Tens of thousands of pages related to the devastating 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are set to be released after a lawyer admitted to “an error”.
An attorney for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District revealed on Monday night that they had failed to release “all of the responsive information” concerning the May 24, 2022, massacre at Robb Elementary School that saw 19 children and two teachers shot dead, according to CNN.
“We, our firm, went back and re-looked at the data that we had received from the district from the beginning and realized that they were correct and that we were wrong,” Robb Decker of Walsh Gallegos said at an emotional school board meeting, which was livestreamed to YouTube.
“We had not released all of the responsive information. That was an error in our side.”
Teary board members apologized and stressed they played no part in the records being withheld.
Jaclyn Gonzales, a trustee on the UCISD board, said approximately 26,000 pages, consisting of about 8,600 emails, would be released. She did not appear to mention an explicit publishing date.
“We want to make sure that we do not have any more errors. I appreciate the people that did speak up to show us that there was errors,” she said.
Speaking directly to a surviving teacher and a grandfather of one of the victims, Gonzales added: “We absolutely want to be transparent. We know what it means to the families.”
Jesse Rizo, a board member and uncle of 9-year-old victim Jackie Cazares called for new legal counsel to be hired. He accused the law firm of negligence and said calling the withholding of documents an “error” was “putting it very lightly.”
Rizo proposed a motion to authorize the release of almost all documents related to the shooting, including attorney-client privileged information, which was passed unanimously.
The counsel’s admission came just weeks after the UCISD released thousands of pages of records related to the mass shooting following a years-long legal battle over public access to the material.
It includes emails between top district officials, text messages to and from police officers at the scene and records on the shooter, Salvador Ramos.
The files painted an unsettling portrait of Ramos, who was just 18 when he carried out one of the deadliest classroom attacks in U.S. history, citing his “poor academic performance” and “lack of attendance.”
The Independent has contacted the UCISD for more information.
