Former Uvalde mayor is surprised a new report defends how police responded to school shooting
The former mayor of Uvalde, who ordered an investigation into local police actions during the Robb Elementary School shooting, said Friday he was surprised by the report defending the officers and believes the acting chief on the scene failed has during the 2022 massacre.
“What I’ve seen so far is not quite what I expected,” said Don McLaughlin, who resigned as mayor of the small Texas town last year and is now the Republican nominee for a seat in the state Legislature .
The independent report released Thursday was commissioned by the city to determine whether any of the Uvalde Police Department’s 28 officers and three dispatchers violated department policy in their response to the gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers. Nearly 400 law enforcement officers, including Uvalde police, rushed to the school but waited more than an hour to confront the teenage gunman who was in a fourth-grade classroom with an AR-style rifle.
The new report, which acknowledged missteps but ultimately defended the actions of local police, sparked outrage from several relatives of the victims during a presentation at the city council. One person in the audience shouted, “Coward!” and some family members angrily left the meeting.
McLaughlin, who ordered the independent investigation in the weeks after the shooting, said that while he had not read the full 180-page report, he was surprised by some of the findings. He cited the actions of former Uvalde Lt. Mariano Pargas, then the city’s acting police chief.
In January, an in-depth Justice Department report criticized six Uvalde Police Department officers, including Pargas, for not going through the school hallway to attack the shooter. Federal investigators also said in that report that Pargas “continued to provide no direction, command or control to staff for nearly an hour” after the gunman entered the classroom.
Jesse Prado, a former police officer and Austin Police Department detective who conducted the investigation for the city of Uvalde, noted that Pargas retired just days after his job interview. But he said that had he stayed, “it would be my recommendation and my team’s recommendation to exonerate Lt. Pargas.”
McLaughlin said he disagreed with these findings.
“I don’t speak for anyone else … but in my opinion, Mariano Pargas failed as acting chief that day,” McLaughlin said.
“That part that I heard — that they said they cleared him — I don’t agree with that,” he said.
Pargas, an 18-year UPD veteran, was serving as acting chief on the day of the shooting because Chief Daniel Rodriguez was on vacation. Phone and email messages left Friday with Pargas, who has since been elected Uvalde county commissioner, were not immediately returned.
In the nearly two years since the shooting, families have accused police of a leadership vacuum during the 77 minutes that elapsed between the gunman’s arrival and police confronting him.
Others criticized for their actions during the shooting also remain in elected office. Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco advanced to a runoff during Tuesday’s Republican primary, and County Constable Emmanuel Zamora defeated his Republican challenger outright.
Prado’s report was also highly critical of Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell, whom the investigator accused of obstructing the investigation by refusing to share reports and evidence collected by other law enforcement agencies.
McLaughlin blamed Mitchell for taking nearly two years to complete the report. Mitchell did not return phone and email messages seeking comment Friday.
“The prosecutor blocked this in every possible way,” he said. ‘I don’t know what her agenda is.
“I understand she’s under investigation, but you can still investigate and be transparent.”
A criminal investigation into the law enforcement response remains open, and a grand jury was convened earlier this year.