“It’s just a never-ending pain, it’s just one thing after another,” said Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was killed. Rubio, along with other parents, was in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to meet with lawmakers. to tell our family back home so that our children (who) have cell phones don’t watch the news either.” The Austin American-Statesman newspaper, which published the leaked video, defended its decision, with executive editor Manny Garcia writing in an editorial: “We need to witness history, and transparency and continuous reporting is one way. to bring change”. The edited video shows the gunman entering the school and walking down the hall with a long rifle. The recording also shows officers approaching the classroom the gunman was in, but then retreating down the hall and hiding when shots are fired. It was more than an hour later before authorities confronted and killed the assailant. “This should have been over in 3 to 4 minutes,” Carrie Cordero, a CNN legal analyst and former counsel to the assistant US attorney general, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday, saying there was “no excuse” for the reason why the policemen repelled for so long. “We don’t know what was going through the minds of those officers who were in the corridor and decided not to act when there were children under fire — but from my perspective, everyone depicted in this video should be turned around. signal,” Cordero added. Live updates on the surveillance video
The families of the victims were outraged
Families in Washington expressed outrage that the video was released before those affected had a chance to see it firsthand. “We’re being blindsided by a leak,” said Angel Garza, whose 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo, was killed. “Who do you think you are to release videos like this of our children who can’t even speak for themselves, but you want to go ahead and broadcast their last moments to the entire world? What makes you think that’s okay? “The least you can do is have some freaking decency for us,” Garza said. Javier Cazares, the father of Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares, who was also killed, said he was preparing to view the video Sunday — as authorities had planned — when he suddenly learned of Tuesday’s release. “It’s been shown all over the world and we’re outraged,” Cazares said. “These families didn’t deserve this. I don’t deserve this. This is a slap in the face to our babies and we’re sick of it. We can’t trust anyone anymore. It’s aggravating.” Rubio said during the news conference that while she understood the media holding people responsible “because the government wasn’t transparent,” she said she didn’t want to hear the sound — especially gunfire — from that day. Gunshots can be heard in the edited parts of the video released by the newspaper. The newspaper said it removed the sound of the children’s screams from the video. Other parents took to social media to express their anger and urged others not to share the video online. In a statement, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said he was “angry” that a request by the victims’ families and the Uvalde community to view the video before it was released was not honored. “It is unbelievable that this video was published as part of a news story with images and audio of the violence of this incident without consideration of the families involved,” the mayor said. “I continue to stand by my statements that full transparency and respect for the families remains the priority in relation to this incident.”
Law enforcement experts were stunned
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steven McCraw, who has been heavily critical of law enforcement’s response to the attack, said in a statement Tuesday that he was “deeply disappointed” that the video was released before all of the affected families and the community of Uvalde. as part of the planned release. “Those most affected should have been among the first to see it,” McCraw said. “This video provides chilling evidence that law enforcement’s response to the attack at Robb Elementary on May 24th was an abject failure.” Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe described the law enforcement response as “an absolute mess” in terms of crisis management. “The state of Texas active shooter response to the officer training at the school, which every one of these officers should have received by now, makes it clear that you take everyone you’ve got when you get on the scene and go. That’s not what they did McCabe told CNN. “And then the mistakes compound from there, you see one after the other as we watch the video,” he added. Charles Ramsey, the former police commissioner of Philadelphia, said that during his tenure as commissioner, several police officers died in the line of duty, adding, “I know what heroism looks like and this is not it.” He said he felt “embarrassed as a police officer” after seeing the video, saying law enforcement should have regrouped and confronted the gunman sooner after the first officers came under fire. “You gotta do what you gotta do, period. That’s the job,” he added. “This isn’t a bounty job, you’re paid to do it and you volunteered to do it. You weren’t chosen to be a police officer. It’s part of what you do.” CNN’s Andy Rose and Mary Kay Mallonee contributed to this report.
