DALLAS — The chair of the Texas Senate special committee investigating the Uvalde massacre says the breakdown in the system that led to it became clear during two days of hearings at the state Capitol.
“You’ve got mental health. You’ve got school safety. You’ve got police training. All those different categories. Basically, we as a system from the state, we failed Uvalde. We did. It might have been a small crack, but it was a very violent one,” state Sen. Robert Nichols said on Inside Texas Politics.
Nichols says until lawmakers know exactly what they want to accomplish and have consensus, he doesn’t think a special session is necessary.
The East Texas Republican also says it’s too early to talk about possible recommendations that will come from the Senate special committee.
Nichols did tell us they heard from several different law enforcement agencies about who should be in charge on a scene.
Watch the segment below:
“And what seemed to be the consensus from what we heard from the testimony, all law enforcement, they work with the ones who were there first, who have the most information, the ones they think are in charge,” said the senator. “Because if you’re the second, or third, or fourth person to arrive at the scene, and are not aware of the circumstances, well then, you can do, sometimes, more harm than good.”
Nichols would not address if he thinks anyone should be held accountable for the law enforcement failures that day in Uvalde, saying his job is not to place blame.
“I think the parents don’t really care. They lost their loved ones. And they’ve got a big hole in their heart right now. And I think that’s all they’re focused on,” he said. “And there’s a lot of other outsiders who are trying to point blame and a lot of finger pointing in different directions. No one wants to be responsible for what happened. Ultimately, the person that was responsible was the shooter.”