Uvalde Police Who Responded to School Shooting Next in Line for Suspension as Victims' Families Call for It
Families of Uvalde school district students have called on the city council to suspend all police officers who responded to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Texas on May 24.
A day after Robb Elementary School principal Mandy Gutierrez was suspended with pay, calls for suspending the city cops, who were on the scene during the massacre, are now rising.
Gutierrez joined Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo, who is still on unpaid administrative leave, and Lt. Mariano Pargas, the acting chief during the massacre, who was suspended pending the outcome of an internal probe into the police department's response.
In a council meeting Tuesday night, families of the victims and community members targeted the people responsible for the mismanaged response to the Uvalde school shooting.
The Uvalde school district meets almost every day to decide on the next steps and stricter measures for the upcoming school year.
Uvalde Police Who Responded to School Shooting Up For Suspension?
During the special council meeting on Tuesday, Uvalde community members and families of the murdered victims asked the city council to suspend the police officers who responded to the horrific Uvalde school shooting, ABC News reported.
The sentiment came days after an initial probe revealed that if it were not for the bungled response of the police force, more lives would have been saved.
One parent of the victims even pointed out during the meeting that until the investigation is done, police officers should be placed on administrative leave.
Uvalde resident, Diana Olvedo-Karau, said the administrative leave they wanted to enforce on the police officers is "minimum," proposing that they should be put on desk duty for the time being until the investigation concludes.
Responding to the call for suspension, Uvalde City Council member Ernest King III vowed to investigate every cop who responded to the shooting at the Robb Elementary School.
"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... We will act on it, and we promise that to you," King said.
According to CNN, former Austin police detective Jesse Prado will be taking the lead in investigating the Uvalde police officers who responded to the scene.
King further noted that officers of the Uvalde Police Department who were there at the scene will be held accountable.
Uvalde Police's Bungled Response to Uvalde School Shooting
Based on the initial Texas House investigation of the Robb Elementary School shooting, a 77-minute delay in police force response led to more deaths.
In the same report, the first police in the area lost "critical momentum" after treating the shooting encounter as a "barricaded subject" instead of an active shooter scenario.
"Correcting this error should have sparked greater urgency to immediately breach the classroom by any possible means, to subdue the attacker, and to deliver immediate aid [to the victims]," the committee's report said.
Because of negligence, the school shooter Salvador Ramos managed to claim the lives of 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
READ MORE: Uvalde School Board Pushes For 'Symbolic' Gun Law Reform: Will Gov. Abbott Agree?
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Ivan Korrs
WATCH: Investigation Into Uvalde School Shooting Focuses on Police Action - From ABC News
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!