Texas: Judge Rules Police Could Withhold Uvalde School Shooting Records Amid State Plea But There's A Catch
The DPS has repeatedly refused requests from the media on documents and records concerning the state authorities' response to the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is facing a legal headache after major news organizations sued them for allegedly withholding public records about the Uvalde school shooting incident.

CNN, and The Texas Tribune, among other media outlets, filed a lawsuit against the state department in an Austin state court earlier today.

The DPS has repeatedly refused requests from the media on documents and records concerning the state authorities' response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

News Organizations File Lawsuit Against Texas Department of Public Safety

Per a CNN report, over a dozen of media organizations, including them, have filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety for alleged unlawful withholding of Uvalde school shooting documents.

Over the past months, media outlets have each filed requests on the state department requesting pertinent documents and information under the Texas Public Information Act - but to no avail, they refused to release such information.

According to the lawsuit, they have been trying to obtain information on behalf of the public amid conflicting accounts from different officials and persons of authority on the issue.

"In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, and continuing throughout the ensuing two months, DPS has declined to provide any meaningful information in response to the requests regarding the events of that day," the lawsuit reads.

Elsewhere in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs have argued that the DPS has "selectively disclosed" information but refused to acknowledge more thorough inquiries or produce documents stating more in-depth information.

This move, or the lack thereof, prompted local and national media outlets to pursue legal action to produce the requested records.

News Orgs Uphold Texas Public Information Act

In the lawsuit that major news organizations have filed against the Texas Public Safety department, they have particularly noted and used the state's Public Information Act as the main driving force of the legal action.

According to the State law, the DPS could actually withhold information from the public, by extension, the media, if it is involved in an ongoing investigation.

But The Texas Tribune reports that Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell Busbee has acknowledged that she is not currently conducting a criminal investigation on the issue.

"The Texas Department of Public Safety has offered inconsistent accounts of how law enforcement responded to the Uvalde tragedy, and its lack of transparency has stirred suspicion and frustration in a community that is still struggling with grief and shock," the media lawyer states.

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune have filed over 70 requests on the embattled Public Safety department for public records. These include body camera and other video surveillance footage, interview notes, forensic and ballistic records, call logs, 911, and other relevant communications, among many others.

Aside from CNN, The Texas Tribune, and ProPublica, the coalition that filed the lawsuit against Texas DPS also includes The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, Scripps Media, and Gannett.

As of this writing, the Texas Department of Public Safety has not responded to the served lawsuit.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Ivan Korrs

WATCH: CNN confronts Uvalde incident commander. See the interaction - From CNN