UVALDE, Texas — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was in Uvalde Wednesday to meet with families of the victim’s who were killed during the May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Garland held a closed door meeting the victims families ahead of Thursday, when the Department of Justice is set to release its investigative report into law enforcement’s response to the active shooter call.
It took 77 minutes for any of the nearly 400 law enforcement officers at the active scene to confront the gunman. In that time, 19 children and two teachers in adjoining classrooms were killed by the lone gunman.
The DOJ’s Critical Incident Review is intended to provide an independent and comprehensive account of how law enforcement responded to the shooting, the department said. It’ll examine things like officer training, command and control response, deployment of resources and the support provided to victims and their families.
Wednesday evening, the victims family members attended a 6 p.m. briefing with Garland at the Herby Ham Community Center in Uvalde.
Following the meeting, several family members left saying they felt it was a step in the right direction.
Brett Cross, who lost his son Uziyah Garcia, told WFAA families were informed it was a very thorough investigation outlining the failures from law enforcement. Cross said the families weren’t given too many specifics Wednesday night, and he’s anxiously awaiting the findings of the full report when it’s released to the public on Thursday.
“We still have to process it emotionally, and hopefully, this will bring some changes and accountability that we have been asking for and fighting for from the very beginning,” Cross said.
Berlinda Arreola, the grandmother of Uvalde shooting victim Amerie Jo Garza, spoke to members of the press after the DOJ’s briefing.
“I have a lot of emotion going right now. I don’t have a lot of words to say, I have to process everything,” Arreola said. “It was a lot of information and the next step is to find out what will be done with this information.”
Alfred Garza, Amerie Jo Garza’s father, said the DOJ’s finding seemed to reiterate what many of the families have already expressed: Law enforcement failed in their response to the mass shooting.
“I hope that people open their eyes and do what they should’ve done a long time ago,” Garza said. “We want people to be held accountable for what they didn’t do that day. I mean, that’s all that’s left."
Garland toured murals of the 21 victims Wednesday afternoon.
“Part of the reason we did the report is to make sure people all over the country know what the right thing to do is,” Garland said on Wednesday.
Garland and the DOJ will hold a press conference at 1:30 p.m. after the full report is released Thursday. Several of the victims family members told WFAA they plan to share their thoughts in a press conference shortly after.