A couple dozen family members of victims of the Robb Elementary shooting attended Uvalde鈥檚 city council meeting Thursday looking for answers.
They clustered in groups wearing buttons and shirts with their loved ones鈥� names and pictures and talked quietly while they waited two hours for the council to come out of closed session.
Uvalde city council members returned to open session after meeting with attorneys to discuss possible litigation related to the mass shooting. They took questions from the family members, and listened to emotional pleas for transparency and accountability, but said they couldn鈥檛 share any new information or hold anyone accountable at this time.
鈥淭he one thing I can tell you is we don't know any more when we left this room than now,鈥� Mayor Don McLaughlin said. 鈥淲e're not trying to hide anything from you. We're not trying to do that. We don't have anything. DPS has tied our hands. If we did have something and we released it, then we would be subject to individual criminal charges. But we don't have it. We don't have anything to give you or we would. I promise you.鈥�
Several times during the hour-long exchange between council members and the public, McLaughlin held up copies of letters from the district attorney and the Texas Department of Public Safety as proof of the reason city officials can鈥檛 respond to public records requests about the mass shootings.
鈥淗ere's the letters right here, telling us it's an ongoing investigation. You can't release nothing under criminal charges,鈥� McLaughlin said.
Although the letters don鈥檛 mention criminal charges, McLaughlin said council members could be charged with obstructing justice and obstructing a criminal investigation if they released information.
Council members also said they haven鈥檛 been able to access their own city police records, including body camera footage and 911 calls, because the Department of Public Safety 鈥渢echnically owns it right now.鈥�
鈥淭hey have a lock on our files not to release any files,鈥� McLaughlin said.
Pete Arredondo
Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo missed his third city council meeting in a row on Thursday.
According to the city鈥檚 charter, the council can declare his seat vacancy after he misses three meetings. But Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said one of the meetings he missed doesn鈥檛 count because it was an emergency meeting posted less than 24 hours beforehand.
鈥淭his is his second meeting. If he misses the third, I don't think there's anybody up here that will tell you that we won't take the action that we need to take,鈥� McLaughlin said.
Council Member Chip King said he鈥檚 arguing that all three meetings should count against Arredondo. The school police chief was elected to the city council shortly before the mass shooting at Robb Elementary May 24.
Victims' Families
Irma Garcia鈥檚 sister, Velma Lisa Duran, wanted to know why all of Uvalde鈥檚 police officers and school leaders still have their jobs more than a month after the shooting.
鈥淭hat is unbelievable to me. Unbelievable that these people are walking around like nothing, and my nieces and nephews have to see them at Walmart or H-E-B or go to school and know that they still have their jobs because, well, we have to follow a process,鈥� Duran said.
Duran said that all of the police agencies that responded to the shooting are at fault.
鈥淭hese kids were obliterated. My sister was obliterated. It was a closed casket. I couldn't hug her. I couldn't touch her. I couldn't say my last goodbye,鈥� Duran said.
She said that the facts are out there and the city should act.
Uvalde City Manager Vince DiPiazza said if he were to put all of the Uvalde police officers who responded to the mass shooting on leave there wouldn鈥檛 be enough left to protect the town.
鈥淵ou're telling me what you think the facts are, and you may be correct, but I don't know that yet,鈥� DiPiazza said. 鈥淚 don't have enough information yet to make that decision. I'm not inclined to take action against people that are employed by the city without knowing the entire story.鈥�
Family members and Uvalde residents shouted out responses to city officials鈥� comments from several directions, expressing their frustration and skepticism. Relatives of at least five of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the shooting attended the meeting.
鈥淎ll the cops around here know exactly what happened in there, but they have a gag order to keep their mouth shut,鈥� a woman said. 鈥淲e're already to the point where we don't believe anything that anybody says.鈥�
鈥淟ook at it as a dad, as a parent. Don't do what you can do as a mayor. Go beyond that,鈥� a man said. 鈥淚 know there's a limit on what you can do. Go beyond that. What if it was your kid?鈥�
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