USA Today profiles Brett Cross, Kim Hammons and Adam Martinez, three of the parents of school kids affected by the May 24th mass shooting at Robb Elementary that was followed by a “systematic failure” of a reposes by over 375 law enforcement officers from over 21 agencies who waited 77 minutes to conform the active shooter. 19 Children and 2 teachers died, almost the same numbers were wounded.
After the fold, I’m using this diary to post some screen shots I’m trying to sort out with others Im corresponding with who have a deep interest in the forensics of the case, such as they are. Feel free to ignore that part, when I get them sorted I’ll be making a further post. A lot more wuestions here than answers at present. The whistleblower who is leaking invratigation material to CNN and Sinclair news has a great deal of bodycam clips the public has not seen before, but they come with very little context and are used mostly as B-Roll to fill out a story. But they show scenes we’ve not seen before, and give hints of evidence that exists but has been stonewalled by the supposed DPS investigation that thus far has only served to block the release of public evidence in an Open Records Act state.
www.cnn.com/…
This is the ink to the CNN story where these screen caps are taken from.
Some of the new images are from DPS bodycam, which apparently we can identify because they don’t have any timecode, clock, or other writing generated over the image. This makes them hard to place in a timeline unless you have other footage to compare basic actions to that covers the same activity.
This is BORTAC, after 12:21 and before 12:47 or so, continually getting into place or ready and Ranger Lindell continually seeming to run in and consult with them as he s on his cell phone.
I’m curious what the equipment of weapon the man in the center frame is moving, it’s the size and shape of an upright vacuum cleaner and apparently freestanding. Is it a shield?
Just to keep these all straight for comments and my own notes, I’ll give them alphabetical names. A for Apple, first with this one. But these are in no particular order just yet. They’re basically used in the CNN video as B-Roll to narrate over.
B for Baker. This image is from the game warden’s cam, his name is (Dennis) Gazaway (Junior) and we’ve seen it before I think, unless it’s the other game warden somehow. It’s marked TPWD when you can see it — closed captions and such are in the way. It does have a clock, I think it’s right but the hour is off by one. You can’t see it here.
Ranger Lindell is there along with BORTAC leader and his wingman, as UPD SWAT brings in some grenade type munitions and not enough gas masks. This is after 12:123 and before the shots fired at 12:21. I call this cluster-eff gaggle “the brain trust” of “team north.” Note Arredondo has no part of this.
The weird thing about this cam footage is that it was released by the mayor’s hired PR firm way back with the original UPD cams, but not every outlet posted it. KVUE, for example didn't. It’s hard to find on You Tube and currently missing, I think. We were told at the time that the audio file was “corrupted” but I am starting to have my doubts because it is wildly convenient that the only one of all the videos that doesn't seem to have audio is the guy who continually followed Ranger Lindell around as he spoke in to a call phone presumably to his superiors.
C for Charlie. This is very interesting to me, It’s DPS Captain Betancourt (I think) on DPS cam but we cannot say when. Needs close examination. One of the DPS guys has a loose flak vest flap or something that blocks half the frame often. I’d like to identify which classrooms he’s near, and I think it might be the east hallway but I haven't confirmed that. The classrooms are clear, seemingly. Betancourt’s timing doesn't really add up. He claims he came up from Eagle Pass and arrived only just before 12:45 or so. I wonder what took him so long, it’s not that far a drive from when he said he was alerted. he seems to have lied openly to Ranger investigators, assuming his rank allowed him to do so and get away with it, but the whistleblower seems to think otherwise. I wonder if he went home to get into his fancy new tactical outfit first and wasted a lot of time. Betancourt as we know is the guy who tried to get BORTAC to “stand by” just before they went in. He’s also the guy who made $164k in overtime working for Operation Lone Star last year. Clearly a Golden Boy for McCraw and possibly the highest ranking officer on scene, who felt he had the authority to tell BORTAC to stand by.
