Texas DPS sends Uvalde DA initial report on school shooting investigation

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State police investigating the Uvalde school shooting have despatched an initial report to prosecutors, in keeping with a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The Texas Rangers, a division of DPS, are conducting a legal investigation into the shooting at Robb Elementary, the place a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two lecturers in May. Hundreds of legislation enforcement officers who responded to the school, together with these from DPS, did not confront the shooter for more than an hour after initial stories of pictures fired.

The district lawyer in Uvalde, Christina Mitchell, stated the Rangers’ investigation stays open and that she didn’t anticipate a whole report for not less than a couple of extra months. Neither she nor DPS have publicly launched the initial report but. The investigation is anticipated to ultimately embody a assessment about whether or not any victims who died may have survived had police intervened sooner.

DPS Director Steve McCraw stated final fall that the Rangers’ investigation would be completed by the end of December.

“The initial report is what the Director was referring to and that was made available to the DA’s team last week,” company spokesperson Travis Considine wrote in an electronic mail this week.

In earlier statements, Mitchell stated that she wants a accomplished investigation to make any choices about potential fees, together with in opposition to any of the practically 400 officers whose actions and inactions have been under scrutiny since the massacre, which was the deadliest school shooting in Texas historical past.

“I don’t expect to receive the complete investigation report until the spring, at the earliest,” Mitchell stated in an electronic mail final week. “It is not uncommon for an investigation of this magnitude to take over a year.”

Mitchell didn’t reply follow-up emails about what stories she has obtained from state police and what extra information she anticipated in a accomplished report.

“I will not comment any further on the Robb Elementary investigation being conducted by the Texas Rangers,” she wrote in an electronic mail. “Prosecutors do not comment on [on]going criminal investigations.”

At least one a part of the investigation has not but been accomplished.

A medical analysis of victims’ injuries — led by Dr. Mark Escott, medical director for the Texas Department of Public Safety and chief medical officer for town of Austin — to “determine whether there may have been opportunities to save lives had emergency medical care been provided sooner” remained underway as of Tuesday, a metropolis of Austin spokesperson stated.

That assessment started in earnest round November. Autopsies of the victims, key for the examination, have been accomplished a couple of weeks in the past. The outcomes of the autopsies have since been sealed, in keeping with local news reports.

Considine, the DPS spokesperson, stated the general investigation is taken into account ongoing — and the report is initial quite than closing — as a result of “Rangers may receive assignments from special prosecutors for some time, which would lead to additional information.”

He didn’t reply follow-up questions on whether or not any particular prosecutors have been overseeing the Uvalde investigation and, in that case, whether or not they had given Rangers any assignments.

Numerous variables may have an effect on the time it takes to finish a high-profile investigation as complicated because the one relating to the Uvalde shooting, the place a whole bunch first responders — many with physique cameras — have been at a scene that has largely been defined by chaos and disorder, in keeping with legislation enforcement consultants.

“This is a massive level of officers that were involved in this, that were staged up and responded, and then you have all the families, you have all the 911 calls, the video footage. There’s an incredible amount of data that has to be gone through in this particular case,” stated Pat McLaughlin, a former crime scene specialist for the New York Police Department who retired in 2017. “Especially because it’s so sensitive on so many levels.”

At least two state police officers have already been terminated for his or her actions in responding to the shooting.

Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell was terminated last week for allegedly failing to meet his duties competently; Kindell deliberate to enchantment.

Juan Maldonado, a DPS sergeant who additionally responded to the shooting, was terminated in October. Maldonado opted to retire quite than enchantment his firing.

McCraw, the company’s chief, has stated he would resign if his troopers had “any culpability” within the botched police response. He later stated “DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community.”

Considering some officers have already been disciplined, one other police knowledgeable questioned whether or not it was a battle of curiosity for state police to research the shooting through which 91 of the 376 responding officers have been members of their very own power.

The DPS spokesperson didn’t instantly reply Tuesday to questions in regards to the situation.

“When you got an agency where your people were involved and may have violated state training and your departmental policy, which we know DPS did because they’ve already relieved some commander of duty, how can you now do a fair and impartial investigation?” stated former Houston police chief Charles A. McClelland.

Zach Despart contributed to this story.