UVALDE, Texas — An independent investigator who looked into the Uvalde Police Department and their response to the Robb Elementary School shooting cleared all officers of wrongdoing.
This investigation was called in July of 2022 by the mayor and Uvalde City Council. Nearly two years later, it was presented during a special city council meeting, but this meeting quickly turned heated as families were not happy with the results.
"How dare you," said Kim Rubio, the mother of Lexi Rubio who was one of the victims of the Uvalde shooting.
Parents were outraged after hearing the results of the investigation conducted by Jesse Prado, a retired Austin Police detective.
Prado said he had difficulty gathering evidence because the school district didn't allow him inside the school.
"...district attorney did not allow me to receive a copy of information regarding this case," Prado added.
Prado said he had to gather information from Texas DPS, Border Patrol and city officers, and from that information, he found that the Uvalde police did not violate policy when responding to the mass shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers.
"All of the officers...actions were in good faith," said Prado.
Those findings did not sit well with the families.
"This child survived, this child was shot, and sat in there for 77 minutes while those f***** cowards did nothing. You said that was in good faith," said Brett Cross, the guardian of Uziyah "Uzi" Garcia, one of the kids killed in the shooting.
Prado also cleared Lt. Mariano Pargas, the acting police chief who failed to set up a command post, and who, according to the report, assumed that Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo was taking action. Lt. Pargas resigned just days after this investigation was initiated.
"All this is a pact," said Veronica Mata, the mother of Tess Mata. "It’s a brother's pact. You protect your own."
The report was very different from a federal investigation released in January by the Department of Justice that found massive failures, such as officers acting without urgency. However, Prado did point to some problems like communication failures, poor training, a lack of equipment and even crowd control.
In the report he makes recommendations, and one of those is to amend the active shooter policy with more emphasis on the priority for officers to take action in an active shooter situation.
The city council and mayor said they would meet with the families privately to discuss the independent investigation further.
The Uvalde district attorney has called in a grand jury to investigate the flawed response and recommend possible criminal action.