(RepublicanView.org) – Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez has submitted his resignation to city officials and will stand down on April 6. No official reason for Mr. Rodriguez’s decision has been made public, but it comes just days after a report cleared his officers of wrongdoing over the Uvalde school shooting in 2022 that left 21 people dead. The police chief did not mention the killings at Robb Elementary School during his resignation but said he was honored to have led the “dedicated men and women of our police department.”
Assistant Chief Homer Delgado will replace Rodriguez when he departs in April after 23 years with Uvalde police.
An independent investigation into the Robb Elementary School tragedy, published in March, cleared the police of all wrongdoing, prompting outrage from bereaved parents. Private investigator Jesse Prado conducted the inquiry and found that none of the five first responders had violated police policy or engaged in any form of misconduct. The final report, however, laid some responsibility on faulty communication and poor equipment.
Claiming there had been insufficient communication channels on the day, Mr. Prado concluded that “officers had no way of knowing what was being planned, what was being said.” He added that if officers had better equipment, such as a ballistic shield, “It would have been enough to get them to the door.” Prado furthermore praised officers for keeping a level head while facing gunshots from eight feet away.
During a public reading of Mr. Prado’s report, one angry parent shouted, “cowards,” and one shouted that his daughter was dead because officers did not do the job they signed on for.
When the shooting broke out in the elementary school on May 24, 2022, officials reportedly allowed the perpetrator to continue his rampage for over an hour before they finally confronted him. A report months after the incident stated that nobody took command of the incident, and saving lives was not prioritized.
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