DPS Agent Who Was Poised to Take
Over Disappears in Report on Uvalde

Capitol Inside
July 6, 2022

A report that Governor Greg Abbott commissioned determined on Wednesday that the Uvalde school police chief failed to establish a competent response during a mass shooting in May with a series of wrong calls, blown opportunities and nonstop confusion throughout the melee.

Conducted at Abbott's request by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University, the 24-page analysis fits nicely into the Department of Public Safety narrative that's sought to pin the blame for the catastrophic response from the start on the local school chief.

But the ALERRT study has at least one significant hole with a timeline reference to a DPS professional who appears poised to take command before disappearing in the story.

"At 11:53:10, a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) special agent arrived at the perimeter and was advised to man the perimeter," the report noted. "Another officer makes a comment about there being kids still in the building, the DPS special agent advised, “if there is then they just need to go in.”

"At 11:56:49, the DPS special agent states “there's still kids over here," according to the report for the governor. So, I'm getting the kids out!”

The report says that an "ad Hoc" team assaults room 111, neutralizing the suspect" at 12:50 p.m. - 57 minutes after the special DPS agent who remains unnamed gave the impression that he was taking over and is never mentioned again. DPS Director Steve McCraw has offered no explanation on why the special state police official vanishes from the saga when it had become apparent that the local police were unprepared for an eruption of violence of this magnitude and incapable of handling the response.

But the ALERRT report says little else about the DPS - with no elaboration on the fact that the agency had 14 officers at the scene where they waited for a U.S. Border Patrol crew to arrive, confront the killer and end the siege. The DPS has been invisible in the McCraw narrative, which set the table for the ALERRT review.

The DPS enlisted the ALERRT Center for the study at a time when the state police are withholding critical details from the public. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin accused McCraw on Tuesday of a cover-up designed to mask the state agency's own inaction at Robb Elementary.

The ALERRT essentially endorses McCraw's narrative with a sensational touch.

"While we do not have definitive information at this point, it is possible that some of the people who died during this event could have been saved if they had received more rapid medical care. In the next part of this AAR, we intend to address that Stop the Dying portion of the response that occurred following the killing of the suspect.

"Additionally, we have noted in this report that it does not appear that effective incident command was established during this event. The lack of effective command likely impaired both the Stop the Killing and Stop the Dying parts of the response. The final part of this AAR will address incident command issues," the report for Abbott added.