UVALDE, Texas — The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) – one of the agencies under scrutiny for its inaction in the Uvalde school shooting – testified before a grand jury Wednesday that is considering criminal charges against responding officers.
His testimony was private as part of grand jury secrecy. But his presence is significant, showing that grand jurors and prosecutors are interested in hearing directly from those connected to the police response.
McCraw landed at the Uvalde airport Wednesday morning after arriving by state plane. He was then taken by SUV to a county-run fairground facility, where the grand jury is meeting in private.
Over the past 21 months, McCraw and his agency have faced criticism for not taking over the police response from local Uvalde police leaders when they arrived on the scene. McCraw has since changed policy, allowing DPS troopers to do just that.
DPS initially perpetuated a false narrative that police performed heroically that day in May 2022 – when we now know that officers from an array of agencies stood in the hallway for 77 minutes before acting. In the aftermath of the shooting, DPS fired two troopers but had about 90 on the scene that day at various times during the response.
The KVUE Defenders reported last week that multiple law enforcement officers from various agencies – including DPS – had been summoned to the grand jury.
This grand jury is expected to meet for weeks, possibly months, before making a decision. They could issue indictment – or do nothing.
In Texas, it takes nine of 12 grand jurors to issue an indictment.