Although a Texas state legislator on Monday said he will make sure the public gets to see a surveillance video from Robb Elementary School during May’s school shooting, the local official who must OK releasing the video apparently refuses to do so.
The battle pits Republican state Rep. Dustin Burrows and Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who want the video released, against Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee, who has rejected such calls, according to USA Today.
On Monday, Burrows said the video would be released.
“This video would be of the hallway footage from the Robb Elementary School,” he said, according to CBS. “It would contain no graphic images or depictions of violence. It would literally begin after the shooter enters the room and end before a breach of that room. The Department of Public Safety and the mayor of Uvalde have both agreed to that.”
“And the basis of I can tell people all day long what it is I saw the committee can tell people all day long what we saw, but it’s very different to see it for yourself. And 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,” he said.
But Freeman Martin, Texas Department of Public Safety deputy director of homeland security operations, notified Burrows of Busbee’s opposition.
Busbee “has objected to releasing the video and has instructed us not to do so. As the individual with authority to consider whether any criminal prosecution should result from the events in Uvalde, we are guided by her professional judgment regarding the potential impact of releasing the video,” Martin wrote.
Burrows later told ABC, “We’re still working on getting the video released, but no agreements.”
Burrows said he would “continue to put pressure on the situation and consider all options in making sure that video gets out for the public to view.”
Should the video be released?
Yes: 100% (3 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
The video in question is a surveillance video from a hallway outside the classrooms where 19 children and two adults were killed. The video could help settle issues related to conflicting accounts of what took place in the time from when gunman Salvador Ramos entered the school until a group of federal agents formed a SWAT team to enter the classroom and kill Ramos.
McLaughlin told ABC that the video would “contradict misconceptions that Uvalde police were the only ones inside with weapons,” and releasing the tape would “provide transparency to everyone.”
“I can tell people all day long what it is I saw, the committee can tell people all day long what we saw, but it’s very different to see it for yourself,” Burrows said. “And we think that’s very important.”
The video is “wrenching,” Tony Plohetski, a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman who has watched the surveillance footage told CNN.
Not long after the video begins, “you hear a hail of gunfire,” Plohetski said.
He said there is later an exchange of gunfire involving officers gathered in the hallway.
“You see the police officers actually getting blown back. One of them actually touches his head,” he said.
“Essentially they stand there for an hour as these minutes tick by,” he said. “It’s not until 12:50 that we then see those police officers move to that classroom, breach the door, and take down the gunman.”
He said the video may help determine who actually did what.
“As to why it was handled the way it did and why the police did not move with a greater sense of urgency, I don’t think we’ve gotten to the truth of that yet,” he said. “This video, once it is finally made public, is going to be very disturbing to many people and, I think, really deepen the tragedy that happened that day.”
