Texas Court Orders Release of Uvalde Shooting Records

A San Antonio appeals court on Wednesday ordered Uvalde County and the Uvalde school district to release long-withheld records relating to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, affirming a trial court’s 2024 ruling.

The government entities had argued they weren’t required to disclose the records, which include unseen body camera footage from responding county police and school safety officers, radio communications and internal emails and text messages. A coalition of local and national news outlets, including Hearst Newspapers and the American-Statesman’s former owner, Gannett, filed the lawsuit after the county and the district repeatedly denied Public Information Act requests for the materials.

The Justice Department concluded in January 2024 that a faster response from law enforcement likely would have saved lives in the May 22, 2022, mass shooting, which left 19 students and two teachers dead. Around 400 officers descended on the campus and failed to act for more than an hour to breach the classroom where the 18-year-old gunman was armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle.

In a 22-page ruling, Justice Velia Meza of the Fourth Court of Appeals wrote that Uvalde County and the Uvalde school district refused to disclose public information without providing a valid legal or factual justification.

“Exceptions to disclosure cannot be used to justify blanket secrecy over government actions; rather, they must be specifically authorized by law and supported by evidence,” Meza wrote. “In this case, Texas Tribune (et. al) has met its burden to show that the School District and County refused to provide public information as a matter of law.”

The ruling requires Uvalde County and the Uvalde school district to release the records in full, except for redactions that are mandated by law. The justices also ordered the entities to pay for the media outlets’ attorneys’ fees.

It is uncertain whether the records will be immediately released, as Uvalde County and the Uvalde school district can appeal the decision to the Texas Supreme Court. Attorneys for the entities did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s request for comment.

The attorney for the media coalition celebrated the ruling.

“This ruling sends a clear message that government agencies cannot hide behind vague legal claims to avoid transparency,” said Laura Prather, who chairs the media law division at Haynes Boone. “The public has waited more than three years for answers about what went wrong that day. This decision brings us one step closer to those answers and preventing future tragedies.”

In August, the city of Uvalde released records relating to the Robb Elementary School shooting after a coalition of news outlets represented by Prather secured a settlement with the city. The media organizations are still fighting the Texas Department of Public Safety for law enforcement records from the state’s police force.