A city council report presented Thursday cleared several police officers of wrongdoing in the delayed law enforcement response to a shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school that ended in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers two years ago.
The Uvalde City Council commissioned its own investigation after then-Mayor Don McLaughlin expressed frustration about obtaining information from the Uvalde County District Attorney and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Jesse Prado, an Austin-based investigator and former police detective who wrote the report, said clear communication gaps between Uvalde school district police and other responding officers were certainly to blame.
“There were problems all day long with communication, lack of it, he (former Uvalde school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo) would make phone calls but the officers had no way to know what was being planned or what was being said,” Prado said.
But when it came to the Uvalde city police force — the report’s focus — Prado named several city officers and commanders on the scene and declared that he found no evidence that they committed any wrongdoing or failure to follow training.
Prado said one sergeant showed “immeasurable strength and focus” at the task at hand, despite having a child in the school.
Uvalde residents at the city council meeting lashed out at lawmakers when Prado left the chambers as soon his 45-minute presentation was done. The hall broke into shouts of “bring him back” and “cowards!”
“How do all of you live with yourselves?” said Kimberly Mata-Rubio, who lost her 10-year-old daughter, Alexandria “Lexi” Rubio in the attack.
“How do you go to bed at night and then wake up every day? Shame on you all. You said they did it in good faith? You call that good faith? They stood there for 77 minutes and waited after they got call after call that kids were sill alive in there. All this is, it’s a pact. It’s a brothers pact. You protect your own.”
The father…
Read the full article here
