News groups ask Texas court to order release of Uvalde shooting records

AUSTIN (AP) — A group of news organizations asked a Texas appeals court on Wednesday to order the release of state Department of Public Safety records of the law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, the latest dispute over what should be made public from one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

A judge in Travis County had previously ordered the state police agency to release its records after the news organizations sued for access. The state and the Uvalde district attorney have objected, arguing that their release could jeopardize law enforcement investigations, and the state appealed to keep them out of the public view.

In a hearing before the 15th Court of Appeals, Laura Prather, an attorney for the media organizations, called the attempt to block the records “an attempt to cloak the entire file in secrecy forever. We’re talking about the most significant law enforcement failure in Texas history … The public interest could not be higher.”

One judge on the panel noted that the DPS records include more than 6 million pages of documents and hundreds of hours of video.

The district attorney’s objection was enough to block the release under Texas law, said Texas Assistant Solicitor General Sara Baumgardner.

“(The media) can make whatever inflammatory allegations about DPS they’d like to make,” Baumgardner said. “Texas courts have recognized that the entity in best position to know what would interfere with a prosecution is the actual prosecutor, not a bunch of news outlets.”

The appeals court did not indicate when it might rule on the case. Any decision can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The Associated Press was not among the news organizations that sued.

A gunman stormed the school on May 24, 2022, killing 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers. More than 370 responding officers from multiple local, state and federal agencies waited more than an hour to confront and kill the gunman.

Other records from the Uvalde shooting have been released. DPS has selectively released some of those findings at news conferences and public hearings at the Legislature.

In August, Uvalde officials released a massive collection of audio and video recordings from body cameras and surveillance videos after a protracted legal fight.

Multiple reports from state federal officials have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.

Two former Uvalde schools police officers face criminal charges over their actions that day, and several victims or their families have filed multiple state and federal lawsuits.