Texas Speaker Dade Phelan announces House investigation into Uvalde school shooting

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan announced Friday the creation of a special investigative committee to examine the Robb Elementary School shooting. Phelan selected two House members and former Texas Supreme Court judge Eva Guzman, who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general this year, to serve on the committee. “The fact we still do not have an accurate picture of what exactly happened in Uvalde is an outrage,” Phelan said in a media statement. The investigative committee will have subpoena power to compel witness testimony and evidence related to the May 24 shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead, as well as 17 injured. Phelan said the committee will examine evidence from law enforcement and will reach findings in the shooting “as soon as possible to help inform the work of the House.” Joining Guzman are Lubbock Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows and El Paso Democrat Rep. Joe Moody. Burrows will chair the committee.

Phelan’s announcement comes after Gov. Greg Abbott requested the formation of special committees in both the House and Senate to examine school safety in the wake of the shooting. Phelan’s investigative committee is separate from the special committees and is the first legislative inquiry into the law enforcement response to the shooting that has come under intense scrutiny. At the center of the controversy is the decision by Uvalde schools police Chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo to not confront the 18-year-old gunman for more than 45 minutes while as many as 19 officers had gathered in the halls of Robb Elementary. “Every day, we receive new information that conflicts with previous reports, making it not only difficult for authorities to figure out next steps, but for the grieving families of the victims to receive closure,” Phelan said. On Friday, San Antonio state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, told the Associated Press that the incident commander during the shooting was not carrying a radio as the shooting unfolded. It was the latest information since it was learned that 911 calls children made inside the school were not being communicated to police inside the school. The account of the shooting has been plagued with misinformation since the outset. That has in part led to a Justice Department investigation of the police response to the shooting.