Records reveal medical response further delayed care for Uvalde shooting victims

Previously unreleased video, audio and interviews show for the first time how the medical response faltered after police finally confronted the Robb Elementary shooter.

By Zach Despart, Lomi Kriel, Alejandro Serrano, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Arelis R. Hernández, Sarah Cahlan, Imogen Piper & Uriel J. GarcíaDecember 21, 2022 11:33 am,

From The Texas Tribune:

Warning note: This story includes graphic descriptions of injuries sustained in an elementary school shooting and graphic language. Graphic videos reviewed by reporters are not included.

Footage from body and dashboard cameras showed that two ambulances were outside the school when officers killed the gunman inside Robb Elementary on May 24 in Uvalde.
Credit: Imogen Piper/The Washington Post

Dozens of officers from federal, state and local agencies, as well as school buses, parked in the street leading to the school.


Texas state trooper body-camera footage obtained by The Texas Tribune, The Washington Post and ProPublica. Graphics by Imogen Piper/The Washington Post

Pleading for help

Eva Mireles, 44, was an educator for 17 years who taught fourth graders at Robb Elementary. Credit: Courtesy of Lydia Martinez Delgado

“We as a nation are not ready”

Confusion and delays


A Border Patrol agent instructed officers to have “gauze ready to go” for victims from Rooms 111 and 112. Uvalde police footage obtained by The Texas Tribune, The Washington Post and ProPublica

The team, which typically handles dangerous situations involving migrants at the border, devised a plan to breach the adjoining classrooms while its medics set up a triage station.

“I can still feel the heart”

The child seen in the police body-camera footage fits the description of Xavier. A law enforcement document listing what students were wearing indicates that Xavier had on a black shirt, blue jeans and black-and-white shoes. That is similar to the clothing worn by the boy Aviles was treating, the officer video shows.

Xavier Lopez, 10, was a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School. Credit: Courtesy of Felicha Martinez

“Don’t give up”

Ultimately, medics moved Mireles off the ground and into an ambulance.