Uvalde police chief announces resignation effective April 6

UVALDE, Texas — Just hours before a scheduled meeting on Tuesday night, the Uvalde police chief has announced his intent to resign by submitting a letter of resignation to the City of Uvalde.

Chief Daniel Rodriguez was not in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, when a teenage gunman was left unchallenged in the school for 77 minutes, but had assigned Lt. Mariano Pargas to be acting chief that day, CNN reports.

Pargas was at the school within minutes but failed to take on a command role or act to save children trapped with the shooter, even when he was told of a child calling from the classroom to say students were still alive and needed help.

The former mayor of Uvalde has also rejected a recent report’s findings, saying the examination didn’t answer the community’s questions and only left families more devastated.

“I don’t think the word exonerate should have been used at all in this report,” said McLaughlin.

RELATED: Uvalde parents angered by new report that clears city police of missteps during Texas school attack

19 children and two teachers died in the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary.

The finding contradicts investigations by the Department of Justice and Texas House of Representatives which found multiple police failures left the gunman unchallenged in the school for 77 minutes.

Monday, former Mayor Don McLaughlin explained why the report is problematic.

“Well, it ripped the, ripped, the wound wide open again instead of a, instead of a tear, it’s, it’s torn, it’s gushed wide open now,” said Don McLaughlin. “I mean, you know, we’ve got, we’re right back that we’ve got to, we’ve got to re-establish trust again. We’ve got to re-establish a deal there. And I, I mean, I believe this council will. Uh, but I, I, you know, I think there’s, there’s a question of mistrust deal with this report.”

The Uvalde City Council is meeting Tuesday night to further address the report.

“I mean, this investigation was supposed to be on what our policy was and if they violated policy and what their actions were that day and what we saw, I didn’t, didn’t, didn’t really clear that up,” said McLaughlin.

Ahead of the meeting, the city’s police chief resigned effective April 6. This was independently confirmed with Uvalde Police. 

Daniel Rodriguez  became the Chief of Police in 2018.

The City of Uvalde Mayor Cody Smith released the following statement: 

“The City of Uvalde is grateful to Chief Rodriguez for his 26 years of service to our community and we wish him the best as he pursues new career opportunities. Assistant Chief of Police Homer Delgado will be named Interim Chief of Police, as the City Manager and I undertake the search for a full-time replacement in consultation with the City Council. Nothing is more important than the safety of our community, and we look forward to working together to identify the best candidate to serve the people of Uvalde.”