UVALDE, Texas – Records released by the Uvalde Consolidated School District this week reveal how and what district staff talked about in the hours before, during and after the May 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting, as well as lingering security concerns.
The documents are part of the latest batch of records released by the district since August. Wednesday’s release included short video clips and more than 15,000 pages of records.
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Earlier this year, a state appeals court judge sided with KSAT and other media organizations in a 2022 lawsuit against the district and county seeking the release of their records related to the massacre.
Two teachers and 19 students died on May 24, 2022, after a gunman entered Robb Elementary and remained in a classroom for more than an hour before officers breached the door and killed him.
Family members of the victims were among those who pushed for the records to be released.
Communication between UCISD employees on May 24
On the morning of May 24, 2022, records show district staff focused on finalizing details for the high school graduation, including reviewing the valedictorian’s speech. The ceremony was postponed.
At 11:28 a.m., a gunman entered Robb Elementary. Within 10 minutes, records show teacher Elsa Avila emailed other staff members saying she had been shot.
The principal of Dalton Elementary sent a mass email to staff at 12:21 p.m. letting them know about the active shooter at Robb Elementary, adding that he was still in the building.
A teacher messaged Robb Elementary principal Mandy Gutierrez at 12:45 p.m. through Remind, a school messaging app, saying officers were knocking on the door, but she did not answer.
Law enforcement confronted the shooter at 12:50 p.m., 77 minutes after the massacre began.
During and after the shooting, records show several staff members sent emails asking if people at Robb Elementary were OK. An email shows the timeline of developments and updates UCISD spokesperson shared with the public throughout the day.
Later that evening, records show a staffer emailed teacher Arnulfo Reyes to check on him. Reyes was shot three times.
Staffers emailed each other that night asking about updates on students, as well as teachers Avila, Reyes, Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia. Mireles and Garcia are two of the 21 people killed in the shooting.
Records show the staffers also talked about what students who survived the shooting shared with them.
On May 25, Guttierez emailed staff with information about how they could pick up their cars from Robb Elementary.
Concerns about exterior doors
Records obtained by CNN earlier this year detail repeated issues with doors at Robb Elementary in the years prior to the 2022 shooting.
A staffer at an unnamed school sent a video and email about exterior doors not shutting properly, records show.
The video shows someone pushing a red door open with their foot.
The next day, then-interim superintendent Gary Patterson asked for a progress update on fixing the door.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.