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Uvalde officials reportedly hire law firm to block release of 'highly embarrassing information'

Texas School Shooting Loophole
Posted at 2:45 PM, Jun 18, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-18 16:45:11-04

Weeks since a gunman killed 21 people inside a Texas elementary school, Uvalde law enforcement officials have stopped providing updates about what transpired during the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School.

With pressure mounting publically about what happened, the city of Uvalde has hired a private Texas law firm to seek an exemption to block the release of public records pertaining to the school shooting because some of them contain "highly embarrassing information," Vice and NPR reported.

Now, some Texas lawmakers and advocates have voiced their concerns that a legal loophole could be used by Uvalde city officials that would block further information about the deadly school shooting from being released, the Associated Press reported.

The law, which was created in the 1990s, blocks records about crimes from being released publically for which no one has been convicted.

According to the news outlet, the Texas Attorney General's Office has ruled that the exception applies when a suspect dies.

The 18-year-old gunman authorities believe was responsible for one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history was fatally shot by a Border Patrol tactical team, USA Today reported.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed before the 18-year-old gunman was fatally shot.

Law enforcement officials have been under intense scrutiny for handling the school massacre.

The AP reported that law enforcement officials delayed confronting the gunman for 77 minutes before he was fatally killed.

According to NPR, Texas Department of Public Director Steven McCraw said during a press conference last month that Uvalde school district police Chief Pete Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself inside a classroom and that children were not at risk.

McCraw added that Arredondo made the “wrong decision” by not ordering officers to breach the classroom and immediately confront the gunman, the news outlets reported.