UVALDE (Nexstar) — For a week now, Brett Cross has woken up on his campsite on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s Central Office grounds. He said he’s not going anywhere.
He’s doing this in protest for his son Uziyah, who was one of the 21 killed in the May 24 Robb Elementary School shooting. Other parents have joined him.
“I’m not letting them forget the 19 kids and two teachers,” Cross said. “I will be a daily reminder. So that’s what we’re doing.”
He decided he was going to set up shop outside of the doors school administrators go in and out of every day until they suspend the district police officers who responded to the shooting.
“They’re still walking around, like nothing,” Cross said. “Accountability needs to happen. Accountability starts at home.”
It’s been 19 weeks since a gunman murdered the children and teachers. None of the district’s officers seem to have faced consequences since.
“We’ve begged, we’ve pleaded, we’ve cried,” Cross said in a video he posted on Twitter. He’s been chronicling his protest on social media.
“So, now we don’t ask, we demand it,” Cross said in the video.
Cross has since met with Uvalde CISD Superintendent Hal Harrell. He asked why he won’t lead the effort to suspend officers.
In a video recorded by Cross on Sept. 29, Harrell told him this:
“We are doing an investigation, but I need those officers, just like the City needs their officers and the Sheriff’s Department needs their officers. We’re doing the audit this week, they need to be present to answer questions.”
The Department of Justice and a Texas House Committee are investigating what happened.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is also in the middle of its own investigation into its officers’ response to the shooting. In early September, it was revealed five DPS officers were being investigated, with two on suspension with pay until it’s completed.
Cross won’t rest, until he feels like all involved face where they failed.
“Nothing I say or do will bring them [students and teachers] back,” he said. “But, I can help in any way that I can to make sure that this doesn’t happen to somebody else.”
Harrell put out a district letter, saying he doesn’t “condone this group’s behavior,” who are protesting and is “seeking an end to this disruption.”
Cross and his wife have since put out 19 backpacks in front of the administration’s building to serve as a reminder of the 19 kids who lost their lives.
In the midst of Cross’ protest, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state hired a new director of safety and security under the Texas Education Agency on Monday. This is a step Abbott said he’d take after the Uvalde shooting to improve school safety across Texas.
We requested an interview with the new director but were told he’s not doing any right now.
Cross said he’s open to see how the new director will have a hand in improving safety but still won’t be satisfied until Uvalde CISD does more to own up to its officers’ role in lives that were lost that day.
