A Texas judge has sealed the autopsy reports of the 19 students and two teachers slaughtered in the Uvalde school massacre — leaving some questions about the botched police response unanswered until the probe is completed.
Judge Camile Dubose of the 38th District Court ordered the records be sealed and provided to the local district attorney on Friday.
The decision prevents victims’ families and the public from viewing the records, which likely indicate whether any victims could have been saved if law enforcement had acted sooner.
Security footage from the May 24 massacre shows cops waited 77 minutes before trying to open the doors to two classrooms where the shooter targeted innocent children and educators.
In their motion to seal the reports, prosecutors said that “releasing the details of the wounds inflicted from the Robb Elementary shooting would unnecessarily flood the airways with highly emotionally charged information, jeopardizing the fair resolution of a prosecution,” KENS 5 reported.
Prosecutors added that the autopsy reports could reveal information that authorities need to preserve until the investigation into the shooting has concluded.
It’s unclear when the probe will be complete, though state leaders have said it could take up to 18 months.
The completion of the autopsy reports comes six months after teenage gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing 21 people.
The 18-year-old shooter terrorized two adjoining fourth-grade classrooms for more than an hour before law enforcement forcefully entered the rooms and killed him.
Roland Gutierrez, a state senator whose district covers Uvalde, shared his frustration with the victims’ families — who have already had to deal with the botched response by law enforcement.
“Everything for the last six months has been hidden by this agency and by people in power to cover up their failures,” he said. “It’s important to find out if those children were alive, and at what time.”
At least four of the victims were still alive when federal law enforcement agents forced their way into the classroom and killed the gunman.
One of the victims died on the way to a San Antonio hospital, two died at Uvalde Memorial hospital and another died inside an ambulance outside the school.
It remains unclear whether any of the victims might have survived had law enforcement breached the classrooms earlier and gotten them medical attention more promptly.
