Gov. Greg Abbott waited hours to call Texas’ top cop the day of Uvalde shooting, lawmaker says
Instagram / abbottcampaign
Gov. Greg Abbott wags a finger at a July campaign appearance in Fort Stockton.
Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez released call logs Monday that he said show Gov. Greg Abbott waited hours after the shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School to have phone conversations about the tragedy with the state’s top cop.
Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, said the late timing of the three calls Abbott made on May 24, the date of the shooting, to the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, shows the Republican governor’s lack of concern.
So do their brevity, the Democratic senator added. Records show the three calls totaled 31 minutes.
“That’s not what leaders do, but that’s what this person did,” said Gutierrez, who shared the call logs during a Monday press conference.
Abbott’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Gutierrez’s allegations or the authenticity of the logs.
During the press conference, Gutierrez accused Abbott, a Republican, of being more concerned with raising money for his reelection than responding to the worst school shooting in state history. Abbott faced early criticism for attending a fundraiser in East Texas hours after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.
The logs Gutierrez provided purport to show that Abbott and DPS Chief Steven McCraw spoke at 4:05 p.m., 5:15 p.m. and 8:41 p.m. on May 24.
The first 911 call from the campus was placed at 11:29 a.m. that day, and police killed the shooter at 12:50 p.m., according to a timeline reported by The Texas Tribune.
Gutierrez has emerged as one of the most vocal state lawmakers in the wake of the massacre. He demanded Abbott call a special session to address firearms laws and lambasted law enforcement for taking more than an hour to take out the gunman.
The senator also made headlines by suing the Texas Department of Public Safety and McCraw in a bid to force the release of additional records about the police response.
During his Monday press event, Gutierrez said he received the call logs 60 days ago but declined to share them until now because he wanted to give the state’s investigation into the shooting “the benefit of the doubt.”
However, Gutierrez said he’s dismayed by the lack of transparency from both DPS and Abbott’s office around the shooting. He also accused the governor of bankrolling recent ads against him.
“If he wants to play politics with me and with South Texas, then we’re going to tell the truth,” Gutierrez said.
“This man has done absolutely nothing, which is why we’re sharing this today,” the senator added.
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