UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Surveillance video from the Robb Elementary School hallway where police waited as a gunman opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom will be shown this weekend to residents of Uvalde, a Texas lawmaker leading an investigation into the massacre of 21 people said Tuesday.
The 77-minute video, which officials say ends before law enforcement finally breached classroom May 24, does not contain images of children. It has received renewed attention over the past week as anger mounts in Uvalde over an incomplete account about the slow police response and calls for accountability seven weeks after the worst school shooting in Texas history.
Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Republican leading an investigation into the shooting, tweeted that the video and findings from a preliminary report will be shown Sunday in Uvalde to residents and distributed publicly soon after.
“We feel strongly that members of the Uvalde community should have the opportunity to see the video and hear from us before they are made public,” Burrows tweeted.
Nineteen children were among the 21 people killed. Police waited more than an hour after the shooting began before confronting the gunman, who died.
Burrows said his committee has interviewed more than 40 people behind closed doors over the last several weeks, including law enforcement who were at the scene. He has defended the committee talking with witnesses in private to elicit more candor about what happened.
State police said last week that Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Busbee had objected to releasing the video. Busbee has not publicly addressed those claims and not returned messages seeking comment.