‘How Dare You? You Were Paid By Them!’: Prayers Turn Into Anger As Investigator Clears Uvalde Officers Of Wrongdoing

Residents of Uvalde, Texas, erupted in anger during a Thursday meeting when an independent investigation’s report acknowledged missteps but cleared local police officers of policy violations over a delayed response to a mass shooting, multiple outlets reported.

The report’s author, former police detective Jesse Prado, claimed local officers were “level-headed” and that the response to the incident was appropriate and swift, according to The Associated Press. Prado came under fire from family members when he left the meeting without taking any questions from attendees after presenting his findings, CNN reported.

Two teachers and 19 children died in the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School before Border Patrol agents stormed the classroom and fatally shot the perpetrator. The response to the shooting drew criticism from the Justice Department in a January report, while a Texas House of Representatives committee slammed “shortcomings and failures” in the law enforcement response in a report issued in July 2022.