UVALDE, Texas — The Uvalde Police Department has turned over additional video footage from the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School following an audit of its records.
On Saturday, Uvalde city officials released a massive collection of audio and video recordings of the massacre–which left 19 students and two teachers dead–following a lawsuit brought by the Associated Press and multiple other news organizations.
The lawsuit came about after news outlets were repeatedly denied open records requests for body camera footage from officers who responded to the shooting. The delayed law enforcement response has been widely criticized after nearly 400 responding officers waited more than 70 minutes to confront the gunman.
A settlement was reached between the media organizations and the city, and Uvalde police agreed to turn over its files to city officials to be made available to the media.
After the footage was released, on Monday, UPD Chief Homer Delgado was made aware of claims by one of his officers that some of their body camera footage was not included. Delgado “immediately ordered a comprehensive audit” of the department’s servers to find any footage that was not turned over, according to a news release.
“During this extensive examination, several additional videos were discovered,” the release said. “Upon this discovery, UPD alerted District Attorney Christina Mitchell and provided her office with the additional footage for her review on Aug. 13.”
Mitchell is reviewing the footage “to determine whether it is needed for further investigation,” and the city is evaluating whether the footage will be released as part of the settlement.
The audit process remains ongoing, and it has prompted Delgado and other police officials to open an internal affairs investigation to “determine how this oversight occurred, who in UPD was responsible for the oversight, and what disciplinary actions are needed, if any,” the release said.
“Upon assuming the role of Chief of the Uvalde Police Department, I instituted the Guardian Initiative which, among other principles, promises full transparency to our community,” said Delgado in the release. “In the spirit of our ongoing commitment to full transparency, I have ordered an immediate review of all footage collection and storage protocols within UPD and will institute a new process to ensure our department lives to up the highest standards. The Uvalde community and the public deserve nothing less.”
Local, state and federal law enforcement have been under a lot of public scrutiny in the aftermath of the shooting, which remains one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Two Uvalde school officers were indicted on felony charges in June for their roles in the police response, and families of the victims have called for even more indictments.
