![\"Independent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793490151_882_Independent+Membership+White.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.<\/p>\n
Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? El Paso<\/a> Matters filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a state judge to lift a blanket of near-total secrecy on records in the 2019 Walmart<\/a> mass shooting held by El Paso police and prosecutors.<\/p>\n The petition seeks a writ of mandamus, an order from a judge to a government official to perform a mandatory legal duty required by law. <\/p>\n El Paso Matters is asking a judge to order the District Attorney\u2019s Office and the city of El Paso to make investigative records from the Walmart mass shooting investigation available to the public as outlined in the Texas<\/a> Public Information Act. The case was assigned to 243rd District Court Judge Selena Solis.<\/p>\n The Texas Attorney General\u2019s Office issued several rulings over the past 18 months that said the public should never have access to investigative records in the deadliest mass shooting targeting Hispanics in modern U.S. history. The Attorney General\u2019s Office agreed with arguments from the city and district attorney that the mass shooting investigation was a child abuse investigation under the Texas Family Code, and records of such investigations are confidential.<\/p>\n The El Paso Matters lawsuit asserts that the decision is based on a misreading of Texas law.<\/p>\n \u201c(T)he investigation and prosecution of (Patrick) Crusius did not concern an investigation of alleged or suspected child abuse or neglect. Furthermore, the information requested was not developed in an investigation under Chapter 261 (the Family Code) and therefore is not subject to Chapter 261 withholding,\u201d the lawsuit alleges. <\/p>\n In a statement, El Paso District Attorney James Montoya said his office \u201chandles all open record requests in accordance with Texas law, including seeking rulings from the Office of the Attorney General when the information or records requested may or are required to be withheld from public disclosure. We recognize that the events of Aug. 3, 2019, continue to weigh heavily on our community, most especially the victims and their families, as we remain cognizant of that fact as we continue to litigate what information may or may be publicly disclosed.\u201d <\/p>\n City officials declined to comment because the matter involves pending litigation.<\/p>\n El Paso Matters is represented in its motion by the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law First Amendment Clinic, with support from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.<\/p>\n Under Texas law, records held by police and prosecutors about investigations generally are considered public records after the investigation and trials are complete. One major exception are child abuse investigations that are conducted under the Family Code.<\/p>\n Adults comprised the vast majority of the 23 people killed and 22 people injured in the Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at the Cielo Vista Walmart, many of them in their 60s or older. But when news organizations and others sought investigative records in the shooting, both the city of El Paso and the DA\u2019s Office said the records involved a child abuse investigation \u2013 a 15-year-old was killed, an infant injured and other children were present in the store \u2013 and are therefore confidential under Texas law.<\/p>\n The Attorney General\u2019s Office \u2013 which reviews requests by state and local government to withhold records that are sought under the Texas Public Information Act \u2013 agreed with that position and ordered the city and DA to keep secret all investigative and prosecutorial records of the Walmart mass shooting.<\/p>\n The Attorney General\u2019s Office has been incorrectly applying the Family Code for years, keeping the public from accessing information about crimes to which it is entitled, said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, which advocates for government transparency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Family Code shielding public records from release applies to caregiver situations in which child neglect or abuse is alleged and Child Protective Services is involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, this provision is being misconstrued by the Attorney General\u2019s Office and invoked in non-caregiver situations any time a minor is present, when CPS is not even involved. The AG\u2019s Office goes out of its way to apply this Family Code provision to these kinds of public records. In the El Paso case, none of the children present in the Walmart during the mass shooting were part of a Child Protective Services case. They were just kids in the store, and, sadly, they were present during the horrific attack.\u201d <\/p>\n The Attorney General\u2019s Office didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.<\/p>\n The city and DA have not made public any investigative records from the Walmart mass shooting. The FBI<\/a>, which handled the federal investigation of the Walmart shooting, has not yet provided records requested by El Paso Matters under the federal Freedom of Information Act.<\/p>\n
\n Log in<\/a>\n <\/p>\n