HOUSTON — At a somber and occasionally emotional oversight hearing, the director of the Texas state police faced pressure on Thursday to resign over his agency’s role in the delayed police response to the Uvalde school shooting and its handling of the subsequent investigation.
Relatives of two of the children killed during the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School directly addressed the state police director, Steven McCraw, from a lectern that included a box of tissues, accusing him of creating more pain and hurt in Uvalde and urging him to step down.
“You, sir, have told lies,” said Brett Cross, who raised his nephew, Uziyah Garcia, 10, like a son until the boy was killed in a classroom at the school. “You’re not in control of your officers, nor are you the leader this great state deserves at the helm of what was once known as one of the best law enforcement agencies.”
Mr. McCraw, in his remarks, said that he would resign if it were shown that his agency, the Department of Public Safety, had “as an institution” failed in its handling of the shooting, something he said had not yet happened. (He had previously promised to step down if there was “any culpability” in his agency.)
“D.P.S. as an institution, right now, did not fail the community,” Mr. McCraw said.
Pressure has increased on Mr. McCraw and his department amid growing scrutiny over the actions of state police officers during the shooting — in which 19 children and two teachers were killed — and the lengthy period of time that passed before officers finally confronted and killed the gunman.
At least seven Department of Public Safety officers have been under investigation by its inspector general. One officer, Sgt. Juan Maldonado, was served with termination papers last week. Another, Ranger Chris Kindell, has been suspended, a department spokesman said.
Calls for Mr. McCraw’s resignation on Thursday came from both inside the hearing room where the Public Safety Commission met in Austin, and from politicians outside.
“McCraw should do the right thing — resign,” Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from San Antonio, said on Twitter. Representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican whose district includes Uvalde, said Mr. McCraw should do so “immediately.”
In remarks to the commission, Roland Gutierrez, a Democratic state senator who represents Uvalde, highlighted the shifting narrative of the shooting provided by the state police. This included false information that the gunman gained entry to the school because a teacher had propped open a door (it had been unlocked), as well as Mr. McCraw’s early and repeated comments blaming the Uvalde school police chief, Pete Arredondo, entirely for the delay in confronting the gunman.
Mr. McCraw has since acknowledged that other officers also played a role in the botched response, including some of those within his own agency.
“You’ve already shattered another illusion entirely,” Mr. Gutierrez said, “our belief that we could trust the word and the actions of law enforcement, especially the Department of Public Safety.”
Jesse Rizo, whose niece, Jackie Cazares, 9, died in the shooting, said that inaccurate or incomplete accounts provided by Mr. McCraw in the weeks and months since the shooting had caused lasting damage to the people of Uvalde. “You basically lit a match and you set the town on fire,” Mr. Rizo said.
Mr. Arredondo was fired by the school district over the summer. The district later suspended the rest of the school Police Department amid protests by Mr. Cross and others, and after it was revealed that a new campus security officer hired by the district was a former state police officer who was under investigation for her actions during the shooting. The police lieutenant who was the city of Uvalde’s acting chief during the shooting was put on administrative leave. The school superintendent also announced his intention to resign.
The Department of Public Safety has said that 91 of its officers responded to the elementary school on May 24, part of a response that included hundreds of local, state and federal officers. Sergeant Maldonado arrived with the first contingent of officers from the city and school Police Departments. Body camera footage released so far has shown him hanging back at a doorway, not entering the building.
Other footage from later in the response showed Ranger Kindell inside the school conferring with Border Patrol agents who would later lead the team that confronted the gunman. Even after hearing additional gunfire inside the classrooms, the team did not go in for nearly 30 more minutes.
Mr. McCraw said on Thursday that the Texas Rangers, a division of his agency that has been leading the state’s investigation into the shooting, would be finishing its work before the end of the year and sending the results to the local district attorney. He suggested that officers could face charges for their roles in the case, depending on what the investigation showed.
“The district attorney is going to review every officer in that hallway for criminal culpability,” he said.
He said the ultimate decision on charges could stretch longer than two months in part because the autopsies of the victims had not been completed. “That’s critical to this thing,” Mr. McCraw said. “The question is how many kids did die in that room, or teachers died, because they missed that magic hour,” when medical intervention could have saved them, he said.
After speaking for about 13 minutes, Mr. McCraw invited the victims’ relatives and others who had already spoken to respond to him.
Mr. Cross jumped up. “You said that you would resign if there was any culpability,” he said.
“If D.P.S. as an institution failed the city of Uvalde, I would be glad to,” Mr. McCraw said.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you’re going to do that because you keep talking in circles,” Mr. Cross said. “I lost my damn son. Your anger is not going to match mine, man.”
He then pressed him further.
“Are you a man of your word?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then resign.”
“Thank you,” Mr. McCraw replied.
Mr. Gutierrez then returned to the microphone to directly address Mr. McCraw. Referring to videos from the shooting that he was able to review as a legislator, Mr. Gutierrez said that a critical moment came when a tactical officer from Border Patrol arrived and said he had a Border Patrol Tactical Unit that was headed toward Uvalde, 45 minutes away.
“That turned into this: We’re waiting on BORTAC. We’re waiting for a federal agency that doesn’t have jurisdiction to come in and do our jobs,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “That’s what happened on that day and you know it.”
“I don’t disagree with that characterization,” Mr. McCraw said. “And I’ll tell you this: It was an abject failure.”