D for Delta. This cam has a similar half-frame blocked effect but seems to be a different officer, this time a sheriff’s deputy, something we had not ever seen before. It’s also the best look I’ve seen at what seems to be the lone African-American member of “ad-hoc BORTAC” or possibly he is BORSTAR of BORTAC, we don’t seem to know for sure. The east end of the hallway was seemingly being prepped to be a triage area for medical people. He hangs back here a lot and it just made me wonder if he was tasked with EMT type duties. Impossible to tell but that was just a vague impression I had. CNN’s superimposition of “Uvalde Sheriff’s Office” blocks the visible clock but you can read most of it if you look very closely. The main thing that struck me seeing this is that since the leaker has Sheriff department bodycam as well as DPS, then he’s clearly somehow well-connected in the Ranger investigation, and it also tells us that this would be one of the most likely persons to have had a recording of the entry of BORTAC into the classrooms 111/112. We were told by DPS that BORTAC didn’t have cams but who knows what to believe, DPS simply has so little credibility. It’s possible the feds have material they refused to share with DPS/Ranger investigators. We don’t even know if Ranger investigators spoke to any federal agents or not at all. But some have seen and described footage of the shooter being at, in ornery the coset and being shot to death.
Image screen capture E for elephant. Pretty sure the solid red shirt guy is UPD detective. This is “the brain trust” at the T intersection seen from the alternate angle looking to the west entrance. Between all these Indians, where is the chief? Maybe it’s whomever is on Lindell’s cell phone connection. What strikes me about this gaggle is the incredible lack of urgency, given the fact that all have just been FULLY informed that there are dead, wounded and dying children in the classrooms. To me this a fundamental question yet unanswered — do these people all just think someone else is in charge, or what? I get the feeling BORTAC is happy to have ANY job handed them, but like a football specialty team at kickoff time, they DO NOT execute a play without the coach calling it — onside kick or field goal or statue of liberty takeout trick play? NOT THEIR CALL. They have no Quarterback abilities, and don’t desire them. “With great delegated to us power comes great shifted from us responsibility.” (Aka “sure, I did but he told me to.”) That’s why its such a surprise that they finally did go in, after 37 mins of dithering and gathering steam. I get the feeling they arrived hoping to find ONE man saying “I’m in charge here and I have been authorized by YOUR BOSSES to tell you guys to assault this barricaded suspect and do it on my signal.” And that never happened. Not even close, and they don’t operate that way.
F for Franklin. This is just another snippet of TPWD game warden cam, pretty sure it’s Gazaway’s cam, who is sometimes spotted easily because he’s wearing shorts and carrying an orange notebook or clipboard with floor plans on it. Again this is the first overall meeting of the “brain trust” of “team north” as BORTAC leader and his wingman arrive to the news that there are kids calling 911 inside the rooms. I get the feeling
that the leader of BORTAC is hoping to meet the on scene incident commander ranking officer etc. Who wouldn't like to see the head honcho, right? And there really isn’t one, and he’s not too thrilled at that and so just keeps vamping. His team is not there and he clearly doesn’t have all the equipment he’d have preferred to have and he’s just getting oriented and up to speed. Without anyone clearly giving orders, it’s the classic cluster-F committee here. They seem to settle by default on the idea of a gas attack, and then I’m not sure they can find the right grenades. Then, about the time they might seem to have some semblance of a plan shots rain out at 12:21 and all plans are off.
G for Grant. Here we have the guy I’m calling the half-deputy to differentiate between him and the half-DPS cam. Just another bit of Ranger Lindell going back and forth between the brain trust and the outside. He seems to talk on the phone and then go in either for updates to report back, or orders to deliver. Maybe a bit of both. Try as I might, I have yet to hear one word Lindell is saying to just about anyone apart frmo what he says when he first arrives as cops are assisting kids out the windows around noon.
