Members of law enforcement stand outside Robb Elementary School after a May 24 shooting in Uvalde, Texas. When the shooter arrived at the school, he jumped his fence and easily entered through an unlocked gate, police said.
Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
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Members of law enforcement stand outside Robb Elementary School after a May 24 shooting in Uvalde, Texas. When the shooter arrived at the school, he jumped his fence and easily entered through an unlocked gate, police said.
City of Uvalde officials are using a loophole and several other blanket exemptions in Texas to prevent the release of police records related to last month’s mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to a report. letter obtained by NPR in response to public information requests. filed by member station Texas Public Radio.
Since the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, law enforcement officials have provided little conflicting information, amid growing public pressure for transparency. The Texas Department of Public Safety, which is leading the state’s investigation, previously said some accounts of the events were preliminary and could change as more witnesses are interviewed.
The city of Uvalde hired a private law firm to argue its case, which cited “dead suspect loophole”, to deny disclosure of information because the shooter died in police custody. The legal exception prohibits the public disclosure of information relating to crimes for which no one has been convicted. The Texas Attorney General’s Office decided that the exception applies when a suspect is deceased.
The maneuver has been used repeatedly by Texas law enforcement to claim that they are not required to provide the requested information because a criminal case is still pending, even though the suspect is dead.
The loophole was established in the 1990s to protect people wrongfully accused or whose cases were dismissed, said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.
“It’s meant to protect the innocent,” Shannon said, but in some cases “it’s being used and abused in ways that were never intended.”
