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Special Texas House investigative committee releases Uvalde school shooting report -Statesman
UVALDE — The first in-depth report on the Uvalde school shooting, released to the public and victims’ families Sunday, determined that top-to-bottom failures combined to turn the May 24 attack into the worst school shooting in Texas history.
“Systemic failures and egregious poor decision making” included school officials who failed to follow established safety plans and responding law officers who failed to follow their training for active-shooter situations and delayed confronting the gunman for more than an hour, the 77-page report by a specially created Texas House committee concluded.
“They failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,” the report said of law officers.
After a closed-door meeting with family members of the victims where they viewed an edited video of the police response to the shooting, the committee met publicly and laid out the details of the report.
More:Uvalde families deserve the Texas House Committee report in Spanish. Here it is.
During an hourlong question-and-answer session with reporters, members declined to address policy questions such as whether lawmakers should restrict access to assault-style weapons and who, if anyone, should be held accountable for what the committee found was a catastrophic and systematic breakdown.
State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock and chairman of the special committee, also said that no community should assume it is safe or immune from the violence and death that visited Uvalde on May 24.
“I think some of the same systems that we found here that failed that day are (in place) across the entire state and country,” Burrows said. “I do not want to say because of one thing or one person (at Robb Elementary), it could not happen elsewhere. I think that’s a disservice and not the respectful thing to do.”
Members of the panel, Burrow said, “have strong opinions about changes to policy that needs to be done.”
“Today is not the day we’re going to share our strong feelings and convictions about that,” he said.
The lack of specificity about what steps are needed to better defend Texans from mass gun violence left many of the people inside the Uvalde civic center frustrated. Several shouted insults, including “cowards,” and asked “what about guns?” as the committee members filed out.
“You are a bunch of cowards,” shouted Ruben Mata, who said his great-granddaughter was among the children who were killed. “We already knew what was in the report,” he told reporters a short time later.
Vicente Salazar, whose granddaughter Layla was killed in the attack, made no effort to mask his anger after picking up a copy of the report just after noon at the Uvalde community center.
“It’s a solid cover-up. It’s a joke,” he said. “Texas failed the students. Law enforcement failed the students.”
The report by the three-member House Investigative Committee on the Robb Elementary Shooting compiled details gleaned from interviews with 33 witnesses, all conducted in private during eight hearings in Uvalde and at the Capitol, and 39 other informal interviews. Its release was a milestone in efforts to understand events that grew muddled as the official version of the shooting — relayed by political leaders and law enforcement — shifted radically in the chaotic days after the attack that left 19 fourth-graders and two teachers dead.
The committee report focused primarily on actions taken by school employees before the shooting and law enforcement during the attack, finding significant deficiencies in both.
The committee also released an edited version of the hallway video footage previously published by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV. The committee’s video did not include sound or images of the gunman walking into the school and firing his military-style assault rifle. Neither video showed children, teachers or the gunman being shot.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, said the report confirms many of the shortcomings and procedural breakdowns he’s been pointing out since the earliest days after the shooting.
“It’s clear from the report that no one was in control,” said the lawmaker, who was unable to attend Sunday’s briefing because of an illness. “There were experienced law enforcement officers on the scene, but they didn’t take charge. It was a complete and total breakdown.”
Also Sunday, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin announced that the city was releasing bodycam footage from Uvalde police officers related to the Robb Elementary shooting.
The city held off releasing the footage at the district attorney’s direction, he said, adding: “However, with the release of the school district’s hallway video, we believe these body camera videos provide further, necessary context.”
The audio and video was edited to protect the victims, and the families of the shooting victims were given the opportunity to review the video, McLaughlin said.
More:Why the Austin American-Statesman chose to publish video from inside Robb Elementary
‘Regrettable culture of noncompliance’
Robb Elementary did not adequately prepare for the risk of an armed intruder, the committee’s report said.
A 5-foot-tall exterior fence was inadequate to impede an intruder, and “there was a regrettable culture of noncompliance by school personnel,” who frequently ignored security procedures by propping doors open and deliberately circumventing locks, the report said.
Administrators and police were aware of the situation but did not treat the infractions as serious. “In fact, the school actually suggested circumventing the locks as a solution for the convenience of substitute teachers and others who lacked their own keys,” the report said.
