AUSTIN, Texas – Newly released body camera footage from the 2022 Uvalde school shooting shows desperate parents pleading with officers to enter Robb Elementary School as a gunman carried out one of the deadliest classroom attacks in U.S. history.
The videos, part of a final batch of records released after a lengthy legal battle, reveal the slow and confused police response on May 24, 2022, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos killed 19 students and two teachers. Nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter.
Footage shows parents outside the school urging police to act, with some threatening to go inside themselves. Inside, officers debated tactics, discussed keys to the classroom, and expressed uncertainty about the situation, even as it was known the gunman was inside with children.
Documents also revealed deputies visited Ramos’ home months before the attack after his mother said she was afraid of him, and that his behavioral decline began in middle school.
Former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo and another officer face criminal charges over their actions that day. Investigations later found no evidence the classroom door was locked, contradicting claims made at the scene.
The footage has reignited criticism over the delay in confronting the shooter and the failure to act while children and teachers were trapped inside.