The public release of the report came as a joint committee of the Texas Legislature met Sunday afternoon with the families of the victims and days after security video from Robb Elementary School showing the delayed police response to the attack was leaked and obtained by two Texas News Media. The committee’s report detailed gaps in preparation, training and judgment in the police response to one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. “It’s a joke. Texas has failed the students. Law enforcement has failed the students. Our government has failed the students. What else do you want me to say? The truth is out there. Everyone saw the truth,” Vincent Salazar, whose 11-year-old-great-granddaughter, Layla Salazar, was killed in the attack, she told ABC News. Salazar said he was not going to attend the meeting with the committee at Uvalde Junior College and was only there to get a copy of the report to take home and read thoroughly. He said he believes the killer should never have entered the school, let alone be allowed nearly 77 minutes to kill as dozens of state, federal and local police officers waited in the hallway outside the classrooms where the gunman was hiding. “If I were those officers, I would run out of town,” Salazar said. “They don’t deserve to be here.” Sergio Garcia, whose 10-year-old son, Uziyah Sergio Garcia, was also killed in the mass shooting, agreed. “I get paid at my job to do my job. If I wasn’t doing my job, I wouldn’t be working,” Garcia told reporters on Sunday. “Now, they took an oath, they had a badge, they had unlimited resources, and they have to pay for what they didn’t do.” Garcia said he was “mad at everyone” who appeared to do nothing to save the 19 children and two teachers from being killed. “In some schools, they have police, sheriffs out front. Why don’t they protect our kids like they protect money in a vault in a bank?” Garcia said. “Our children are more valuable than this money. This is not the first time a school has been shot up and children have lost their lives. This has to be the last time this happens. It should not happen anymore. Nobody should go never through it.” Surveillance video was released on July 12, 2022, from the May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Picked up by KVUE The report describes the most complete portrait yet of the massacre, detailing a series of “defects and failures by the Uvalde Unified Independent School District and various agencies and law enforcement officers.” But committee members said they don’t know whether a faster or more competent response could have saved lives in the face of a heavily armed gunman who appeared determined to kill everyone in sight with a high-powered assault rifle. In addition to releasing its report, the committee released video footage of the police response inside the schools. The official release of the video comes after footage from inside the school as the attack unfolded was leaked and obtained by Austin ABC affiliate KVUE and the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. KVUE released a statement, saying it and the Austin-Statesman chose to release this video “to provide transparency to the community, showing what happened as officials waited to enter this classroom.” KVUE and the American-Statesman both released an edited, never-before-seen portion of the video Tuesday, ahead of the video’s scheduled release Sunday by state lawmakers. Outlets also released the unedited 77-minute version footage online. Uvalde:365 is an ongoing ABC News series reported from Uvalde that focuses on the Texas community and how it develops in the shadow of tragedy. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin expressed outrage that the video was leaked and aired before the families had a chance to review it. After Sunday’s meeting, committee members held a news conference to discuss their report and were met with anger and confusion from the families and friends of those killed and injured in the shooting. Surveillance video was released on July 12, 2022, from the May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Picked up by KVUE During the Q&A portion of the news conference, the panel was asked to consider why there was so much confusion in the days and weeks following the shooting and why certain information was withheld from families for hours or even days. Rep. Joe Moody, who, during an emotional opening speech at the start of the press conference, addressed the loss in the fatal shooting in El Paso, told ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal that the failure to share accurate information with families in a timely manner is hurting the situation and it would be a big obstacle to move forward. Rep. Dustin Burrows, the committee’s chairman, said the committee had planned to give families a chance to view the video in person before it was made public and expressed disappointment that the two media outlets were preempting those plans. The leak of the video angered some members of the victim’s family. Some saw it as the latest source of frustration with the investigation, which has included inaccurate information from investigators and elected leaders, including an initial statement by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that school police immediately engaged the gunman before he entered the school. Abbott later said he was “misled” about the circumstances of the shooting. “They shouldn’t have done it without our consent,” Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jackie, was killed in the attack, told ABC News after the video leaked. Many of the families met with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday as the video aired on television and online. Despite family members and some elected leaders, including Abbott, repeatedly asking for the video to be released, the local district attorney denied the requests. “We’ve been asking the DA for this video for a while and she refused to let us see it,” Nikki Cross, the aunt of 10-year-old Uzija Garcia, who was killed in the rampage, told ABC News. “So, once again, people saw it in front of us. Just like the day of the shooting when Governor Abbott announced to you all that our children are dead and we have no idea. It’s like we’re reliving that day all over again .” Christina Mitchell Busbee — the 38th district attorney, whose jurisdiction includes Uvalde County — defended her now-overruled decision not to release the video in a weekend interview with the Uvalde Leader-News, saying the move threatens to jeopardize the investigation. which she said is ongoing and could lead to possible criminal charges if anyone is found to have helped the suspect plan the attack. “My goal is to ensure justice for the victims, their families and the citizens of the 38th Judicial District,” Busby told the newspaper. “This goal cannot be achieved without a thorough investigation supported by fairness, integrity and impartiality free from politics and media pressure.” Burrows said the commission’s release of the video and report is intended to provide transparency to the victims’ families, despite direction from the local district attorney that the footage remain secret. Surveillance video was released on July 12, 2022, from the May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Picked up by KVUE Video released by news outlets and now released by the committee, including police body camera footage and footage from a surveillance camera mounted in a school hallway, shows dozens of officers waiting in the hallway outside adjacent classrooms. gunman carried out the mass shooting. The officers — including some in body armor, wearing tactical body armor and armed with high-powered rifles — did not breach the order for more than 70 minutes, even as additional volleys of gunfire could be heard on video from the orders 45 minutes after she arrived. police at the scene, the video released by the news organizations shows. A mourner visits a memorial at Robb Elementary as the Texas Brown Berets prepare to march with family members of those killed and injured in the school shooting at Robb Elementary, Sunday, July 10, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. AP Photo/Eric Gay “The report says that if you’re not willing to put the lives of the people you serve, these children above your own, in my view, you should find another job,” said the panel member and former Supreme Court justice. Texas Court, Eva Guzman. Press conference. The video began by showing the 18-year-old suspect, wearing tactical gear and holding a high-powered AR-15-style weapon, walking into the school unharmed at 11:33 a.m. of May 24 and walk down the hall to classes. A barrage of gunfire was heard on the video immediately after the gunman entered the school. Three minutes after the gunman entered the school, three police officers, wearing bulletproof vests and guns drawn, were seen running down the hallway toward the classrooms where the gunman was hiding, while at least four other officers entered the school and took cover, the video shows. Moments later, the three officers who attacked the hallway are seen on video retreating after being shot. Police eventually burst into the classroom and killed the gunman 77 minutes after he entered the school, authorities said. ABC News’ Ali Dukakis contributed to this report.
