Uvalde’s acting police chief on the day of the Robb Elementary School massacre has been placed on leave, according to the city’s mayor.
Mayor Don McLaughlin said the action had been taken against Lt. Mariano Pargas while officials try to determine if he was responsible for taking command after the gunman entered the school and murdered 19 students and 2 teachers.
The move was announced on Sunday as a Texas House investigative committee released the report of its findings into the May mass shooting that heavily criticised the law enforcement response.
Mr McLaughlin told the victims’ families about the suspension in a private meeting, according to CNN.
Last month Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo, who has admitted forgetting his police radio and not thinking he was in charge of the scene, was also placed on leave.
“Because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations, I have made the decision to place Chief Arredondo on administrative leave effective on this date,” Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said in a statement in June.
The report says that Chief Arredondo tried to find a key for the classrooms the gunman was inside, but no one even bothered to check if the doors were actually locked.
“Arredondo’s search for a key consumed his attention and wasted precious time, delaying the breach of the classrooms,” the report stated.
The preliminary report states that there were nearly 400 law enforcement officers at the school on the day of the shooting but that they wasted “precious time” ensuring their own safety rather than prioritising “the rescue of innocent victims.”
“At Robb Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,” the report said.
And it added: “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.”
