Father of Robb Elementary shooting victim holds sit-out in front of Uvalde police headquarters

SAN ANTONIO — The father of Robb Elementary school shooting victim Uziyah Garcia is camping out outside Uvalde Police Department headquarters in an effort to demand accountability for what multiple reports have called failures on the part of law enforcement on May 24, 2022. 

Brett Cross is demanding the termination of Louis Landry, Javier Martinez and Eduardo Canales from Uvalde PD. The three officers were among the first responders on scene at Robb Elementary. Cross says they did nothing to save the lives lost that day.

This protest comes after last week’s internal report that exonerated Uvalde city police of any wrongdoing at Robb Elementary.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Cross mentioned his plans to camp out at Uvalde PD, saying, “I am done asking, I am done begging, I am done pleading. I’m about to start taking actions into my own damn hands. Enough is enough. Y’all can expect to see me every day from the police station, from sun up to sun down.”

In a social media post, Cross says he began Wednesday’s demonstration at 11:33 a.m., a time that holds significance as it was the time that the first shots rang out on the day of the shooting. He adds that he sat his chair down at Uvalde PD at 11:36 a.m., the time officers arrived on scene and did nothing, according to Cross.

This is not the first time Cross has conducted a sit-out demanding accountability from Uvalde authorities. 

In September of 2022, Cross and other families of the victims occupied the property of the Uvalde CISD administrative building to demand that the district remove all the school resource officers who responded to the shooting on that day.

Ten days later, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced the suspension of the entire UCISD Police Department.

Cross says he will remain at the Uvalde Police Department until the officers are fired, or until he can no longer be there, adding, “which means I would have to be dead.”