The law-enforcement sideshow related to the school shooting in Texas continues to unfurl a week after the attack in Uvalde that killed 19 children and two adults.
On Tuesday, ABC News reported that the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety investigation into the shooting. The decision reportedly came soon after DPS director Colonel Steven McCraw stated at a news conference on Friday that Pete Arredondo, the police chief of Uvalde schools, decided to delay police entering the classroom the shooter had locked himself into was “the wrong decision” and did not follow protocol.
In a statement released Wednesday, however, superintendent Hal Harrell seemed to push back against the characterization by ABC News. “UCISD has and will continue to work with law enforcement who are investigating the event and realize that many questions remain,” Harrell said. “Because the investigation is ongoing and information is evolving, we are going to reserve comment until all state and federal agencies have completed their review.”
Either way, Arredondo has yet to make himself available for a follow-up interview with investigators, according to the New York Times.
Although McCraw’s press conference seemed to set the record straight after days of contradictory or false statements from officials, some details of the attack are still in flux. Officials initially reported that the gunman had entered the school through an unlocked door, then that the door had been propped open by a teacher to call 911. But on Tuesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety stated that the teacher, who has not been named, did close the door behind her, though it did not lock. “We did verify she closed the door,” said a DPS official. “We know that much, and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock.”
As the authorities in Texas squabble, the Department of Justice is investigating their response upon request from Uvalde’s mayor.
More on the Texas School Shooting
- Dianne Feinstein, the Institutionalist
- Uvalde Schools Just Suspended All Their Cowardly Cops
- New Timeline Shows Uvalde Police Could Have Stopped Massacre in Minutes
