Uvalde families ask to join suit pushing for DPS to release public records
The lawyers for some of the Uvalde families say there is “a compelling need” for records into the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary to be publicly released. Full Story
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![Velma Duran, the sister of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary school shooting, confronts Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw after he finished testifying to the Homeland Security & Public Safety committee hearing at the state Capitol in Austin on Feb. 28, 2023. “They stood around and enabled the shooter to obliterate my sister. You couldn’t recognize her,” Duran said to McCraw. “Look at me!”]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Search the newly updated Government Salaries Explorer
The Texas Tribune’s database of Texas state employees’ compensation is updated to represent salaries as of Feb. 1. It includes detailed data for the 113 agencies in state government and positions at each of those agencies. Full Story
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![Government Salaries Explorer]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Ben Hasson / Texas Tribune -
Uvalde district attorney fights release of public records against wishes of most families
Joining the Texas Department of Public Safety’s fight against the release of records, the district attorney claims the support of every family who lost a child in the 2022 mass shooting. Attorneys representing many of the families refute that claim. Full Story
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![A cross in memory of Eva Mireles is decorated for the holiday season, at the Memorial Plaza in Uvalde on Dec. 21, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Aging state vehicle fleet fuels tens of millions in new money requests by agencies
Many state-owned vehicles are aging past the standards for replacement. Early budget drafts signal that lawmakers are considering funding some $237.6 million in requests for new ones. Full Story
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![Sec. of State Jane Nelson stands beside a 25-year-old Ford Ranger with over 30,000 miles on it, the agency’s only vehicle since 1998, on Feb. 8, 2023. "She's a grand old dame, but it's time for her to retire," Nelson said.]()
Credit: Leila Saidane/The Texas Tribune -
DPS sent at least 3,000 driver’s licenses to organized crime group targeting Asian Texans
A Chinese crime operation bypassed the password clues of Texas.gov by using stolen identity information to fraudulently obtain replacement driver’s licenses. Full Story
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![Steve McCraw, Department of Public Safety Director, speaks at a press conference with Gov. Greg Abbott and nine other governors regarding the southern border at Anzalduas Park in Mission on Oct. 6, 2021.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.
Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a presser at Uvalde High School on May 27, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Texas DPS scraps plan for $1.2 billion active-shooter training facility
The Texas Department of Public Safety is instead asking lawmakers for $381.5 million to upgrade its current facilities with better technology, dormitories and cafeteria for trainees from across the state. Full Story
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![Numerous Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles are parked at a Best Western hotel in Del Rio on July 23, 2021.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas DPS won’t discipline any more officers for Uvalde shooting response
The Department of Public Safety has finished its investigation into how officers responded to Texas’ deadliest school shooting. The agency has fired one officer and is in the process of firing another. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety officers guard the scene at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Marco Bello -
Criminal cases in South Texas are unraveling because of a Texas Ranger’s suspension after the Uvalde shooting
After the Texas Department of Public Safety suspended Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell, one of hundreds of officers who responded to the May 24 mass shooting, felony cases he investigated are in jeopardy and experts have questioned the justification for his suspension. Full Story
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![Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022, when 21 people — 19 children and two adults — were killed by a gunman. Kindell was fired by DPS Thursday and said he plans to appeal.]()
Credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife bodycam -
Records reveal medical response further delayed care for Uvalde shooting victims
Previously unreleased video, audio and interviews show for the first time how the medical response faltered after police finally confronted the Robb Elementary shooter. Full Story
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![The scene outside Robb Elementary School minutes after officers killed the shooter who had been occupying two adjoining classrooms.]()
Credit: Helicopter footage gathered by the Texas Rangers and obtained by The Texas Tribune, The Washington Post and ProPublica. Graphics by Imogen Piper/The Washington Post -
Amid fallout from the Uvalde shooting, Texas DPS wants $1.2 billion for academy and active-shooter training facility
DPS is asking lawmakers to approve a $467 million active-shooter facility as a “down payment” for the training academy. “You play like you practice,” Director Steve McCraw said. Full Story
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![Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw speaks at a border security briefing at Texas DPS regional headquarters in Weslaco on Jan. 27, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
“I’m so scared”: 911 recordings reveal fear and urgency of those trapped in Uvalde elementary school
Audio obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica shows just how long police and dispatchers likely knew that children and teachers were in danger before taking action at Robb Elementary School. Full Story
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![At 12:33 p.m. May 24, exactly an hour after the gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a group of unidentified police officers began advancing toward the classrooms where he had trapped more than 30 students and teachers. But after one officer said “no, no, no,” they stopped. That moment exemplified the overall failed law enforcement response.]()
Credit: State trooper body camera footage obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
Texas DPS chief Steve McCraw says his agency “did not fail” at Uvalde school shooting
At a public meeting where families that lost children in the school shooting said he should resign, McCraw said members of the Department of Public Safety made mistakes. But he said he’ll step down only “if DPS as an institution failed the families.” Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw gives a statement at a Public Safety Commission Meeting on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022 in Austin. The public meeting took comments from families of the victims of the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas state trooper who responded to Uvalde shooting fired amid investigations into police response
Department of Public Safety Sgt. Juan Maldonado is the first state police officer fired in the aftermath of a botched police response to the shooting. He was the highest-ranking state trooper to initially respond to Robb Elementary School. Full Story
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![Hundreds of flowers, toys, and candles surround the crosses in memorial of the 21 victims of the school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, on June 9, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Uvalde schools hire — and then fire — former DPS trooper under investigation for shooting response
Gov. Greg Abbott said the school district knew the ex-trooper “had actions inconsistent with training and department requirements.” Full Story
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![Former Department of Public Safety officer Crimson Elizondo was fired by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD)Police Department on Oct. 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website -
Texas will fight to block 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns
A court had ruled that the state’s ban was unconstitutional. The attorney general’s office — usually a supporter of gun rights — said it will appeal but didn’t explain why. Full Story
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![A revolver handgun in Austin on April 23, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas DPS director says he wishes his agency had taken control over the police response to the Uvalde shooting
The state’s top law enforcement agency also told USA Today that seven officers have now been referred to its internal affairs division, including two who are command staff. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety Director and Colonel Steven McCraw speaks during Gov. Greg Abbott's press conference about winter preparations on Feb. 1, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
DPS Director Steve McCraw tells CNN he’ll resign if troopers had “any culpability” in delayed Uvalde shooting response
The state’s top law enforcement agency has publicly criticized the actions of local police during the May shooting at Robb Elementary. But McCraw’s agency has also faced scrutiny for officers’ delay in confronting the gunman. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw speaks during a news conference outside of Robb Elementary school, three days after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults in a mass shooting, in Uvalde on May 27, 2022.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Marco Bello -
91 Texas state troopers responded to the Uvalde massacre. Their bosses have deflected scrutiny and blame.
State troopers outnumbered local law enforcement 2-to-1 outside Robb Elementary, but the Department of Public Safety has blocked the release of records and carefully shaped the narrative to cast local authorities as incompetent. Full Story
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![A family looks over a chain-link fence towards the back door of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 30, 2022. The 18-year-old gunman entered through this door and opened fire on a classroom, killing 19 students and two teachers.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
Five Department of Public Safety officers face a formal investigation over Uvalde shooting response
Hundreds of law enforcement officers from several local, state and federal agencies have been heavily criticized for the delayed response in confronting the gunman during the worst school shooting in Texas history. Full Story
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![Police block off the road leading to the scene of a school shooting at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune