In total, 376 law enforcement officers descended upon the school, according to the most extensive account of the shooting to date. It says that better-equipped departments should have stepped up to fill a leadership void after the Uvalde schools police chief failed to take charge.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde residents frustrated with officials over finger pointing, conflicting accounts and leaked video
Residents and victims’ families say the way local and state leaders are handling details about the state’s deadliest shooting is compounding their trauma and grief.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde police officer criticized for checking his phone was waiting to hear from his dying wife
“I couldn’t say nothing seeing this man, who’s lost everything, maligned as if he was indifferent or actively malicious,” Rep. Joe Moody, a member of the Uvalde House Investigating Committee, said on Twitter.
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Uvalde school shooting
Texas’ law on gun background checks plagued by critical omissions of minors’ mental health records
Lawmakers tried in 2009 to require that the state report all court-ordered mental health hospitalizations to a federal gun background check system. Juveniles have been left out.
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Uvalde school shooting
Leaked video shows Texas law enforcement’s long wait to confront Uvalde school shooter
Elected officials and law enforcement leaders criticized the leak of the video that was supposed to first be shown to victims’ families.
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Uvalde school shooting
At their first conference after the Uvalde shooting, school counselors grapple with supporting students in an age of mass violence
One session on school shootings at the American School Counselor Association’s annual conference in Austin this week drew a large crowd. It discussed the roles counselors play before and after such traumatic events.
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Criminal Justice
Execution halted as court questions whether Ramiro Gonzales should have been sentenced to life in prison
The jury sentenced Gonzales to death after a prosecution expert testified that he posed a future danger to society. The expert now says his data was wrong.
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Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde mayor disputes report that police missed opportunity to shoot gunman
Mayor Don McLaughlin denied a recent report that said a Uvalde officer passed up a chance to shoot the gunman at Robb Elementary. The officer never saw the gunman, he said.
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Juvenile Justice
Understaffed, and under federal investigation, Texas juvenile detention system halts intake
The Texas Juvenile Justice Department doesn’t have enough staff to keep minors safe or deal with increasing suicidal behavior, its interim head says. Gov. Greg Abbott recently shifted millions of dollars from the long-troubled agency to his controversial border security mission.
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Criminal Justice
Texas WNBA star Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug charge in Russia
Griner could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. The Houston native recently wrote to President Joe Biden begging him not to forget her and other detainees and saying that “I’m terrified I might be here forever.”