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Uvalde school shooting: 5 Texas DPS troopers face formal investigation for actions

By FOX 7 Austin Digital Team
Published  September 6, 2022 9:28pm CDT
Uvalde, Texas School Shooting
FOX 7 Austin

5 Texas DPS troopers face formal investigation for actions during Uvalde school shooting

According to DPS, five DPS law enforcement officers have been referred to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) where a formal investigation into their actions on the day of the Uvalde school shooting.

Five Department of Public Safety troopers, who were in Uvalde during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, are being investigated for their actions that day.

In an email from Colonel Steve McGraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, he stated, "Every agency that responded that day shares in this failure, including DPS."

According to DPS, five DPS law enforcement officers have been referred to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) where a formal investigation into their actions that day will take place. So far, two of those five officers have been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the OIG investigation.

Parents receive update on Uvalde CISD's security, support plan

Next week, students at Uvalde CISD will return to campuses for the first time since the massacre at Robb Elementary School in May.

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DPS also released an internal letter, which was sent by Col. McCraw to all DPS employees in July focused on school safety and an addition to the department’s protocol on active shooter situations. 

"DPS officers responding to an active shooter at a school will be authorized to overcome any delay in neutralizing an attacker. When a subject fires a weapon at a school he remains an active shooter until he is neutralized and is not to be treated as a barricaded subject," Col. McGraw says in the letter.

The letter from Col. McGraw also stated, "when a subject fires a weapon at a school, he remains an active shooter until he is neutralized, and is not to be treated as a barricaded suspect."

According to a Texas House report on the shooting, 376 law enforcement officers arrived at the shooting scene in Uvalde on May 24, 91 of them were members of state police.

Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the shooting.

Arredondo was fired from his role as Uvalde CISD police chief last month.

Col. McGraw called the response to the shooting an "abject failure" while testifying to a Texas Senate Committee in June, but faced criticism from some for laying the majority of the blame at the feet of Uvalde officers, when state and federal officers were also on scene.