Uvalde parents outraged after independent report finds police officers didn't violate policy
The Uvalde, Texas, city council on Thursday released the findings of the independent report it commissioned to investigate the actions of Uvalde police officers who responded to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.
The investigation determined none of the initial five Uvalde police officers who responded to the shooting violated policy or committed serious acts of misconduct, which devastated and outraged victims' families who attended Thursday's hearing.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the Robb Elementary massacre on May 24, 2022. Officers from Uvalde police, Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety were among those who rushed to the scene.
Responders waited some 77 minutes at the scene before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman.
The Uvalde City Council report, which was commissioned in July 2022, determined that no acts of misconduct were committed by Uvalde police Sgt. Donald Page, who was one of the first officers to discover children in other classrooms in the hallway and started evacuating them through exterior windows.
Uvalde police Lt. Javier Martinez, Uvalde Detective Louis Landry and Staff Sgt. Eduardo Canales also didn't violate department policy, the report found.
Victims' families cried in the back of the room as the city council read its report. Some families later left the room, overwhelmed with emotions.
Many of those who stayed, or returned, spoke during the public comment period.
"How do you live with yourselves? Shame on y'all," said Veronica Mata, the mother of 10-year-old victim Tess Mata. "You said they did it in good faith. You call that good faith? They stood there 77 minutes and waited after they got call after call."
"These police officers signed up to do a job -- they didn't do it," Ruben Zamora, whose daughter, Mayah, was injured in shooting, said to the police chief.
Uvalde resident Amanda Vargas wept as she expressed her fears as a mother. She named her children out loud to the council members, saying it was so they'd know their names if they ended up on a cross.
Vargas, who is married to a law enforcement officer, said, "They shouldn't have taken an oath if they couldn't honor it."
At the conclusion of the presentation, Uvalde Councilman Hector Luevano said he was finally allowed to comment publicly and spoke directly to the community, calling the presentation of the report "insulting and embarrassing."
Uvalde Councilman Ernest W. "Chip" King III told the community he was "shaking with anger" during the recitation of the findings and apologized directly to the victims' families.
The investigation was conducted by Jesse Prado, a retired Austin police detective with 24 years of experience who conducted 36 internal investigations in his retirement career.
Prado was asked by the city to investigate every Uvalde police officer and the three dispatchers who were involved in the response, and trace their actions to determine if they violated any Uvalde Police Department policy. He reviewed body camera footage, dash camera footage and 911 call logs.
The report only investigated officers still employed by the Uvalde Police Department. Many at the department during the shooting have since left or been fired. The report also investigated deputy Mariano Pargas, who was acting chief on May 24, 2022, but has since retired. Prado said he would have recommended Pargas be exonerated after his investigation.
The report did find many failures in the response, including a lack of communication, a lack of records and a lack of selecting a clear leader.
Prado recommended that the SWAT team in Uvalde be disbanded and for the officers to join a regional SWAT team until they can gain more experience.
He also recommended the school district not allow students in classrooms that are not properly secured.
Two months before the massacre, an active shooter training class was held in Uvalde. All of the instructors from the training were inside the Robb Elementary School hallway during the shooting, the city council said.
In January, the Justice Department released a scathing report after it found "several critical failures and other breakdowns prior to, during, and after the Robb Elementary School response."
The report described insufficient planning and major departures from established active-shooter protocols.
After the shooting had ended, investigators described a chaotic scene in which dead bodies were transported in ambulances and injured students were loaded onto buses.
"The extent of misinformation, misguided and misleading narratives, leaks, and lack of communication about what happened on May 24 is unprecedented and has had an extensive, negative impact on the mental health and recovery of the family members and other victims, as well as the entire community of Uvalde," the Department of Justice report said.
The law enforcement response to the shooting was "a failure that should not have happened," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
