(PresidentialWire.com)- Every municipal police officer who responded to the shooting tragedy at Robb Elementary School on May 24 will be under investigation, the Uvalde City Council has announced.
According to reports, the city council stated that Jesse Prado, a veteran Austin police investigator, had been chosen to head the inquiries. He will speak with the 25 police officers who responded to the incident individually.
After an inquiry found systemic flaws and blatantly bad decision-making in the reaction to the assailant who killed 19 children and two teachers while hundreds of responding cops failed to stop the gunman, the municipal council took this latest move.
According to a cable news report, a Texas House investigation condemned what the lawmakers called “an overall lackadaisical approach” by federal, state, and local authorities to the shooting. There were 376 responding law enforcement officers at Robb Elementary School. Yet, the report found that it took authorities 77 minutes from when the gunman entered the school building to breach the classroom he had occupied and neutralize him.
The report also said numerous law enforcement officials abandoned police protocol and training for active shooter situations. They failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.
Councilman Ernest “Chip” King III stated that every officer and his actions were being examined as part of the probe. King further noted that the city would act in response to an assessment and penalize those accountable for the inadequate police response.
Lt. Mariano Pargas, the acting chief of the Uvalde Police Department on the day of the shooting, has already been placed on administrative leave pending an inquiry into whether he had the right to assume leadership.
Additionally, the Robb Elementary School principal, Mandy Gutierrez, has been suspended by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District after it was discovered she was aware of security issues with improperly locked doors but did nothing. Pete Arredondo, the district’s chief of police, has also been placed on administrative leave.
According to local news, several attendees of the city council meeting demanded the suspension or desk duty of all the responding city police.
Public firings, apologies, and a verbal explanation of their actions in their own words would be nice, too.
