Newly released records by the city of Uvalde are offering another devastating glimpse into the deadly mass school shooting that unfolded on 24 May 2022.
On Saturday, following a years-long lawsuit brought forth by the Associated Press and other news organizations over Uvalde officials’ refusal to publicly disclose records related to the Robb elementary school shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead, city officials released a trove of records including 911 calls, text messages, body camera footage and surveillance videos.
Among the released recordings is a 911 call from then fourth-grade Khloie Torres who was trapped with the shooter in the classroom and ultimately survived.
According to the recording which was reviewed by the Associated Press, Torres could be heard telling the operator, “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh my god.”
Upon being asked if there are many people in the room with her, Torres replied, “No, it’s just me and a couple of friends. A lot of people are gone.”
In another recording reviewed by KHOU, an adult from inside a classroom could be heard begging police to “hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry”.
On 24 May, 376 law enforcement officers took more than 70 minutes to apprehend the shooter in the classroom, in turn prompting widespread criticism from families and the justice department over their delayed response.
Following the release of a federal report on the shooting earlier this year, the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, said that “the law enforcement response at Robb elementary school … and then the hours and days after, was a failure that should not have happened.”
In its report, the justice department said that authorities had “demonstrated no urgency” and had a series of mishaps including a “haphazard” initial response, delays in setting up a command post, and not immediately addressing the attack as an active shooter situation.
Meanwhile, in another 911 call, the uncle of the shooter, identified as 18-year old Salvador Ramos, could be heard begging police to let him try and speak to his nephew.
“Maybe he could listen to me, because he does listen to me. Everything I tell him he does listen to me,” said the man who identified himself as Armando Ramos.
“Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in,” Ramos said, adding. “Oh my god, please, please don’t do nothing stupid.”
Ramos, who said his nephew stayed with him in his bedroom all night and told him that he was upset because his grandmother was “bugging” him, went on to add, “I think he’s shooting kids.”
Also among Saturday’s released records are text messages between officers who expressed worries over their safety following widespread criticisms of their delayed response.
According to one group chat reviewed by CNN, someone wrote, “the DPS director [director of public safety] just through [sic] everyone under the bus..!!!”
Another officer wrote, “Is there a way to get our pictures of the PD website for our safety..?..take the website down.”
In one text message, the police chief wrote, “staff is asking if we can take their photos down from our fb (Facebook) page,” adding, “Command staff is worried.”
In response to the release of the records, families of the victims are expressing frustrations over how long it has taken for the city to release them.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Brett Cross, the uncle of 10-year old Uziyah Garcia who was killed during the shooting, said, “If we thought we could get anything we wanted, we’d ask for a time machine to go back … and save our children, but we can’t, so all we are asking for is for justice, accountability and transparency, and they refuse to give this to us.”
Similarly, Jesse Rizo, the uncle of nine-year old Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares who was also killed during the shooting, said that the records’ release is refueling anger as it shows the “waiting and waiting and waiting” of law enforcement.
“Perhaps if they were to have breached earlier, they would have saved some lives, including my niece’s,” he told the Associated Press.
