Texas
City officials release audio and video recordings from 2022 Texas school shooting
As law enforcement officers hung back outside Khloie Torres’ fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas, she begged for help in a series of 911 calls, whispering into the phone that there were “a lot” of bodies and telling the operator: “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God.”
At one point, the dispatcher asks Khloie if there are many people in the room with her.
“No, it’s just me and a couple of friends. A lot of people are,” she says, pausing briefly, “gone.”
Calls from Khloie and others, along with body camera footage and surveillance videos from the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, were included in a massive collection of audio and video recordings released by Uvalde city officials on Saturday after a prolonged legal fight.
The Associated Press and other news organizations brought a lawsuit after the officials initially refused to publicly release the information. The massacre, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
The delayed law enforcement response to the shooting has been widely condemned as a massive failure: Nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman in a classroom filled with dead and wounded children and teachers. Families of the victims have long sought accountability for the slow police response in the South Texas city of about 15,000 people 130 kilometers west of San Antonio.
Brett Cross’ 10-year-old nephew, Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed. Cross, who was raising the boy as a son, was angered that relatives weren’t told the records were being released and that it took so long for them to be made public.
“If we thought we could get anything we wanted, we’d ask for a time machine to go back … and save our children, but we can’t, so all we are asking for is for justice, accountability and transparency, and they refuse to give this to us,” he said.
Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jacklyn Cazares was killed in the shooting, said the release of information Saturday reignited festering anger because it shows “the waiting and waiting and waiting” of law enforcement.
“Perhaps if they were to have breached earlier, they would have saved some lives, including my niece’s,” he said.
The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police. While terrified students and teachers called 911 from inside classrooms, dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do. Desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with them to go in.
The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the school at 11:33 a.m., first opening fire from the hallway, then going into two adjoining fourth-grade classrooms. The first responding officers arrived at the school minutes later. They approached the classrooms, but then retreated as Ramos opened fire.
At 12:06 p.m., much of the radio traffic from the Uvalde Police Department was still focused on setting up a perimeter around the school and controlling traffic in the area, as well as the logistics of keeping track of those who safely evacuated the building. They’ve had trouble setting up a command post, one officer tells his colleagues, “because we need the bodies to keep the parents out.”
“They’re trying to push in,” he says.
At 12:16 p.m., someone with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state law enforcement agency, called police to let them know a SWAT team was en route from Austin, about 100 kilometers away. She asked for any information the police could give about the shooting, the suspect and the police response.
“Do you have a command post? Or where do you need our officers to go?” the caller asks.
The police representative responds that officers know there are several dead students inside the elementary school and others still hiding. Some of the survivors have been evacuated to a building nearby. She doesn’t know if a command post has been set up.
At 12:50 p.m., a tactical team enters one of the classrooms and fatally shoots Ramos.
Among criticisms included in a U.S. Justice Department report released earlier this year was that there was “no urgency” in establishing a command center, creating confusion among police about who was in charge.
Multiple federal and state investigations have laid bare cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers.
Some of the 911 calls released were from terrified instructors. One described “a lot, a whole lot of gunshots,” while another sobbed into the phone as a dispatcher urged her to stay quiet. “Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!” the first teacher cried before hanging up.
Just before arriving at the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at her home. He then took a pickup from the home and drove to the school.
Ramos’ distraught uncle made several 911 calls begging to be put through so he could try to get his nephew to stop shooting.
“Everything I tell him, he does listen to me,” Armando Ramos said. “Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in,” he added, his voice cracking.
He said his nephew, who had been with him at his house the night before, stayed with him in his bedroom all night, and told him that he was upset because his grandmother was “bugging” him.
“Oh my God, please, please, don’t do nothing stupid,” the man says on the call. “I think he’s shooting kids.”
But the offer arrived too late, coming just around the time that the shooting had ended and law enforcement officers killed Salvador Ramos.
Two of the responding officers now face criminal charges. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child abandonment and endangerment. A Texas state trooper in Uvalde who had been suspended was reinstated to his job earlier this month.
In an interview this week with CNN, Arredondo said he thinks he’s been “scapegoated” as the one to blame for the botched law enforcement response.
Some of the families have called for more officers to be charged and filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media, online gaming companies, and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.
A North Texas woman is apologizing to her neighborhood after being held hostage for more than 24 hours during a standoff that shut down a Providence Village subdivision and disrupted school bus service.
CBS News Texas obtained a post from the woman, who wrote, “I am so sorry, everyone, all of you have such wonderful families, and I’m sorry to bring this monster to us.”
Neighbors responded with support, telling her, “We are here for you,” and “Don’t be sorry, we were just so worried for you.”
Suspect faces multiple felony charges
Authorities said the woman was rescued by the FBI and SWAT after allegedly being held by 57‑year‑old Michael Miller. He faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful restraint, aggravated kidnapping, burglary of a habitation, and violation of bond/protective order.
Miller received bonds on all charges except aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His total bond on the remaining charges is $4.5 million.
Neighbors sheltered in place for more than a day
Residents of the Foree Ranch subdivision are now trying to return to normal, but many say the experience is still lingering.
Preston Turner said he walked into the situation unexpectedly.
“I went to leave my house roughly on Monday morning, around 1 a.m., to go help a friend out that was in need,” Turner said. “I opened my garage, and I was approached by two SWAT members, and they were telling me to hurry up and close my garage and that we could not leave the house.”
Turner, his wife and children spent the next 24-plus hours hosting neighbors who lived across the street from the victim’s home. He streamed the standoff live on TikTok until authorities asked him to stop for safety reasons.
“And once I got the stream going, her family was on the stream, and they were asking me to continue because they wanted to know what was going on. So, very concerned about her,” he said.
