His connection to the bloodbath: McCraw leads the state company investigating the legislation enforcement response to the Uvalde mass taking pictures. His company consists of the Texas Rangers, an investigative department of the Texas DPS.

McCraw referred to as the police response “an abject failure and antithetical to everything we’ve learned over the last two decades since the Columbine massacre.”

He identified the incident commander as the school district police chief and slammed the chief’s resolution to not instantly breach the classroom door. Officers waited in or round a hallway for greater than an hour after the taking pictures started.

“It was the wrong decision, period,” McCraw mentioned. “There’s no excuse for that.”

Why he’s underneath scrutiny: Uvalde’s mayor criticized McCraw for guiding blame on the Uvalde faculties police chief when officers from McCraw’s personal company have been additionally on the scene.

DPS didn’t straight tackle McLaughlin’s criticism of McCraw. In a July 5 assertion, DPS mentioned it’s “committed to working with multiple law enforcement agencies to get the answers we all seek” and mentioned “this is still very much an active and ongoing investigation.”

The 376 responders got here from an array of companies, in line with a Texas House investigative committee report. Among them, 149 have been from US Border Patrol, 91 have been from the Texas Department of Public Safety and 14 have been from the Department of Homeland Security.

“Every agency in that hallway is gonna have to share the blame,” McLaughlin, the mayor, told CNN on July 5.

A shifting timeline of when DPS personnel arrived on the scene raises critical questions in regards to the division’s trustworthiness, the pinnacle of the most important police union in Texas instructed CNN. He has referred to as for an “outside independent source” to probe the preliminary response.

“I don’t know that we can trust (DPS) to do an internal investigation,” mentioned Charley Wilkison, government director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, which represents some legislation enforcement officers in Uvalde. “I would say that DPS was fast to wash its hands, to point fingers and to make sure that the general public, particularly the elected officials, knew that they were spotless, blameless and that this was a local problem.”

The latest: While in June the DPS director called the response an “abject failure,” a DPS trooper was on scene outdoors Robb Elementary simply 2 minutes and 28 seconds after the gunman entered, CNN was first to report August 2. The trooper was seen on police bodycam video offered to CNN by McLaughlin.

Previously, McCraw mentioned one trooper had entered the hallway at 11:42 a.m., or 9 minutes after the shooter entered the college. Uvalde police bodycam video first reported on by CNN confirmed a DPS trooper on the west entrance of the college at 11:37:51 – about 5 minutes sooner than beforehand acknowledged.

DPS’ investigation into the taking pictures will embrace an internal review of the actions taken by every DPS officer on the scene to find out whether or not any ought to be referred to an inspector basic for investigation, McCraw mentioned August 4. The DPS director mentioned he had not but reviewed video from all 34 physique cameras – noting that he could need to appropriate that quantity sooner or later – however he had seen excerpts.

McCraw wouldn’t publicly launch any particulars of the probe, in accordance with a Uvalde County district lawyer’s request, he mentioned, noting the case might take years.

Photo: Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis/Getty Images