ROUND ROCK, Texas — More details are emerging about the law enforcement response to the deadly 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, which left 19 students and two teachers dead.
In August 2022, a coalition of news organizations, including KVUE, sued the city of Uvalde for access to previously-withheld documents, 911 calls, video and other information that could help victims' families know what happened that day.
Jesse Rizo and his family waited for this release for more than two years, after he lost his niece, Jackie Cazares, in the shooting. He describes life after her death as a "rollercoaster."
"Just that smile, those eyes, those innocent eyes, you know? And you could tell it's nothing but pure love," Rizo said. "Knowing that they were alone with this evil monster in this room that was basically torturing them, doing whatever he wanted to do to them, that really bothered me. Ate me up."
Now the city has released records – including recorded emergency calls to 911, police audio dispatch and phone call recordings and body and dash camera footage – that confirm the delayed response to the shooting. Officers waited 77 minutes to breach a classroom and take down the gunman.
"The ineptitude, just cowardice," Rizo said. "You had an army of people, you had one shooter with one weapon and you could not handle it. You couldn't go in and take care of the situation. And so, it angers you."
As other public records from the Uvalde school district, the county and Texas DPS still need to be released, Rizo hopes more information can lead to more eyes being opened for accountability and change.
"The people that have been critical of us asking for this information and saying, 'just move on,' that they basically take a few moments to read and click on these links and try to understand what that child may have gone through," Rizo said. "You're never going to get over it, you know. But for you to begin to heal right, you need to know these answers."
The lawsuit that led to the data release is separate from one that KVUE and other news outlets filed against the Texas Department of Public Safety. In that case, a judge ruled that the contents must be released, but the legal process is still unfolding.