Uvalde police forces no longer cooperating with school shooting probe, source tells ABC News

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Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Police in Uvalde are no longer cooperating with Texas DPS, sources say
The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde ISD police force are no longer cooperating with the TX Department of Public Safety investigation into the massacre at Robb Elementary and the state's review of police response, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.

UVALDE, Texas -- The police departments serving both Uvalde, Texas, and the town's school district are no longer cooperating with a state-level investigation into law enforcement's response to the Robb Elementary School massacre, a source told ABC News Tuesday.

Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde ISD police's decision to stop cooperating was made shortly after the Texas Department of Public Service Director Col. Steven McCraw called the delayed police entry into the classroom where 19 children and two teachers were shot to death as "the wrong decision."

During a news conference last Friday, McCraw also said the officers' decision on May 24 was contrary to both protocol and initial accounts from local authorities.

Texas Department of Public Safety, which initially declined to comment on the reporting, wrote in a statement that the police departments have been cooperating, but Uvalde ISD police chief, Pete Arrendondo, has not responded to a follow-up interview. The statement reads:

"The Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde CISD Police have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago."

Uvalde police chief and a Uvalde ISD spokeswoman did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is also correcting previous comments it made stating that a teacher had left a door propped open that the gunman used to enter the school prior to the shooting.

Texas Department of Public Safety press secretary Ericka Miller confirmed to ABC News that investigators have now determined that the teacher closed the door but that the door did not lock. Law enforcement is looking into why the door did not lock, DPS confirmed to ABC News.

The clarification comes just days after McCraw said the teacher left the door propped open prior to the gunman entering the school.

"The teacher runs to the room, 132, to retrieve a phone, and that same teacher walks back to the exit door and the door remains propped open," McCraw said during a press conference last Friday.

The revelation comes exactly a week after what is now known as one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

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The first victims' funerals took place on Tuesday as many questions continue to go unanswered, including what led Chief Arrendondo, who led the law enforcement response that day, to pull back officers from entering a classroom where an 18-year-old gunman unleashed his rampage.

SEE ALSO: Uvalde grieves, says goodbyes at visitations, funerals amid investigation

Justin Finch has more on the funerals for the school shooting victims and the investigation in Texas.

According to McCraw, 77 minutes passed from the gunman's entrance to the school, to federal tactical officers to stop the shooter.

In addition, McCraw stated that several children in the classroom called 911, pleading for police to help.

In video obtained by ABC News, a 911 dispatcher appears to relay a boy's information to officers that day.

"Child is advising he is in the room, full of victims," the dispatcher can be heard saying in the video. "Full of victims at this moment."

SEE MORE: Video appears to show Texas 911 dispatchers relaying info from kids in Robb Elementary classroom

Video taken outside Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, appears to capture a 911 dispatcher alerting officers that they were receiving calls from kids.
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