Uvalde mayor backs plan to release videos from school hallway showing police response to massacre

‘Vast array’ of yet-to-be-released footage would provide greater transparency, mayor says

Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin is backing calls to release hallway video and police body cam footage that he says will show city police were not the only armed officers inside the school.

Mr McLaughlin has been in a war of words with investigators over the circumstances of the 24 May mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 21 dead, including 19 fourth grade students.

In a statement on Saturday, he said there was a “vast array” of yet-to-be-released footage that would contradict claims that officers from the Uvalde Police Department were the sole armed officers responding to the threat.

Mr McLaughin said the release of the video would help the grieving families and provide greater transparency.

On Friday, the mayor disputed a report that alleged officers missed the chance to quickly end the massacre at a Texas elementary school and that one officer saw the gunman outside of the school prior to the attack but failed to take action.

The mayor’s comments are the latest salvo between Uvalde officials and the state, particularly the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which had troopers on the scene and has directed much of the blame to the local school district police chief.

The new report was requested by DPS, and the findings were similar to the narrative that leaders of the state police force have previously given publicly.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin at a city meeting in June ( Associated Press)

Mr McLaughlin previously accused DPS of publicly giving an incomplete and one-sided account at the same time he says local officials have been instructed to not divulge information while the investigation is ongoing.

Colonel Steve McCraw, who heads DPS, has largely blamed the inaction by law enforcement on Uvlade School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, describing him as the incident commander during the shooting.

The differing accounts and public rebuke of the report by Mr McLaughlin reiterated how, more than six weeks after the shooting, questions remain over why police armed with rifles and bulletproof shields waited more than an hour before confronting the gunman.

It is yet to be determined when the video will be released.

Associated Press contributed to this report