His connection to the massacre: McCraw leads the state agency investigating law enforcement’s response to Uvalde’s mass murder. His agency includes the Texas Rangers, an investigative division of the Texas DPS. McCraw called the police response “an abject failure and contrary to everything we’ve learned over the past two decades since the Columbine massacre.” He identified the incident commander as the school district’s police chief and slammed the chief’s decision not to immediately breach the classroom door. Officers waited in or around a hallway for more than an hour after the shooting began. “It was the wrong decision, period,” McCraw said. “There is no excuse for this.” Why he’s under scrutiny: Uvalde’s mayor criticized McCraw for accusing Uvalde’s schools police chief when officers from McCraw’s agency were also on the scene. DPS did not directly address McLaughlin’s criticism of McCraw. In a July 5 statement, DPS said it is “committed to working with multiple law enforcement agencies to get the answers we all seek” and said “this is still an active and ongoing investigation.” The 376 respondents came from a range of agencies, according to a Texas investigative commission report. Among them, 149 were from the US Border Patrol, 91 were from the Texas Department of Public Safety, and 14 were from the Department of Homeland Security. “Every agency in this corridor is going to have to share the responsibility,” McLaughlin, the mayor, told CNN on July 5. A shifting timeline of when DPS personnel arrived on scene raises serious questions about the department’s credibility, the head of Texas’ largest police union told CNN. He asked an “external independent source” to investigate the initial response. “I don’t know that we can trust (DPS) to do an internal investigation,” said Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, which represents some law enforcement officers in Uvalde. “I would say DPS was quick to wash their hands, point their fingers, and make sure the general public, especially elected officials, knew they were clean, blameless and that this was a local problem.” The latest: While the DPS director in June called the response a “huge failure,” a DPS trooper was on the scene outside Robb Elementary just 2 minutes and 28 seconds after the gunman entered, CNN was the first to report on August 2. The trooper was seen on police body cam video provided to CNN by McLaughlin. Previously, McCraw said a trooper entered the hallway at 11:42 a.m., or nine minutes after the shooter entered the school. Uvalde police body cam video first reported by CNN showed a DPS trooper at the west entrance of the school at 11:37:51 a.m. – about five minutes earlier than previously acknowledged. The DPS investigation into the shooting will include an internal review of the actions taken by each DPS officer at the scene to determine whether any should be referred to an inspector general for investigation, McCraw said Aug. 4. The DPS director said he had not yet reviewed video from all 34 body cameras – noting he may need to correct that number in the future – but had seen footage. McCraw would not release any details of the investigation, per the Uvalde County District Attorney’s request, he said, noting the case could take years. Photo: Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis/Getty Images
