Newly released body-camera footage from last year’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde shows police officers sobbing and vomiting after entering one of the classrooms and seeing the bloodied bodies of the young students.
The footage was broadcast on CNN on Sunday ahead of the one-year anniversary of the 24 May 2022 massacre. It shows the officers in the school as the sound of gunfire from law enforcement and the gunman rings out.
Police then enter the classroom, after which the footage shows a number of officers vomiting outside as some were sobbing and holding each other. The footage also showed a shaking officer trying to clean blood from his hands.
The footage broadcast by CNN was approved by the parents of the victims, as they hoped that showing the footage would spur action to prevent future shootings.
District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee has blocked the footage from being released to the public until she’s done with her inquiry, prompting CNN, who got access to the footage, to share it with the parents.
CNN said it’s not its role to “give material directly to families” but the network added that “knowing that the families – along with other media organizations – were being blocked from records that would normally be public, CNN made the exceptional decision to let the families watch”.
The mothers of five survivors of the shooting wanted to see the footage of what their children went through in Uvalde, Texas.
Kassandra Chavez told CNN: “We have to see it. We really do.”
The children and their fathers were elsewhere as the five mothers gathered around a laptop to see the footage.
Miguel Cerrillo, whose daughter Miah called 911, proving that police knew about the children being trapped with the shooter about 40 minutes before law enforcement entered the classroom, said he also wanted to see the footage.
“I just want to see the big picture of it, exactly what she went through, where she was at,” he said. “I want to see … how they suffered and why they suffered so long.”
Police said after the shooting that when law enforcement entered the classroom, the shooter came out of a closet firing at the officers, who shot and killed him.
Offices were in the hallway as children started to come out of the classrooms.
“Kids! Kids! Kids!” one officer yells. “Hands up, hands up!”
There’s then a call for everyone to stop and be silent before the shouting resumes, calling for the EMTs to get access.
One individual is dragged by their arms through the hallway while some are carried or pulled.
The children, screaming and bloody, are told to “Move! Move! Move!”
One child is carried in the arms of an officer while another is carried over the shoulder of one of the intervening members of law enforcement.
The parents recognized their kids during the viewing with CNN.
“There’s Jaydien, there’s AJ, Khloie, Miah,” they said.
