Acting Uvalde police chief during attack suspended following scathing report
The acting police chief on duty during the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has been placed on leave following a report on “systemic failures and egregious poor decision making” from law enforcement on scene.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin released a statement Sunday announcing Lt. Mariano Pargas’ administrative leave.
“This administrative leave is to investigate whether Lt. Pargas was responsible for taking command on May 24th, what specific actions Lt. Pargas took to establish that command, and whether it was even feasible given all the agencies involved and other possible policy violations,” McLaughlin wrote in the statement.
The Texas House committee investigating the shooting released a report Sunday noting failures in law enforcement leadership, including from Pargas.
Pargas testified before the committee that “he figured” Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo had jurisdiction, and did not coordinate with other responding agencies, according to the report.
The committee also determined that Arredondo, who was placed on leave last month, “failed to perform” his role as incident commander — and Pargas said the two were never in contact.
“The void of leadership could have contributed to the loss of life as injured victims waited over an hour for help, and the attacker continued to sporadically fire his weapon,” the 77-page committee report said.
Security camera footage from inside the Uvalde school shows law enforcement waiting for more than an hour outside the fourth grade classrooms where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers.
“Given the information known about victims who survived through the time of the breach and who later died on the way to the hospital, it is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait 73 additional minutes for rescue,” the committee wrote.
McLaughlin, the mayor, said he agreed with the committee’s finding that there was a failure of command, but said the city has lingering questions.
“We want to know which agency took what specific actions, and where did the critical breakdown occur,” he wrote.
The city will conduct its own internal investigation into the police response on May 24th. McLaughlin also released additional body camera footage from Uvalde officers taken during the incident.
Arredondo resigned from his city council position in early July.
The Hill reached out to the Uvalde mayor’s office for additional comment.
Source: TEST FEED1