The door to Room 111, where the gunman entered and was killed more than 70 minutes later, had a faulty lock that needed extra effort to ensure that it was engaged, but nobody ordered a repair, the report said.
And although school policy required that outside doors be locked, none of the three doors into the school’s west building were locked, giving the gunman unimpeded access.
Uvalde school shooting:Special Texas House committee releases first in-depth report
The committee acknowledged that locking the doors might not have been enough. “But had school personnel locked the doors as the school’s policy required, that could have slowed his progress for a few precious minutes — long enough to receive alerts, hide children, and lock doors; and long enough to give police more opportunity to engage and stop the attacker,” the report said.
The first police officers entered the school only minutes after the gunman, and any delay for the gunman could have saved lives, the committee said.
“The attacker fired most of his shots and likely murdered most of his innocent victims before any responder set foot in the building. Of the approximately 142 rounds the attacker fired inside the building, it is almost certain that he rapidly fired over 100 of those rounds before any officer entered,” the report said.
‘Void of leadership’ in police response
The committee outlined what it identified as faulty assumptions and poor decisions by responding law officers, including a failure in leadership.
Trouble began when law enforcement leaders — including Pete Arredondo, chief of the school district’s police department, and the commander of the Uvalde Police Department SWAT team, whose name was not included — arrived at the school early in the attack, yet failed to take adequate command of the situation, the report said.
The Uvalde district’s active-shooter plan directed Arredondo to assume command at the school, but “he failed to perform or to transfer to another person the role of incident commander” as directed by the plan.
“The void of leadership could have contributed to the loss of life as injured victims waited over an hour for help, and the attacker continued to sporadically fire his weapon,” the report said.
In addition, the committee said, a command post could have transformed chaos into order, but nobody ensured that officers inside the school knew that students and teachers had survived the initial burst of gunfire, were trapped in the connected Rooms 111 and 112, and had called 911 seeking help, the report said.
Law enforcement personnel from state and federal agencies also failed to step forward and provide needed leadership, the committee found.
“Hundreds of responders from numerous law enforcement agencies — many of whom were better trained and better equipped than the school district police — quickly arrived on the scene” and could have “helped to address the unfolding chaos,” the report said.
In all, 376 law officers responded to the school shooting, including 91 members of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the report said, concluding, “In this sense, the entirety of law enforcement and its training, preparation, and response shares systemic responsibility for many missed opportunities on that tragic day.”
Families and community members still questioned the acts of police, and why it took more than an hour to storm the classroom. Burrows said he shared many of their frustrations on that score.
“If someone knew there were victims inside dying and did nothing about it then those agencies will have to hold those officers accountable,” he said.
After the committee’s press briefing, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said in response to questions from community members that the committee’s report would be translated and available in Spanish in two weeks, and told the public that “he would try to get it sooner.”
‘Same shortcomings’ found across Texas
The committee said the impact of its report needs to be felt beyond Uvalde.
“We acknowledge that the same shortcomings could be found throughout the State of Texas. We must not delude ourselves into a false sense of security by believing that ‘this would not happen where we live.’ The people of Uvalde undoubtedly felt the same way,” the report said.
The committee also said its work is not done because it has not questioned all witnesses, the medical examiner reports have not been issued, and other investigations are still pending, including by the Texas Rangers and U.S. Department of Justice.
Even so, the committee said it believes its report is the most comprehensive look at the events in Robb Elementary, an important touchstone after the official version of events shifted.
Speaking to reporters and Uvalde residents at a news conference May 25, Gov. Greg Abbott praised officers, saying their swift action “to respond to … and eliminate the gunman” saved lives at Robb Elementary. After news to the contrary trickled out, Abbott said he was livid that his briefing by law enforcement made no mention of the delay.
Another key detail that was mistaken included law enforcement reports that a Robb teacher had propped open an exterior door and left it that way, giving the gunman access to the school. Later reports revealed that the teacher shut the door but that it did not lock.
Preliminary reports that a school resource officer arrived on campus to confront the gunman outside the school also proved to be wrong as further details showed that the officer initially mistook a teacher for the shooter behind the building.
