(UVALDE, Texas) — State and local officials have agreed to release surveillance footage from inside the hallway of Robb Elementary School during the May 24 mass shooting that ended the lives of 19 students and two teachers, a key Texas state legislator said Monday.
The development appears to end a weeks-long dispute between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the mayor of Uvalde over how to handle the sensitive video, although it is not clear when the video will be made public.
The public back-and-forth ultimately became a source of conflict between some family members of the victims and officials who claimed to represent their interests.
At a Monday hearing in Austin, Rep. Dustin Burrows, the chairman of a special Texas House panel investigating the Robb shooting, said the video “would contain no graphic images or depictions of violence,” but supported releasing footage of the police response to help the public better understand what happened inside the school.
“I can tell people all day long what it is I saw, the committee can tell people all day long what we saw, but it’s very different to see it for yourself,” Burrows said. “And we think that’s very important.”
Burrows did not say when the video would be released, but committed to “continue to put pressure on the situation and consider all options in making sure that video gets out for the public to view.”
More than six weeks after the massacre, questions remain about the response of the police and the 77 minutes that elapsed between the time the shooter entered the school and when law enforcement breached the classroom and killed him.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.