Patrol SWAT team was able to arrive, then neutralise the gunman.
In August of 2022, Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo was fired. State officials had previously called Mr Arredondo’s leadership an “abject failure.”
