Uvalde Police Department apparently refusing to cooperate with Texas House committee

— Officers with the Uvalde Police Department are apparently refusing to cooperate with a Texas House committee investigating a widely criticized police response to the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School last month. State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, briefly alluded to the impasse at the end of the committee’s first hearing Thursday at the Uvalde City Hall. The three-member committee is in the city for two days to take testimony behind closed doors from witnesses to the May 24 massacre. Burrows, the committee chairman, told reporters that the Uvalde school district police department was being cooperative. “There is a question mark, however, about the Uvalde Police Department itself, about whether or not they will visit with us voluntarily,” Burrows said. “We’ll see if they do that.”

Burrows declined to take questions from reporters after the hearing, which will continue Friday. The House committee has the power to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify. The Uvalde Police Department has not responded to requests for comment by the San Antonio Express-News since the mass shooting. The department spokeswoman did not answer a call Thursday seeking comment about the committee. Uvalde police officers were first on the scene after Salvador Ramos, 18, walked into the school at 11:33 a.m. through an unlocked back door toting an assault-style rifle, then walked into classrooms 111 and 112, locking a door behind him. Two minutes later, three Uvalde police officers pursued him into the building, followed soon after by three more officers and a deputy. After Ramos fired at them through the door, injuring two of the officers, they decided to wait for backup and tactical equipment instead of forcing their way into the classrooms. By 12:03 p.m., as many as 19 officers from various agencies had gathered in the hallway, but they did not try to force entry into the classrooms despite 911 calls from survivors inside. It took police until 12:50 p.m. to breach the door and kill Ramos.