Uvalde, Texas
DailyExpertNews
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Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin told DailyExpertNews he has lost faith in Texas leaders investigating police’s response to the shooting at his city’s elementary school that killed 19 children and two adults.
“I’m not 100% confident in DPS because I think it’s a cover,” he said of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the lead agency tasked with identifying what led to well-armed officers waiting outside a classroom. more than an hour before engaging the shooter.
“McGraw may be covering up his agencies,” McLaughlin continued in his sharpest attack yet on Colonel Steven McCraw, the DPS director.
McCraw told the Texas Senate that the police response was an “abject failure” and put the sole blame on school chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo.
But McLaughlin told DailyExpertNews on Tuesday that he didn’t feel the full story of the May 24 massacre was getting out, in part because Texas DPS was not transparent.
“Any agency in that hallway will have to share the blame,” he said. Personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies gathered inside and outside the school before the gunman was challenged and killed.
McLaughlin said in an interview, “Right now I don’t know what to believe and what not to believe.”
And while he said he trusted the DPS individuals who serve his community, he no longer believed upper management.
DailyExpertNews contacted DPS for comment and was referred to District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee of the 38th Judicial District for details. She is the official who ordered an investigation by the Texas Rangers division of DPS, which is still ongoing.
DPS Press Secretary Ericka Beltran did say, “The Texas Department of Public Safety is committed to working with multiple law enforcement agencies to get the answers we are all looking for.”
McLaughlin said he hadn’t had a briefing “from anyone” since the day after the shooting, when Texas Governor Greg Abbott and others had traveled to Uvalde to learn what had happened.
Still, he said, key facts in the timeline didn’t match — a timeline that has already changed dramatically since the hours following the attack when law enforcement was praised by Abbott and others.
“I lost confidence because the story changed so many times from DPS and when we asked questions, we got no answers.”
McLaughlin asked the US Department of Justice to investigate law enforcement’s response and that work has now begun.
He repeatedly said his goal was to find out the truth for the families of the two teachers and the 19 children, ages 9 to 11, who were shot that day.
And he called on Abbott to return to Uvalde to talk to the grieving relatives.
“These families want to talk to the governor and he needs to come and see them,” he said, adding that he wrote to Abbott to make the request and reiterate his concerns about the investigation.
Renae Eze, Abbott’s press secretary, didn’t answer a specific question about when the Texas governor would return to Uvalde, but said he would “continue to visit the Uvalde community and local leaders.”
She said the families of the victims and the public “deserve the full truth about what happened that tragic day,” and continued, “Governor Abbott and his office will continue to work with state and local leaders such as Mayor McLaughlin to support the Uvalde. community and all available resources as they heal.”
Eze also highlighted what Abbott had already done, including issuing a disaster statement and using cash and other resources to make schools safer and support mental health.
McLaughlin was with Abbott, U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and other officials when DPS gave their first overview of what had happened before Abbott led a press conference.
He said Arredondo, the school police chief who was later blamed for inactivity, was also there, standing against a wall. He didn’t speak and no one asked him a question, the mayor said.
McLaughlin first came to national attention during the first press conference after the shooting when he shouted profanity at Beto O’Rourke as the former presidential and senate candidate now running for Governor Abbott tried to confront Abbott.
He said he did not regret it because there were grieving families in the audience.
“That wasn’t the place to come up and scream. That made me angry because this wasn’t the place or the time,” he said.
McLaughlin said he was against politics on any side that found themselves in a situation where families were still waiting for answers.
He criticized how everything gets divided along partisan lines and wished that some debates could be had without considering whether it was Republican or Democratic way. He said he favored raising the age at which a person can buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21, as well as improved background checks for younger buyers. He said he bought an assault rifle when he thought they were going to be banned, but never used it.
McLaughlin himself has been questioned about how open he has been.
He said he had decided that Arredondo should be sworn in behind closed doors for a city council position he won before the shooting because he didn’t want a luxurious ceremony so soon after so many children had died. Arredondo has since resigned from that position and has been separately placed on administrative leave from his job.
For now, McLaughlin is thinking about how students will respond during the new school year starting next month.
Uvalde is close to the Mexican border and he said there are frequent school lockouts as immigration and other law enforcement operations are carried out.
“How will it feel on August 15 when we go to school and these pursuits come through town?” he asked.
‘How will these families feel? How will these children feel? How will these parents feel?”
McLaughlin, whose term as mayor ends in 2024, said the families of those who didn’t make it home from Robb Elementary are his focus right now.
“I want these families to be closed. Nothing will ever heal the pain they have, it will never heal that pain, but they need to know what happened and they need to know the truth.”