Residents of Uvalde, Texas, erupted in anger during a Thursday meeting when an independent investigation’s report acknowledged missteps but cleared local police officers of policy violations over a delayed response to a mass shooting, multiple outlets reported.
The report’s author, former police detective Jesse Prado, claimed local officers were “level-headed” and that the response to the incident was appropriate and swift, according to The Associated Press. Prado came under fire from family members when he left the meeting without taking any questions from attendees after presenting his findings, CNN reported.
Two teachers and 19 children died in the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School before Border Patrol agents stormed the classroom and fatally shot the perpetrator. The response to the shooting drew criticism from the Justice Department in a January report, while a Texas House of Representatives committee slammed “shortcomings and failures” in the law enforcement response in a report issued in July 2022.
“You said they did it in good faith. You call that good faith? They stood there 77 minutes,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the mother of one of the slain students, told the AP after the presentation.
Prado claimed in his report that family members at the scene compromised efforts to plan a response, calling them “difficult to control” and claiming they “wanted to break through police barriers,” according to the AP.
The Uvalde school district suspended its entire police force in October 2022 over its response to the shooting, while a state trooper was fired for not immediately responding.
“My daughter was left for dead,” Ruben Zamorra told the AP. “These police officers signed up to do a job. They didn’t do it.”
“How dare you? You were paid by them,” Mata-Rubio said during the meeting, according to CNN.
Harold Hutchisonon March 7, 2024