Relying on the Texas Public Information Act, multiple news organizations sought records related to the shooting, including video taken from inside the school and officer bodycam footage. Many of the open-records requests, including those from the American-Statesman, have been denied or are awaiting a decision by the state attorney general’s office.
Hallway video edited by House committee
The hallway video that captured the long delay in confronting the gunman was a key piece of evidence, and its release to the public was supported by Abbott; DPS officials; McLaughlin; Rep. Dustin Burrows, the Lubbock Republican who leads the investigative committee; and others who said the footage was essential in understanding what took place during the attack.
But Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee opposed releasing the video, according to a DPS official. Busbee also sent letters to Uvalde officials ordering them to keep the video and other records confidential while investigations continued.
The hallway video, disclosed to the American-Statesman and KVUE, was published last week after extensive internal deliberations by news leaders who determined that the newspaper and TV station would not follow the government’s lead in keeping the information private. That decision was criticized by those who said it should have first been made available to the families of victims.
The report was publicly released after families of the Uvalde victims were given the opportunity to review the committee’s findings earlier Sunday. Committee members, along with some Uvalde community leaders, then met privately with the families and the committee’s version of the video was shown.
The video released by the committee Sunday did not include the first several minutes of footage released by the American-Statesman and KVUE last week showing the gunman walking on the campus and into the school. That video also showed the attacker calmly walking down the hallway before firing into the classroom carrying his AR-15. The video released Sunday, which the report called “prudently edited” also did not have audio.
The report said the footage omitted any images of the gunman because he desired fame.
“We regret that others, under the cloak of anonymity, and for their own motives, have sensationalized evidence of this horrible tragedy at the risk of glorifying a monster,” the report said.
More than seven weeks after the Robb Elementary shooting, flowers, candles, photos and other mementos were still piled in front of the school sign. The memorial at the town square was drawn back, but photos of the children and teachers were attached to some of the trees with signs reading “no justice, no peace.”
Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat and member of the three-person committee, said he would make the same promise to those in Uvalde as he made to residents of his hometown after a mass shooter there targeted Hispanics at a popular shopping center nearly three years ago: “Help the Legislature understand what happened and why,” and that he would fight for better solutions.
Darden Restaurants is adding Tex-Mex to the menu.
The parent company of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House and other chains, said Wednesday it’s buying Chuy’s for approximately $605 million.
Darden said it will acquire all outstanding shares of Chuy’s for $37.50 per share. Those shares closed at $25.27 apiece on Wednesday, then soared past $37 in after-hours trading once the deal was announced. Darden shares fell 1% in after-hours trading.
Darden said the boards of Darden and Chuy’s have unanimously approved the acquisition. The deal is expected to close later this year, if it’s approved by Chuy’s shareholders.
Chuy’s Holdings Inc. was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1982. It now operates 101 restaurants in 15 states and has 7,400 employees. It’s known for its eclectic decor and fresh food, including handmade tortillas and sauces.
Like Darden, Chuy’s owns and operates all of its restaurants. Darden President and CEO Rick Cardenas said Chuy’s is a differentiated brand with strong growth potential that will expand Darden’s dining options.
Darden, based in Orlando, Florida, operates more than 1,900 restaurants and has 190,000 employees. It also owns Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s and Bahama Breeze.
“Based on our criteria for adding a brand to the Darden portfolio, we believe Chuy’s is an excellent fit that supports our winning strategy,” Cardenas said in a statement.
Chuy’s Chairman, CEO and President Steven Hislop said the acquisition will accelerate Chuy’s business goals and expand the brand to more communities.
The deal comes as both restaurant companies have been struggling with a downturn in customer traffic due to consumer concerns about inflation.
In Darden’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended May 26, same-store sales — or sales at restaurants open at least a year — were flat compared to the prior year. Chuy’s same-store sales were down 5% in its first quarter, which ended March 31.
Investment bank Jefferies downgraded shares for both restaurant chains earlier this month, saying they’re being squeezed by price promotions at fast-food chains like McDonald’s as well as at casual dining peers like Chili’s and Applebee’s.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths Friday, rejecting pleas from parents that it violates their right to decide on and seek medical care for their children.
