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Texas prosecutor convenes grand jury to investigate Uvalde school shooting, multiple media outlets report
A Texas prosecutor has convened a grand jury to investigate the Uvalde school shooting that killed 21 people, multiple media reported Friday.
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell told the San Antonio Express-News that a grand jury will review evidence related to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. She did not disclose what the grand jury will focus on, the newspaper reported.
Mitchell did not immediately respond to emailed questions and calls to her office. The empaneling of the grand jury was first reported by the Uvalde Leader-News.
Families of the children and teachers killed in the attack renewed demands for criminal charges after a scathing Justice Department report released Thursday again laid bare numerous failures by police during one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history.
The report, conducted by the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing, known as the COPS Office, looked at thousands of pieces of data and documentation and relied on more than 260 interviews, including with law enforcement and school personnel, family members of victims, and witnesses and survivors from the massacre. The team investigating visited Uvalde nine times, spending 54 days on the ground in the small community.
“I’m very surprised that no one has ended up in prison,” Velma Lisa Duran, whose sister, Irma Garcia, was one of the two teachers killed in the May 24, 2022, shooting, told the Associated Press. “It’s sort of a slap in the face that all we get is a review … we deserve justice.”
Thursday’s report called the law enforcement response to the Uvalde shooting an “unimaginable failure.” The 600-page report found that police officers responded to 911 calls within minutes, but waited to enter classrooms and had a disorganized response.
In the report, much of the blame was placed on the former police chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, who was terminated in the wake of the shooting, although the report also said that some officers’ actions “may have been influenced by policy and training deficiencies.”
The school district did not have an active shooter policy, and police gave families incorrect information about the victims’ conditions. Families said the police response to the May 2022 shooting – which left 19 elementary students and two teachers dead — exacerbated their trauma.
The Justice Department’s report, however, did not address any potential criminal charges.
“A series of major failures — failures in leadership in tactics, in communications, in training and in preparedness — were made by law enforcement and others responding to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a news conference from Uvalde. “As a result, 33 students and three of their teachers, many of whom had been shot, were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour as law enforcement officials remained outside.”
The attorney general reiterated a key finding of the Justice Department’s examination, stating that “the law enforcement response at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, and in the hours and days after was a failure that should not have happened.”
“Lives would’ve been saved and people would’ve survived” had law enforcement confronted the shooter swiftly in accordance with widely accepted practices in an active-shooter situation, Garland said.
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Kamala Harris will speak with “60 Minutes” tomorrow. Here’s what to know for the interview.
Voters will get the chance to hear from Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday as she presents her case for why she should be president in a “60 Minutes” election special.
For decades, “60 Minutes” has featured both Republican and Democratic nominees for presidents, but this year, former President Donald Trump backed out after previously indicating he would be on the show. Correspondent Scott Pelley, who’d been set to interview Trump, will instead travel to Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters and a critical battleground in a key swing state.
One thing is certain about the election; with the U.S. deeply involved in both the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, whoever wins on Nov. 5 will become a wartime president.
What Harris will discuss
Israel’s war started one year ago after Hamas launched a surprise terror attack and correspondent Bill Whitaker will discuss the ongoing war with Harris.
Harris will also discuss the economy, immigration, her record as vice president and the differences between herself and Trump.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz will also appear.
Whitaker joined the Democratic ticket on the campaign trail this week to gain insight into their platform’s priorities and values, and what the candidates believe voters should know.
Why Trump pulled out of the “60 Minutes” interview
Leading up to the candidate hour, Trump, through campaign spokespeople, was the first candidate to accept the “60 Minutes” request to be interviewed for the special, according to CBS News. It had been agreed that both candidates would receive equal time during the broadcast.
Trump last sat down with 60 Minutes in 2020. He walked out during the interview with Lesley Stahl. Trump referenced the incident on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference when asked about his decision not to participate in the Oct. 7 “60 Minutes” election special.
“Well, right now, I went to – they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the ‘laptop from hell’ was from Russia, and I said it wasn’t from Russia. It was from Hunter, and I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do ’60 Minutes.’ I do everything.”
The Republican nominee for president emphasized that he felt he was owed an apology from “60 Minutes.”
“Let’s see if they do it. I wouldn’t mind doing 60,” Trump continued. “I’ve done ’60 Minutes’ a lot.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said that Trump’s team had not agreed to an interview.
“Fake News,” Cheung said in a post on X. “60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.”
Previous Trump, Harris appearances on 60 Minutes
Trump previously sat down with “60 Minutes'” Mike Wallace in 1985, Pelley in 2015 and Lesley Stahl twice in 2016, first in July of that year and then again in November of 2016. He also spoke with Stahl again in 2018 and 2020.
Harris previously sat down with Whitaker last year. She also was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell, “CBS Evening News” anchor and “60 Minutes” contributing correspondent, in 2020.
How to watch the “60 Minutes” election special
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