The Uvalde City Council in Texas announced Tuesday that it will investigate every city police officer who responded to the Robb Elementary School massacre on May 24.
“This investigation is looking at every single officer and what his actions, what he did, what our policy says, and basically, we’re gonna get a report on everybody,” council member Ernest “Chip” King III said during a council meeting, according to CNN.
“We will act on it, and we promise that to you,” King added.
The council appointed former Austin, Texas, police detective Jesse Prado as the lead investigator, the Washington Examiner reported.
Prado will be taking the initiative of interviewing 25 officers from the city’s 39-member police.
“He’s gonna be conducting the investigation and we’re gonna let the investigation go, see what he determines, but everybody that’s Uvalde PD that was there will be held accountable for their actions,” King said, according to CNN.
The investigation follows widespread public outrage about Uvalde law enforcement’s hesitation to take action against the gunman, who killed 19 children and two teachers at the school.
The officers waited nearly 80 minutes before taking action and shooting the gunman.
WARNING: The following video may be disturbing to some viewers.
“We owe it to, to the families. We want to get it right,” Uvalde council member Everardo Zamora said, according to CN.
The Uvalde City Council has taken action against some of its local authorities, the Examiner reported.
For example, Uvalde’s acting police chief at the time of the massacre, Lt. Mariano Pargas, has been suspended.
In addition, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has put its chief of police, Pete Arredondo, on administrative leave.
The City Council also suspended Robb Elementary Principal Mandy Gutierrez with pay after an investigation found she neglected to fix a broken lock on a door to the classroom the gunman entered.
However, many victims and families of the shooting who attended the City Council meeting on Tuesday said that they wanted further action to be taken.
Several wanted the council to suspend all city police officers who responded to the shooting, thereby holding them accountable for their insufficient response to the massacre.
At last night’s Uvalde council meeting, Eloise Castro stood at the lectern. An elderly retired floral shop owner, she reads statements from carefully prepared notes. But if you think she’s a meek, soft-spoken old lady, you’d only be half right. She’s incisive, w/a sharp tongue. pic.twitter.com/pH0PIYn2Wm
— Sig Christenson ? (@saddamscribe) July 27, 2022
“Until the investigation is done, they should be on administrative leave,” Brett Cross, the father of Uziyah Garcia, a student killed in the shooting, told council members, according to ABC News.
“Administrative leave, at a minimum,” Diana Olvedo-Karau said, adding to Cross’ point. “I don’t think that’s a lot to ask.”
