By Brendan O’Brien
(Reuters) – Relatives of children killed in the Uvalde school shooting confronted the Texas public safety director on Thursday and demanded he resign over the failure of his agency’s troopers to confront the gunman quickly and possibly save lives.
Brett Cross, uncle of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia – one of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School – was one of several relatives who pressed Director Col. Steven McCraw to follow through on his vow to resign if his agency was found culpable in its response.
“You have disgraced our state,” Cross said at a podium as he looked directly at McCraw during a meeting of the Public Safety Commission in Austin. “Steve, the time is now: If you are a man of your word, you will resign.”
McCraw, whose agency is responsible for statewide law enforcement, acknowledged that responding officers failed to follow protocol by waiting more than an hour before entering the adjoining classrooms where the gunman was holed up with the teachers and school children. He said quicker response may have saved lives.
Even so, McCraw said he would only resign if an internal investigation finds that his agency failed the community of Uvalde. “Then, absolutely, I need to go,” he said.
The investigation is expected to be completed in two months.
“But I can tell you this right now: DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community — plain and simple,” McCraw said at the meeting.
Immediately after the shooting, McCraw and others sought to blame the slow response on the school district’s small police force and its chief, Pete Arredondo, who was incident commander on the scene. Arredondo was eventually fired.
Since June, the actions of nearly 400 law enforcement officers from various agencies who were on the school have come under heavy criticism.
In July, the Texas legislature released a report blaming the response on “systemic failures” and poor leadership.
McCraw’s agency is evaluating the actions of the 91 state police officers, he said. Among them seven of the DPS officers are under investigation by its internal affairs division, while one officer was fired earlier this month.
During the meeting, Jesse Rizo, uncle of Jacklyn Cazares, a 9-year-old girl who was killed in the shooting, accused McCraw and his agency of concealing information or providing misinformation about the incident.
“Closure to our families is not an option until we have the answer and hold those responsible, accountable,” said Manual Rizo, also an uncle of Cazares, to the commission.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
