Follow-up reporting after Texas mass shooting reveals long-standing complaints about police response

During the four-day search for a man accused of fatally shooting five of his neighbors in April, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told a crush of reporters that his deputies got to the scene in 11 minutes, but the suspect had vanished. Bleiberg was among the Texas reporters covering the shooting who heard again and again from area residents that deputies rarely responded to calls faster than 30 minutes. As he worked the phone to get a fuller picture, Bleiberg connected with a source who provided him with a remarkable document. It was the report of a police consultant who county officials hired to examine the sheriff’s office. Bleiberg quickly authenticated the document and headed down to the rural corner of East Texas to continue reporting along with video journalist Lekan Oyekanmi and freelance photographer Michael Wyke.  

They conducted more than 20 interviews with current and former deputies, county officials and residents. Bleiberg successfully pressed for the release of public records related to the shooting that county officials had previously held back and obtained revealing court documents and evidence gathered in a whistleblower lawsuit against the sheriff. The reporting revealed that the latest inaccuracies were part of years’ worth of accusations against the sheriff, including neglecting basic police work, evidence of the improper seizure of tens of thousands of dollars of property, ignoring previous concerns over the alleged shooter, and his deputies failing to follow up on reports of 4,000 crimes — including sexual and child abuse.  

This story was an AP Exclusive, and news organizations throughout Texas credited that reporting. It was featured prominently on the homepages and front pages of Texas’ largest newspapers, The Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. Houston TV station KHOU also used Oyekanmi’s NR edit to shape its own package. A strong social promotion plan that included an AP push alert helped the story receive a top engagement score of 100, and it received more than 100,000 page views on AP News platforms, a solid number on a weekday, and particularly strong on a weekend.  

For a tireless effort to reveal years of corruption accusations and dysfunction previously unknown outside of the local area, Jake Bleiberg earns Best of the Week — First Winner.