In the immediate aftermath of May’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, state leaders relied on law enforcement for information to pass on to the public, and gathered for a briefing “in preparation for a broader press conference,” according to Sunday’s preliminary report by the Texas House of Representatives. But the Uvalde police lieutenant tapped to lead it—a firsthand witness to the shooting—“literally passed out while waiting in the hallway beforehand.” The report does not elaborate on why the officer lost consciousness. Victor Escalon, a regional director for the state’s Department of Public Safety, led the briefing in the officer’s stead, but Escalon “did not personally witness the bulk of the day’s events, leaving him to depend on secondhand knowledge” from other officers. At the subsequent public press conference, Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials “repeated a false narrative,” setting off a wave of misinformation and recrimination that has not abated.
