Families of Uvalde school shooting victims frustrated over investigation

AUSTIN, Texas – Some families of the Uvalde school mass shooting called for the head of DPS to step down. 

In Austin Thursday morning, they addressed the State Public Safety Commission and shared frustration over the pace of the investigation.

Colonel Steve McCraw said the Texas Rangers’ investigation will be turned over to prosecutors before the end of the year. 

Family members in attendance said it’s painful every time they have to testify.

An uncle of one of the young victims told McCraw that he basically lit a match and burned down the town with all the misinformation that has come out since the deadly massacre.

They want accountability from the top down

“You keep talking in circles and doing that mess and everything, and listen, you can get irritated all you want. I lost my damn son. Your anger is not going to outmatch mine, man,” said Brett Cross, Uziyah Garcia’s uncle and legal guardian.

There was anger and frustration directed at the state’s top police chief, with some calling for him to immediately resign.

Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw gave an update to the agency’s oversight panel in Austin, promising the Texas Rangers investigation of his officers’ actions would be complete by the end of the year.

McCraw previously said he would resign if his troopers had any culpability for the delayed response in Uvalde.

On Thursday, his position seemed to change.

“If DPS, as an institution, failed the families, failed the school, or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely I need to go. But I can tell you this right now, DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community,” he said.

McCraw offered no indication at the hearing that any of the nearly 400 officers who waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman at Robb Elementary School would face charges. 

McCraw did say the following: “Something should’ve happened within that 10-minute period. It was always an active shooter. There should’ve never been a delay.”

MORE: Uvalde School Shooting Coverage

McCraw’s testimony comes as new body camera video obtained by KABB, the FOX affiliate in San Antonio, captures troopers talking about the need to confront the shooter, but no one takes steps to do that, with some expressing concern for their own safety.

Officer 1: Want to jump the f*****g gate or what?
Officer 2: What is the safest way to do this? I’m trying not to get clapped out.
Officer 1: Me neither.
Officer 2: I called Mike and knows he’s SRT. So, I think they got notified so it will be on their way too. But I know that this is, like, something that needs to be done, like, ASAP. And I also don’t like standing right by the windows where we can get shot, bro.

Relatives of some the 21 victims expressed frustration that Thursday’s hearing did not provide them more complete information.

“Closure for our family is not an option, until we have answers and hold those responsible accountable,” Jackie Casares’ uncle, Manuel Rizo, said.

McCraw’s remarks before the Texas Public Safety Commission follow the referral of seven DPS officers for investigation by the agency’s inspector general for what they did, or didn’t do, in response to the school massacre.

“I want to know where each and every one of the leadership were,” State Senator Roland Gutierrez said.

At the hearing, McCraw told Gutierrez that he would provide him with GPS data showing where troopers’ cars were the day of the school shooting.

Gutierrez and family members were disappointed with the outcome of the hearing.

“They all failed those kids that day and there needs to be a thorough investigation by an independent body, and clearly we can’t rely on the Texas Rangers to investigate themselves,” Gutierrez said.

“He makes all these B.S. promises he don’t keep, so,” Cross added.

RELATED: Leader of team investigating Uvalde shooting quietly retires

The head of the Texas Rangers has quietly retired, and one DPS officer under investigation, Sgt. Juan Maldanado, was fired last week.

The investigation into the remaining DPS troopers, which is by the office of inspector general, will be turned over to the public safety commission once it’s complete.