AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ state police chief mentioned Thursday that his division “didn’t fail” Uvalde in the course of the hesitant regulation enforcement response to the Robb Elementary Faculty capturing, as a Republican congressman joined indignant dad and mom of a number of the 19 kids killed within the Might assault in calling for him to resign.
Col. Steve McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, acknowledged errors by officers whereas a number of Uvalde households confronted him in Austin over a number of outrages: why police waited greater than 70 minutes earlier than getting into the fourth-grade classroom and killing the gunman, false and shifting accounts given by authorities, and information that stay withheld greater than 5 months later.
However McCraw defended his company, and through a gathering of the state’s Public Security Fee, made the case that failures uncovered to this point didn’t warrant his elimination whereas saying he was not shirking from accountability. Uvalde households bristled and requested how DPS couldn’t have failed, provided that troopers had been among the many first on the scene.
“I can let you know this proper now, DPS as an establishment, proper now, didn’t fail the neighborhood,” McCraw mentioned. “Plain and easy.”
Considerably, Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales mentioned for the primary time after the assembly that McCraw also needs to lose his job, changing into the primary main determine within the GOP to name for a change on the prime of Texas’ state police pressure. Gonzales, a former Navy officer, represents the sprawling South Texas district that features Uvalde.
“DPS Director McCraw ought to RESIGN instantly,” Gonzales tweeted. His workplace has not responded to a message looking for additional remark Thursday.
McCraw mentioned a felony investigation into the police response to the capturing led by Texas Rangers could be wrapped up by the top of the 12 months and turned over to prosecutors. He supplied no indication as as to if the findings would end in prices towards any of the almost 400 officers who went to the varsity the place two academics had been additionally killed. Two officers have been fired in response to their actions on the scene and others have been positioned on depart.
The assembly Thursday at Texas state police headquarters was the primary public replace on Uvalde in weeks, though little new data was revealed. McCraw and Uvalde households addressed the state’s four-member public security fee, which oversees Texas state police.
Every of the board members had been appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a longtime supporter of McCraw. The board didn’t ask McCraw any questions on Uvalde earlier than transferring on to different enterprise.
Households of youngsters killed within the assault have spent months accusing the Division of Public Security of slow-walking the investigation, withholding data and making an attempt to reduce its accountability. There have been 91 state troopers on the scene, together with some that physique digicam later revealed had been among the many first officers to reach.
Final week, the division fired one in all seven troopers topic to an inner investigation into their actions throughout one of many deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. historical past.
Jesse Rizzo, whose 9-year-old niece Jacklyn Cazares was among the many victims, mentioned deceptive and false feedback from authorities concerning the police response has compounded the small city’s grief and eroded belief in regulation enforcement.
“The aftermath that got here after that was completely unacceptable, hurtful, painful,” Rizzo mentioned. “Each single time appeared like lie after lie, disinformation.”
McCraw on Thursday apologized for the division initially saying that the gunman had been capable of acquire entry to the varsity as a result of a instructor had propped open an exterior door with a rock. The instructor had gone again and shut the door, but it surely didn’t lock.
McCraw insisted his division “didn’t fail the neighborhood,” drawing condemnation from the assembled Uvalde households.
“If you happen to’re a person of your phrase then you definately would retire,” Brett Cross, the uncle of 10-year-old sufferer Uziyah Garcia, informed McCraw. “However sadly it doesn’t look like you’re going to do this since you hold speaking in circles.”
One other of the state troopers underneath inner investigation was Crimson Elizondo, who resigned and later was employed by Uvalde faculties to work as a campus police officer. She was fired lower than 24 hours after outraged dad and mom in Uvalde discovered about her hiring.
Related Press author Jake Bleiberg contributed from Dallas.