Parents of the victims of the deadly Uvalde, Texas school shooting lashed out after results of an independent review were released that found local police officers blameless in the tragic shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Jesse Prado, an experienced investigator from the Austin, Texas area, conducted the Uvalde City Council report which investigated the Uvalde Police Department’s response to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in May 2022.
Prado determined that none of the initial five Uvalde police officers who responded to the shooting violated policy or committed serious acts of misconduct.
The five Uvalde police officers were identified as Sgt. Donald Page, who was one of the first officers to discover children in other classrooms in the hallway, on-site commander Peter Arredondo, Lt. Javier Martinez, Uvalde Detective Louis Landry and Staff Sgt. Eduardo Canales.
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Privacy barriers and bike racks maintain a perimeter at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School, after a video was released showing the May shooting inside the school in Uvalde, Texas, U.S., July 13, 2022. (REUTERS/Kaylee Greenlee Beal)
The review pointed to non-comprehensive law enforcement training, faulty communication and poor equipment as responsible for the fumbled response.
“There were problems all day long with communication and lack of it. The officers had no way of knowing what was being planned, what was being said,” Prado said. “If they would have had a ballistic shield, it would have been enough to get them to the door.”
Uvalde police officers and other law enforcement officers are seen responding to a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in a bodycam video recorded on May 24, 2022. (Uvalde Police Department)
Prado said his review showed that officers showed “immeasurable strength” and “level-headed thinking” as they faced fire from the active shooter.
“They were being shot at from eight feet away from the door,” Prado said.
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Prado also said the families who rushed to the school hampered efforts to set up a chain of command as they had to navigate parents on the scene who attempted to go inside.
“At times they were difficult to control,” Prado said. “They were wanting to break through police barriers.”
Children run to safety after escaping from a window during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School where a gunman killed nineteen children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 24, 2022. (Pete Luna/Uvalde Leader-News/Handout via REUTERS)
Parents, who were present at the findings of the Uvalde City Council report, erupted during Prado’s comments.
“Cowards,” one angered parent yelled.
These police officers signed up to do a job. They didn’t do it.
“My daughter was left for dead,” Ruben Zamorra said. “These police officers signed up to do a job. They didn’t do it.”
Crosses with the names of Tuesday’s shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, May 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Police previously said that, in total, 376 law enforcement officers descended upon the Robb Elementary School.
A report by the Texas House of Representatives investigative committee previously said that the hoards of law enforcement officers waited 70 minutes on site, before a team breached the fourth grade classroom and confronted the 18-year-old gunman, who had been armed with an AR-15 style rifle and fired more than 140 rounds inside the school.
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A Department of Justice report released in January criticized the “cascading failures” of responding law enforcement.
Students arrive at Uvalde Elementary, now protected by a fence and Texas State Troopers, for the first day of school, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022, in Uvalde. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Uvalde City Council member Hector Luevano said he was “embarrassed” and “insulted” by the city’s report.
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“These families deserve more. This community deserves more,” Luevano said. “I don’t accept this report.”
