Uvalde mayor insists 'there is no coverup,' but skewers other officials' handling of Robb Elementary shooting during heated council meeting

• The Uvalde mayor on Tuesday slammed other officials' handling of the Robb Elementary shooting.
• Don McLaughlin's comments came hours after he released a statement saying there is "no coverup."

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin attempted to quell outrage over his city's response to the Robb Elementary School shooting, claiming Tuesday there's "no coverup" of the city's handling of the massacre.

But during a fiery city council meeting on Tuesday evening, McLaughlin seemingly changed his tune, offering a strong rebuke of the police response to the shooting and the chaotic handling of the tragedy's aftermath.

"I'm gonna be throwing people under the bus tonight in a speech because for too long, we've been told we can't talk, we can't answer, and we can't say anything. Today that's over with," he said.

The small town has come under fire for a lack of transparency in the aftermath of the May 24 tragedy that left 21 people dead, including 19 children and two teachers. State and local officials have consistently fought against the release of records that could offer clarity on the much-scrutinized law enforcement response to the attack.

Hours before the city council meeting, McLaughlin released a statement saying that anyone who suggests the city of Uvalde is withholding information "without legitimate and legal reasons is wrong and is spreading misinformation."

In his letter, McLaughlin cited "specific legal reasons" for why the city has consistently failed to release information about the tragedy, and said the early release of information related to the shooting before investigations and reviews are completed would be a "disservice" to the families who lost children or parents in the attack.

McLaughlin added that the Uvalde County district attorney has asked the city not to release records involved in the district attorney's investigation.

Then, during the council meeting Tuesday night, McLaughlin offered a day-by-day account of his apparent attempts to secure answers and information, blaming "bureaucrats who are not doing their jobs" for his lack of power in the matter.

Reading from prepared remarks, he named four agencies he said are in total control of crucial video evidence from the scene of the attack: the Uvalde district attorney, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI, and the state legislature. The subsequent release of bits and pieces of body camera and surveillance footage, McLaughlin said, has continued to create chaos in the community and kept "the full truth from coming out."

Several times during the meeting, McLaughlin emphasized that the city of Uvalde has not received a single briefing from the Department of Public Safety.

"We're just in the darkness like you and we're tired of it," he told a room of community members.

The mayor also slammed Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw by name.

"McCraw has continued to lie, leak, mislead, or misstate information to distance his own rangers from the response," McLaughlin said. "Every briefing he leaves out the number of his own officers who were on the scene that day."

Neither McCraw, nor a representative for the Texas Department of Public Safety immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.

The mayor's comments come just hours after McCraw testified before the state Senate, saying that the cops who responded to the shooting could have stopped the gunman within minutes but Uvalde commanding officer Pete Arredondo prioritized the lives of police officers over the lives of students. Arredondo told The Texas Tribune he wasn't aware he was directing the response that day.

McLaughlin's statement came after the Uvalde City Council unanimously voted to not offer Arredondo — who is also an elected member of the council — his requested leave of absence after several victims' family members slammed the school district police chief during public comment.