The release comes after a firm representing the district acknowledged that only a sampling of the documents was released earlier this month.
UVALDE, Texas — Three thousand pages of new documents and emails related to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde have been released, providing fresh insight into the tragic response to the May 2022 massacre that killed 21 people. The release came just hours after a law firm representing Uvalde CISD admitted to accidentally withholding some 26,000 pages of documents despite a court order to release them.
The KHOU 11 Investigates team has been reviewing the latest documents, which include approximately 3,400 emails received as part of an ongoing legal battle for transparency. Thousands more documents are still expected to be released.
The newly released emails highlight several critical missteps that occurred during and after the shooting. One message to parents stated “The students and staff are safe in the building. The building is secure in a Lockdown Status.” It was sent out at 11:41 a.m., minutes after the mass shooting had already begun. The documents also reveal the messaging that Uvalde CISD considered in the aftermath of the tragedy. A draft press release included the statement: “The assailant was contained by these agencies allowing the evacuation of all of precious students, more than 600 students and staff members,” which tragically wasn’t accurate. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the attack.
In addition to communication failures, the documents provide a glimpse into the investigation that followed the massacre. The Texas Rangers requested door maintenance records for both classroom doors and outside doors. while U.S. Customs and Border Protection, assisting the Texas Rangers and the FBI, sought help in locating blueprints or construction plans for Robb Elementary.
The records also show an outpouring of sympathy from educators across the country following the devastating attack. They included the superintendent of Newton Public Schools in Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook School tragedy occurred, as well as a teacher from Santa Fe High School.
“Your staff is going through a very difficult tie right now and I know it helps to be able to speak with someone who understands the wide range of emotions and survivor’s guilt,” the teacher wrote.
At a school board meeting on Monday, the law firm representing Uvalde CISD acknowledged its error in withholding the documents. An attorney for the firm stated, “Our firm was in charge of doing the release of records,” and admitted, “We were wrong. We had not released all of the responsive information.”
The emails should have been included in documents released weeks earlier under the court order, and the school district’s law firm pledged to release the remaining documents in coming days.
Earlier this month, school officials in Uvalde released a batch of the messages, personnel files and student records of the shooter from the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The records include disciplinary documents for the teenage shooter and student at Uvalde High School. He had behavior issues, including reports of him hitting other kids and using foul language. He failed state tests and had a lot of absences and missed schoolwork.
A couple of days after the Uvalde CISD records were released, Uvalde County released files related to the mass shooting, including more bodycam video from the response.