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City mum on new leak




Last week, as families of those killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary marked one year without their loved ones, the Washington Post shared leaked dash cam footage showing Uvalde Police were on scene before the shooter entered the school but ducked behind patrol units upon hearing gunfire near the school.

Uvalde city manager Vince DiPiazza said the city is not able to comment on the topic. 

The Washington Post also reported that Uvalde resident Juan Maldonado, whom they did not refer to by name but only as the “first state police officer disciplined after the massacre,” was working at a local sheriff’s office. 

Leader-News inquiries determined Maldonado, who on May 24 was a Texas Department of Public Safety sergeant and arrived at Robb Elementary in the opening minutes of the shooting, is a reserve deputy for the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office.

Zavala County Sheriff Eusevio Salinas Jr. said his office is carrying Maldonado’s peace officer commission as of April 6, 2023, but Maldonado does not hold a rank or receive pay. He said all reserve deputies may work on an as-needed basis, but he did not say whether or not Maldonado has been on duty as a reserve deputy for his department.

Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell, also a Uvalde County resident, remains on paid leave during an appeal, despite DPS saying it terminated his employment this year.

City response

“The city of Uvalde’s internal affairs investigation is ongoing,” DiPiazza said. “Therefore, the city cannot verify or comment on the representation of facts as stated, as to the city, its response, the policies, or as they pertain to individual officers.”

The Post story says Sgt. Daniel Coronado was first on scene but ducked in the parking lot as shots rang out, and quoted him in a post-incident interview as saying he thought the shooter was engaging officers or trying to get away, not shooting children.

The story also quoted Lt. Javier Martinez as saying in a post-incident interview, “It’s a school. You’re going to assume there’s kids in there,” and Sgt. Donald Page, “As much as he was shooting, I mean, he had to be shooting at something.”

Twenty-five members of the approximately 40-member Uvalde Police Department responded to Robb Elementary on May 24. Former lieutenant Mariano Pargas Jr. parted ways with the department, for which he worked about 18 years, in November over his handling of the scene. 

Pargas, due to the absence of UPD Chief Daniel Rodriguez, was in charge of UPD officers. According to the Texas House Investigative Committee report on the May 24 response, Rodriguez, who was out of town on vacation, called Pargas with instructions to set up a command post. 

Pargas, according to the report, did not effectively do so, and he and the city agreed to part ways after CNN reported that he knew children were calling 911 from inside the classrooms yet he did not attempt to breach the rooms.

Last summer, the city hired retired Austin Police Department detective Jesse Prado, of JPPI Investigations, to conduct an independent investigation of the actions of about 25 Uvalde Police Department officers at the school. The investigation stalled, and the city has been seeking investigative materials from Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers, which are to be handed to 38th Judicial District Attorney Christina Mitchell once they are completed. 

DPS background

Texas DPS director Steve McCraw issued a letter on Jan. 5 firing Kindell, an over 15-year department veteran who has been involved in hundreds of investigations. The letter alleged Kindell, who arrived at the school about half an hour after the shooter, failed to perform his duty via a lack of action. It states he, “took no steps to influence the law enforcement response toward an active shooter posture.”

The Office of Inspector General investigation indicated Kindell was never informed about the specific actions he was terminated for, and he is reportedly awaiting a meeting with McCraw to discuss the matter.

Maldonado and Kindell, who both worked in Uvalde, were amongst 91 reported Texas Department of Public Safety officers who were on the school campus on May 24, when 19 students and two teachers were killed as 376 members of law enforcement waited 77 minutes to confront the attacker.

Maldonado was promoted to the South Texas public information and safety relations officer on Sept. 15, 2021, and was based at Uvalde High School.

Maldonado, a 24-year veteran officer, was cut from DPS on Oct. 21, 2022.