Texas Congressman Says Uvalde Tragedy Made Worse by ‘Basically What Amounts to a Cover-Up’ by Law Enforcement
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) says conflicting and shifting stories on the police response to the Uvalde elementary school shooting last month “basically” amount to a “cover-up.”
Asked on Tuesday by MSNBC host José Díaz-Balart about his thoughts on the state of the investigations into the police response to the shooting, Castro said the tragedy of the shooting, which resulted in 21 being shot and killed, has been “compounded” by the ever-changing stories from Texas officials.
It was a very ugly tragedy for the families and the unfortunate thing for Uvalde is that that tragedy has been compounded by the investigation and what at this point basically amounts to a cover-up as far as I can tell by law enforcement and by state officials, and I don’t say that lightly. Remember, the story has changed five or six times … including what the governor has told us, what the head of DPS, the state authority, has told us.
Following the shooting, local police were scrutinized for not breaching a room where the gunman was held up for over an hour. Department of Public Safety head Steve McCraw claimed the on-scene commander was not receiving 911 phone calls from children inside the room and said he had decided the situation was not “active” once the gunman was in the room. It was also claimed the door to the room could not be unlocked and authorities needed to wait for materials to breach the door.
The supposed on-scene commander, Pete Arredondo, has since said he did not not think he was the commander at the scene. He also had no radios with him after entering the school. McCraw also revealed in recent testimony since that police never checked the door to see if it was unlocked.
Castro blasted authorities for now going radio silent and “not releasing very much information at all to the press or the public.” The congressman said authorities are re-victimizing families by not providing “a clear or accurate story of what happened to their kids.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
