DPS troopers waited in hallway during Uvalde school mass shooting, senator says
DALLAS - There is more conflicting information about the Uvalde school mass shooting.
A state senator says more than a dozen state troopers were among those who waited in a hall outside. But the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety says that's not the case.
State lawmakers on Tuesday began the funding process that will pay for the Uvalde active shooter investigation.
Meanwhile, the state senator who represents Uvalde claims the head of the Texas DPS admitted there were troopers in the school hallway with ballistic shields when children were dying. DPS says the senator is wrong.
New information has emerged about law enforcement who were perched in a hallway just feet from where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos was sinisterly shooting students and teachers.
In total, 21 people were killed and 17 others were injured.
Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo has taken much criticism in the three weeks since the shooting as he was identified as the incident commander for not ordering law enforcement to move towards the shooter sooner.
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
DPS Director Colonel Steve McCraw said that's not the active shooter protocol taught in Texas.
"We don’t care what agency you're from. You don't have to have a leader on the scene," he said. "Every officer lines up, stacks up, goes and finds where those rounds are being fired at and keeps shooting until the suspect is dead. Period."
According to State Senator Roland Gutierrez, there were as few as two and as many as 13 troopers inside the school at different times during the massacre. Some had ballistic shields who, with Uvalde local law enforcement, waited to engage Ramos.
That information Gutierrez says came from McCraw who, according to the San Antonio Express News, said DPS would never stand down again.
McCraw has not addressed his own troopers’ actions publicly, but DPS described the senator's account as inaccurate and said troopers were moving in and out of the hallway, assisting with evacuations.
Also on Tuesday, a House committee earmarks immediate money to be used between now and the start of the next session in January by representatives appointed to investigate the shooting.
The interim budget to pay for any tools that might be needed in the investigation was set at $85,000.
State Rep Armando Walle (D-Houston) questioned whether that would be enough.
"If it's not enough, would the committee entertain a bump in this amount should they need it?" he said.
State Rep Will Metcalf (R-Conroe) assured the amount allocated is the floor and not the ceiling.
"But we wanted to go ahead and get this started. They have their first hearing this week," he said. "Their second hearing, they are going to Uvalde this week. And so this is something that’s near and dear to all of our hearts."
House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) is proposing pooling over $100 million to shore up school safety and make mental health care more accessible before school opens in August.
Phelan's plan is in response to a $50 million request from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to immediately purchase bullet proof shields for all school police departments.
"I thank the speaker for addressing it the way he has and look forward to continuing the investigation," Metcalf said.
The speaker has not yet said where the $100 million in his plan would come from.
The $85,000 budget is to pay for things like experts, attorneys and consultants to carry out the investigation into what happened.