Turner said he could see when Miller was arrested and placed into an SUV before being taken to jail.
Families describe fear and uncertainty
Up the block, Ruby Condensa and her family sheltered in place as the hours dragged on.
“It went on for so long. Um, at one point, I honestly did not know what was going to happen after we hit the 20-hour mark and I woke up, and I heard them,” Condensa said.
Her nearly two‑year‑old son Kai is used to playing outside, and she believes the uncertainty added to his anxiety.
“Kai, he’s a baby. He doesn’t know, but I think that obviously it was a lot just being inside. And I know my anxious energy might’ve been a little on him because it was a scary situation. Um, if it was that scary for me, I can’t even imagine what her and her family went through.”
Community gives victim space, offers support
Neighbors chose not to visit the victim’s home on Wednesday, saying they wanted to give her space after the traumatic event. But they made clear they are ready to help.
“It’s really sad, and I feel for her, and I hope that she can heal from that,” Condensa said. “And I know that, um, our neighborhood has really rallied around her, and if she needs anything. I know a lot of us would be there to help her in whatever way she needs.”
ABILENE, Texas — A Florida truck driver has been charged with intoxication manslaughter after a crash at a rural intersection left a South Texas man dead, authorities said.
Miguel Angel Casanova, 68, of Saint Cloud, Florida, suffered minor injuries in the crash and was wearing a seatbelt, according to investigators. After receiving treatment at Hendrick North Emergency Care, he was arrested on the charge.
RELATED| Abilene man charged with Intoxicated Manslaughter
Authorities identified the victim as Adam Lee Reyna, 26, of Mission, Texas. Reyna, who was driving a 2019 Dodge Ram pickup, died at the scene and was pronounced dead by Justice of the Peace Mike McAuliffe. His seatbelt use was not immediately known.
According to a preliminary investigation, Casanova was traveling westbound on County Road 54 and approached a stop sign at the intersection with State Highway 351. Reyna was traveling northbound on the highway toward the same intersection.
RELATED| Christoval man indicted for Intoxication Manslaughter
Investigators said Casanova failed to yield at the stop sign, and the vehicles collided.
The impact caused Reyna’s pickup to catch fire, and it was destroyed, authorities said.
RELATED| Abilene man indicted for intoxication manslaughter
Further investigation determined Casanova was intoxicated due to an overdose of medication at the time of the crash.
The investigation remains ongoing.
DALLAS — Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into classrooms.
The 9-8 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a boost to backers of similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana. Opponents have argued that hanging the Ten Commandments in classrooms proselytizes to students and amounts to religious indoctrination by the government.
In a lengthy majority opinion, the conservative-leaning appeals court in New Orleans rejected those arguments in Texas, saying the requirement does not step on the rights of parents or students.
“No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin,” the ruling says.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that challenged the Texas law on behalf of parents said in a statement that they anticipate appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights,” they said in the statement.
The mandate is one of several fronts in Texas that opponents have fought over religion in classrooms. In 2024, the state approved optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools, and a proposal set for a vote in June would add Bible stories to required reading lists in Texas classrooms.
The decision over the Ten Commandments law reverses a lower federal court ruling that had blocked about a dozen Texas school districts — including some of the state’s largest — from putting up the posters. The Texas law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott took effect in September, marking the largest attempt in the nation to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools.
From the start, the law was met almost immediately by a mix of embrace and hesitation in Texas classrooms that educate the state’s 5.5 million public school students.
The mandate animated school board meetings, spun up guidance about what to say when students ask questions, and led to boxes of donated posters being dropped on the doorsteps of campuses statewide. Although the law only requires schools to hang the posters if donated, one suburban Dallas school district spent nearly $1,800 to print roughly 5,000 posters.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, called the ruling “a major victory for Texas and our moral values.”
“The Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day,” he said.
Tuesday’s ruling comes after the appeals court heard arguments in January in the Texas case and a similar case in Louisiana. In February, the court cleared the way for Louisiana to enforce its law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the Texas ruling “adopted our entire legal defense” of the law in her state. In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey also signed a similar law earlier this month.
“Our law clearly was always constitutional, and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us,” Murrill said in a statement posted to social media.
Judge Stephen A. Higginson, in a dissenting opinion joined by four others on the court, wrote that the framers of the Constitution “intended disestablishment of religion, above all to prevent large religious sects from using political power to impose their religion on others.”
“Yet Texas, like Louisiana, seeks to do just that, legislating that specific, politically chosen scripture be installed in every public-school classroom,” Higginson wrote.
The law says schools must put donated posters “in a conspicuous place” and requires the writing to be a size and typeface that is visible from anywhere in a classroom to a person with “average vision.” The displays must also be 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall.
Texas’ law easily passed the GOP-controlled Legislature and Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have backed posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
___
Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report from Honolulu, Hawaii.
-
Wyoming6 minutes agoGovernor Mark Gordon Discusses Water-saving Measures By Data Centers In Southeast Wyoming
-
Crypto12 minutes agoBen McKenzie is Still Mad at Matt Damon For Those Crypto Ads
-
Finance18 minutes agoAuto Finance Capital Summit | Insights | Mayer Brown
-
Fitness24 minutes agoAt 50, Hrithik Roshan’s ex-wife Sussanne sets fitness goals with challenging Pilates exercise
-
Movie Reviews36 minutes ago‘Madhuvidhu’ movie review: A light-hearted film that squanders a promising conflict
-
World48 minutes agoGoogle puts AI agents at heart of its enterprise money-making push
-
News54 minutes agoSenate Adopts GOP Budget, Laying the Groundwork to Fund ICE and Reopen DHS
-
Politics60 minutes agoU.S. Seizes Second Tanker Carrying Iranian Oil