The 8-1 ruling from the all-Republican court leaves in place a law that has been in effect since Sept. 1, 2023. Texas is the largest of at least 25 states that have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
The Texas law prevents transgender people under 18 from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, though surgical procedures are rarely performed on children. Children who had already started the medications had to taper off their use.
“We conclude the Legislature made a permissible, rational policy choice to limit the types of available medical procedures for children, particularly in light of the relative nascency of both gender dysphoria and its various modes of treatment and the Legislature’s express constitutional authority to regulate the practice of medicine,” Justice Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle wrote in the court’s decision.
The lawsuit that challenged the Texas law argued it devastates transgender teens who are unable to obtain critical treatment recommended by their physicians and parents. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates about 29,800 people ages 13-17 in Texas identify as transgender.
The only justice dissenting with Friday’s ruling said the Texas Supreme Court was allowing the state to “legislate away fundamental parental rights.”
“The State’s categorical statutory prohibition prevents these parents, and many others, from developing individualized treatment plans for their children in consultation with their physicians, even the children for whom treatment could be lifesaving,” Justice Debra Lehrmann wrote in a dissenting opinion. “The law is not only cruel — it is unconstitutional.”
A lower court had ruled the law unconstitutional, but it was allowed to take effect while the state Supreme Court considered the case.
Texas’ Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, vowed in a post on the social platform X after the ruling that his office “will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that doctors and medical institutions follow the law.”
Advocates criticized the ruling.
“It is impossible to overstate the devastating impact of this ruling on Texas transgender youth and the families that love and support them,” said Karen Loewy, senior counsel and director of Constitutional Law Practice at Lambda Legal, which was among the groups that sued the state on behalf of doctors and families.
“Our government shouldn’t deprive trans youth of the health care that they need to survive and thrive,” said Ash Hall, policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQIA+ rights at ACLU of Texas. “Texas politicians’ obsession with attacking trans kids and their families is needlessly cruel.”
The law includes exemptions for children experiencing early puberty or who have “a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.”
Such exemptions underscore the law’s discriminatory nature, said Dr. Jack Drescher, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University who edited the section about gender dysphoria in the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual. Gender dysphoria is the psychological distress experienced by those whose gender expression does not match their gender identity and is a required diagnosis before treatments can begin.
“They’re saying if you’re not a transgender child and you need these drugs, you can have them, but if you’re a transgender child who might benefit from these drugs, then sorry, you have to move to another state,” Drescher said.
The restrictions on health care are part of a larger backlash against transgender rights, touching on everything from bathroom access to participation in sports. Former President Donald Trump has vowed to pursue other measures that would restrict the rights of transgender people if he wins the November election, including a ban on gender-affirming care for minors at the federal level.
As more states move to enforce health care restrictions, families of transgender youths are increasingly forced to travel out of state for the care they need at clinics with growing waiting lists. At least 13 states have laws protecting care for transgender minors.
Most of the states that have passed restrictions face lawsuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an appeal from the Biden administration attempting to block state bans on gender-affirming care. The case before the high court involves a Tennessee law that restricts puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors, similar to the Texas law.
Gender-affirming care for transgender youths is supported by major medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association and the Endocrine Society.
In a concurring opinion, one justice dismissed the position of the medical groups.
“The fact that expert witnesses or influential interest groups like the American Psychiatric Association disagree with the Legislature’s judgment is entirely irrelevant to the constitutional question,” Justice James Blacklock wrote. “The Texas Constitution authorizes the Legislature to regulate ‘practitioners of medicine.’”
Texas officials defended the law as necessary to protect children and noted a myriad of other restrictions for minors on tattoos, alcohol, tobacco and certain over-the-counter drugs.
Several doctors who treat transgender children testified in a lower court hearing that patients risk deteriorating mental health, which could possibly lead to suicide, if they are denied safe and effective treatment.
The ban was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, the first governor to order the investigation of families of transgender minors who receive gender-affirming care.
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DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.
For all the time I spend digging, planting, pulling and weeding, one would think I’d have some poison ivy horror stories to tell, but I do not. I can’t say for sure whether I’m immune to the rash that tortures so many of my fellow gardeners or if I’ve just been lucky, but one thing is for sure: The plant does pose a serious problem for many who come into contact with it.
