A battle has erupted over whether or not authorities should make public more records from last May’s Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Tex.
The mass murder left 19 grade-school students, two teachers and the gunman dead.
Several news organizations have filed FOIA requests for incident reports, ballistic reports, body-camera footage and internal communications related to the events surrounding the murders, but so far, the Texas Department of Public Safety has fought against those requests.
Recently, Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell joined the fight, claiming every family who suffered the loss of a child that day wants the information withheld.
“All of the families of the deceased children have stated to District Attorney Mitchell that they do not want the investigation of the Texas Rangers released until she has had ample time to review the case and present it to an Uvalde grand jury, if appropriate,” Mitchell’s office wrote.
But now, that claim is being refuted by attorneys for a majority of those families.
“These Uvalde families fundamentally deserve the opportunity to gain the most complete factual picture possible of what happened to their children,” wrote attorney Brent Ryan Walker in a court affidavit filed Tuesday evening. Walker represents the parents of 16 deceased children and one who survived.
Previously, the Texas DPS had claimed Mitchell has “unlimited power” to decide what information gets withheld and what information gets released, while attorneys for the media coalition requesting the documents say the burden is on the DPS to show how releasing the information would harm any ongoing investigations.
“By claiming the possibility of a future prosecution (without even identifying potential charges), the District Attorney seeks to withhold from the public not just sensitive investigative materials, but every single piece of information that could shed light on the tragedy and the law enforcement response, including information about the deceased shooter,” the attorneys wrote.
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