H for Hotel. Pargas as seen by TPWD Game Warden cam. If this were a silent movie — and it more or less is on Gazaway’s cam- I’d say Pargas was waiting for someone else — like maybe DPS SRT instead of BORTAC and the reason he wanders off to the road and maybe eventually the funeral home is that he’s realizing he needs to be fulfilling a definite role but on scene commander isn’t it. Somewhere I seem to recall reading that he called the usual UPD chief (who was not on duty that day and not in town) and was told he should be setting up a command center. Eventually busses are at the Funeral home, so I tend to think he helped with that effort, possibly. Of course this is all speculation.
I for Indiana. Here is the Game warden holding his floor plans and looking at Lindell on the phone one more time. Might be worth noting that LIndell seems to be the one to bring the right master key to BORTAC eventually. Maybe some of the time he’s on the phone to ISD.
J for June. Uvalde deputy cam. Unsure yet if Zavala county deputies have cams or not, I don’t think we’ve seen any but who can really tell? I’m trusting CNN to tell me that this is Uvalde country sheriff’s dept deputy cam. I think someone said there was a Zavala deputy as a member of “ad-hoc BORTAC,” right? In any case, everyone tenses up when shots ring out at 12:21 but look at the BORTAC guy. Even he is waiting on backup. In the clip, he looks to the west doors hoping the cavalry is coming or something.
K for Kansas. The west entrance and a few DPS troopers loitering before noon. Not much acton here but what’s curious is that CNN has labeled this “City of Uvalde” when it’s seemingly Uvalde Sheriff’s department video. Very likely just a mistake but then again we have to remember that the PR firm who Uvalde’s mayor- hired that released the UPD cams to the public also somehow had possession of the Game Warden cam with the “corrupted audio” even though technically they should never have had it. So if they had state owned recordings maybe they had county ones, too.
I keep thinking that maybe the chain of custody somehow went from the UPD to the Rangers
and then somehow got bounced back to the city at some point, or was all somehow uploaded to one server somehow and this is where the leaks are coming from.
I have my first and what o feel is the best theory that the leaker/ whistleblower is somehow connected to the Ranger investigators but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s somehow connected to the city. We just don’t know. The mayor does seem to always want to defend his UPD cops somehow. Perhaps all this dirt that has emerged, Crimson Elizondo, Betancourt, Maldonado, the 911 calls, perhaps they all are somehow coming from the city. The only problem with that theory is that the latest round of leaks included Ranger interview material that was not only summaries of interviews but actual recorded interview material. That kinda nixes the city-sourced whistleblower idea, I tend to have to say. .
L for Lima. Alternate hallway cam angle seemingly before 12:21? In any case what’s interesting about this to me is less what’s actually gong win here, but that it doesn't have a clock superimposed on it. Does that mean it didn’t pass thru the Ranger’s hands, because they seem to have made some effort to sync up the clocks on all the UDP cam and the main hallway cam angle. Or does it just mean that the main file of the ISD cam is somehow a master recording that the viewer has to make a choice as to how to view it — that you can see North south east or west settings more or less, or pan between them as the hallway cam sequence we’ve seen so often does when he shooter arrives at the west door, walks to the T, and then turns the corner to the south?
Also, I thought for a moment the rubbernecking DPS with the red shoulder patch and the rifle pointed at the floor here might be the arrival of Betancourt but it’s not, I don’t think. Betancourt has long sleeves not rolled up, if that’s him in screenshot C for Charlie. What I haven’t confirmed yet is when Betancourt does arrive. He claims it is late, around 12:45 I think, is his version of his actions IIRC, but I have a suspicion he arrived earlier. If he started from Eagle Pass he should have made it to Uvalde a lot earlier than that.
There’s more. There’s always more. But I think this is as many pics as I can add to one post. I’ll make another and continue there. These leaked snippets of new video are intriguing but also maddening. We need CNN and Sinclair to release the whole files. It makes me wonder who is doing the edits here, the news producers and reporters, or the whistleblower.