The Uvalde Police Department has not been cooperating with a Texas House committee investigating that school shooting last month, according to a state lawmaker.
Police were asked to appear before the three-person committee that is in the city to collect testimony about the bloody mass shooting that killed 22, including the shooter, but so far, they have not voluntarily agreed to appear, state Rep. Dustin Burrows said.
“The House Committee is simply seeking the truth. Most have fully cooperated and want to help determine the facts for the Uvalde community and all Texans. I do not understand why Uvalde PD, who routinely questions witnesses itself, would not want the same,” he tweeted Thursday.
UVALDE WON’T RELEASE RECORDS OR BODYCAM FOOTAGE UNTIL INVESTIGATIONS COMPLETE
Teachers Yvette Silva and Mercedes Salas, Officer Ruby Gonzalez, Lt. Mike Hernandez, and Officer Adrian Gonzales appeared on the witness list for the Friday hearing, Houston-based reporter Cheryl Mercedes said. The three officers were the members of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, according to reporter Chuck Lindell.
Burrows had told reporters during a hearing Thursday that the UCISD was being cooperative but was less certain about the Uvalde Police Department.
“The Uvalde [C]ISD Police Department is being cooperative. We look forward to their testimony. We are very appreciative of that. There is a question mark about the Uvalde Police Department itself, about whether or not they will visit with us voluntarily, and we will see if they do that or not,” he said.
CONFIRMED: The TX House committee investigating response to the school massacre at Robb Elementary has asked Uvalde PD to appear today at city hall.
But so far they’re not cooperating, not on today’s witness list.
“We’ll see if they show up,” state Rep. Dustin Burrows tells me https://t.co/Fa11DsrB75
— Brian Chasnoff (@bchasnoff) June 17, 2022
The committee lacks subpoena power, according to a local reporter.
Police Chief for UCISD Pete Arredondo, who has attracted criticism for apparent communication problems when a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School, was notably absent from the hearing Friday as well. Arredondo is believed to have been the commanding officer on the scene on May 24 while police waited over 40 minutes outside a classroom with the shooter as schoolchildren were on the phone with police begging for help. One state senator has since said that Arredondo was not aware of those phone calls at the time.
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Lawmakers toured the school where the shooting took place prior to the hearing Friday, according to the San Antonio Express. They reportedly collected over seven hours of testimony from witnesses during a Thursday session, including from the school principal.
Two teachers and 19 schoolchildren were gunned down in the massacre that took place last month, marking the deadliest school shooting since 2012 in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. The incident prompted renewed discussions about gun laws in the United States and has led to negotiations in Congress about reforms to gun laws.
