Inside the Uvalde Response
 Tues., Dec. 5, 2023
Streaming at 7/6c at pbs.org/frontline & in the PBS App
Airing at 10/9c on PBS and on YouTube
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The May 2022 gun massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas left 19 children and two teachers dead. It was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

More than a year and a half later, findings from a state-led investigation into the chaotic response — in which officers took more than an hour to take down the gunman — have yet to be released, and most of the officers involved in the response have declined to talk publicly about what happened that day.

But FRONTLINE, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica gained access to a trove of the materials from the investigation and were able to review the accounts of almost 150 responding officers, as well as hours of bodycam footage and 9-1-1 calls.

In a new documentary, Inside the Uvalde Response, and related reporting, the news organizations draw on these materials to reconstruct the day’s events, giving a detailed analysis of one of the most criticized mass shooting responses in recent history, and providing extraordinary real-time insight into law enforcement’s thoughts and actions. The documentary premieres Tues., Dec. 5 at 7 pm ET at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App, and at 10/9c that night on PBS and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. The film features never-before-published interviews conducted by state and federal investigators in the days immediately after the shooting.

“Law enforcement officers who responded, they spoke openly about what happened that day, including voicing their own fears, their concerns, and their regrets,” says Lomi Kriel of the ProPublica/Texas Tribune Investigative Unit, who with a team of reporters has been analyzing the evidence. “We realized by going through it that perhaps we could piece together some of what happened that day. What we did was line up the more than two dozen body cams, go through it, try to identify officers, transcribe the body cameras, and then start poring through the hundreds of hours of law enforcement interviews that are on this file.”

The resulting documentary, which will be accompanied by an in-depth story co-published with ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and FRONTLINE, identifies critical missteps as the response to the Uvalde mass shooting unfolded and underlines the complexity, chaos and tragedy of the day.

Accounts in the documentary suggest that officers didn’t initially realize there were children in the school’s classrooms, as the kids were doing what they’d been taught to do in active shooter trainings: remain out of sight and stay quiet. An effective chain of command was absent. And failures in communication throughout all levels of law enforcement compounded the confusion.

For the full story, watch Inside the Uvalde Response and explore related reporting from ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and FRONTLINE that examines the training of the responding officers starting Tues., Dec. 5. The joint investigation is a powerful and detailed piece of accountability reporting about what went wrong in the response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.

Credits
Inside the Uvalde Response is a FRONTLINE production with The Documentary Group in association with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. The director is Juanita Ceballos. The producers are Juanita Cellabos and Michelle Mizner. The co-producer is Lauren Prestileo. The writer is Juanita Ceballos. The senior producers are Nina Chaudry and Gabrielle Tenenbaum. The reporters are Lomi Kriel and Lexi Churchill (ProPublica/The Texas Tribune) and Jinitzail Hernandez (The Texas Tribune), with editing by Zahira Torres of ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. The editor-in-chief of ProPublica is Stephen Engelberg. The editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune is Sewell Chan. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

About FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 106 Emmy Awards and 31 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

About The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune is the only member-supported, digital-first, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. The independent news organization has been dedicated to coverage of the Uvalde community, its resilience, and its future as well as holding officials accountable since the tragedy and examining policies and their implications. Learn more at texastribune.org.

About ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. With a team of more than 150 editorial staffers, ProPublica covers a range of topics, focusing on stories with the potential to spur real-world impact. Its reporting has contributed to the passage of new laws; reversals of harmful policies and practices; and accountability for leaders at local, state and national levels. Since it began publishing in 2008, ProPublica has received six Pulitzer Prizes, five Peabody Awards, five Emmy Awards and twelve George Polk Awards, among others.

Press Contacts:
FRONTLINE — Anne Husted, Associate Director of Publicity, Communications and Awards |  frontlinemedia@wgbh.org | 617-300-5312

ProPublica — Alissandra Calderon, Associate Director, Communications | alissandra.calderon@propublica.org | 773-266-9180

The Texas Tribune – Kerri Qunell, Director of Marketing and Communication | press@texastribune.org | 512-791-9735