Botanically known as Toxicodendron radicans, poison ivy contains oily chemical compounds called urushiols in its leaves, stems and roots. According to the American Skin Association, about 85% of the U.S. population is allergic to urushiols, with roughly 10% to 15% of those considered “highly allergic.”
That makes the plant concerning — and possibly dangerous — for most Americans, with 50 million people affected each year, the group says. So, in most cases, it should be removed.
But the itchy, blistering and sometimes painful dermatitis that affects most people who brush up against poison ivy can discourage efforts to tackle it.
It’s a Catch-22: You need to remove it because you’re allergic but you’re allergic so you can’t remove it.
First, know how to identify it
Making a positive ID can be tricky.
Poison ivy takes on different appearances at different times of year. Most often, its leaves are composed of three leaflets apiece (as referenced in the childhood rhyme, “leaves of three, let it be”). The middle stem is longer than the stems of the side leaflets. Young foliage is shiny; older leaves are dull. Larger, older vines, especially those climbing up trees, are hairy. Leaf color can be green, red, pink-tinged, yellow or orange. Leaf shape can also vary, with smooth, lobed or toothed margins.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
I’ll confess, it confuses me, too. I once pulled up a raspberry plant (RIP) that I misidentified as poison ivy.
Consult with a poison ivy expert, bring a (bagged) sample to your local cooperative extension office, download a plant identification app or compare photos of your vine to those in books or on an educational website.
Then, either call in a professional or, if removing it yourself, carefully implement protective measures.
How to remove it safely
Wear long sleeves, pants, gloves and goggles, and don’t touch anything, especially your face, during the process. Avoid contact with tools or clothing used during the job, and remove all clothing afterward so as not to allow it to come into contact with skin or other surfaces.
The best way to eradicate poison ivy is to pull it up by its roots. If you garden in a four-season area, the job will be easiest in early spring, after winter’s freeze-thaw cycles have softened the ground. Otherwise, waiting until after rainfall is best for the same reason.
Pulling, you’ll notice, will likely leave some of the roots behind, as they can grow up to a foot deep. The entire root system must be completely dug up to avoid a reoccurrence, but if you’re tired, that can wait until tomorrow.
As you dig, you’ll notice the plant also has runner roots that have grown horizontally under the soil surface. Depending on the size of the plant, they can extend up to 20 feet from it. Remove them, too.
How to clean up properly afterward
Proper disposal of all plant parts is critical. Place them in a tightly sealed, heavy black plastic bag and set it out with the trash. Never burn poison ivy, because the smoke would contain toxins that could be fatal if inhaled.
When you’re finished, don’t touch your door. Don’t get yourself a drink. Don’t open the washing machine. Don’t. Touch. Anything.
This is easiest if you have someone to open the door, put your clothes into the washer, etc. If not, take care to do things in the proper order to avoid cross-contamination: Strip naked, remove your gloves then wash your hands with a liquid cleanser specially formulated to remove traces of the resins. One is Tecnu, which also can be used to launder contaminated clothing.
Then, bring the bottle into the shower with you. Avoid bathing with ordinary soap because it can spread the oils to other parts of your body.
Urushiols can also be transmitted to people via gardening tools, footwear, clothing and pets for as long as a year or two after contact, so anything that touched the plant should be thoroughly cleaned, too. Then wash your hands again. You can’t be too careful.
As time goes on, some sprouts will likely reappear, so repeated pulling and digging may be required over the next several seasons.
Other options
If pulling is not possible, herbicides containing triclopyr or glyphosate can be used to kill the plant. I do not advocate the use of these chemicals except in extreme circumstances, such as to control Japanese knotweed. But if you are severely allergic, I consider poison ivy removal in that category.
Just know that these herbicides will kill every plant they come in contact with, including grass. They also have toxic properties that will remain in the soil for some time. Use them only on a windless day to avoid overspray and take care to directly target only the poison ivy. Apply to leaves as directed, following precautions on the package label.
Plants should wilt within 24 hours, turn brown within three days and die in a couple of weeks, at which point they can be removed. Take the same precautions as above because dead (and dormant) plants still contain toxins. Repeat applications may be necessary.
And don’t get cocky. Just because you’re not allergic today doesn’t mean you won’t be tomorrow. Always protect yourself.
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Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.
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For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.
