Uvalde Won't Investigate Police Further Despite Failed Mass Shooting Response
The City Council in Uvalde, Texas, the site of a May 2022 mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, will not commission another investigation into the attack after a third-party investigator cleared the police officers there that day of wrongdoing.
Mayor Pro-Tem Everardo Zamora read a statement revealing the news before the end of the council meeting Tuesday night.
“We, the City Council, commissioned the independent investigation at the request of the former mayor in the immediate aftermath of the Robb Elementary shooting,” Zamora said. “The conclusions supported the officers complied with [Uvalde Police Department] policies at the time of the shooting.”
Zamora went on to say that the community was not protected the day of the mass shooting. The police department’s policies were “outdated” and the department “lacked proper training and equipment,” he said.
Jesse Prado, a former police detective and independent investigator, presented his investigation during a March city council meeting and said Uvalde police officers acted in “good faith” during the massacre. Nearly 400 police officers from across the region were on scene that day, and they waited 77 minutes to confront the shooter. Still, Prado said, he found no wrongdoing by any Uvalde police officers.
The City Council hasn’t officially accepted the report, a fact parent Brett Cross called out in a TikTok posted Tuesday. His 10-year-old son, Uziyah, was killed in the mass shooting.
“Uvalde keeps fucking us over,” Cross said. “Their school districts left our children dead. Their officers sat outside and did nothing about it and now Uvalde continues to fuck us over. Every single one of you officers that were there are disgusting pieces of shit. Everybody on that city council is as well. How much more do we have to go through? My son was fucking murdered and you continue to fuck us over.”
Zamora said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting that the Uvalde Police Department is taking a “detailed review” of all department personnel, policies, procedures, training and equipment “to make sure the entire police force is operating at the top of its potential.”
He said Chief Homer Delgado will make the “necessary changes or improvements to ensure” Uvalde is safe.
Delgado recently announced the “Guardian Initiative,” which will include a “department-wide review of past actions — including one-on-one interviews with every single UPD officer — to ensure transparency and accountability,” according to an April 15 news release. The initiative will also “implement rigorous new training standards and expand professional development programs to ensure the Uvalde police department is operating at the top of its potential.”
