The mayor of Uvalde, Texas, accuses a local prosecutor of covering up an investigation into the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School and demands that she resign.
Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. filed a second lawsuit Tuesday against District Attorney Christina Mitchell in Uvalde District Court, alleging that her investigation into the police department’s failed response is tainted because her lead investigator was on the scene during the massacre along with policemen.
The mayor demands that Mitchell turn over all the information he has about the massacre of 19 students and two teachers to the city’s independent investigator, Jesse Prado.
Currently, no one in the city has access to the files of law enforcement responding to the May 24, 2022 massacre to ensure the confidentiality of the prosecutor’s investigation.
His office is investigating whether any officers should be charged for the delay in responding and whether anyone knew of the gunman’s plans or helped him buy weapons or ammunition.
“I believe Christina Mitchell, the 38th Judicial District Attorney, has been involved in a cover-up related to the city’s investigation into the Robb School tragedy,” McLaughlin said in a statement filing the lawsuit.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. has filed a lawsuit against the local district attorney accusing her of covering up his investigation into a fatal school shooting.AP
“The city hired Mr. Jesse Prado of JPPI on July 21, 2022, approximately two months after the shooting, to investigate the shooting in relation to the actions of Uvalde Police Department personnel,” he said of the government’s decision. from the city to hire the former Austin police officer. .
“Since then, District Attorney Mitchell has refused to provide the city with all of the information that Mr. Prado had requested, resulting in the city suing her in her official capacity to obtain the information necessary to for Mr. Prado to complete the city’s administrative investigation.
“She once again broke her word,” McLaughlin continued. “The city had to file a lawsuit a second time because District Attorney Mitchell continues to block the city’s investigation.”
The mayor called for the resignation of District Attorney Christina Mitchell (above).Getty Images
“Christina Mitchell should resign immediately,” he said.
“From day one we have asked for transparency from all the agencies that were there that day,” the mayor concluded. “It’s been 15 months since this tragedy and I feel the families and our community deserve answers.”
City officials had originally sued Mitchell in November, accusing her of refusing to provide crucial information Prado needed for his investigation. That lawsuit was dismissed in May when Mitchell agreed to give the information to Prado.
But McLaughlin insisted that Mitchell has not yet fulfilled his promise.
Uvalde police waited in the hallway of Robb Elementary School for 77 minutes as a gunman barricaded himself inside a classroom and continued shooting.
In response to the newly filed lawsuit, Mitchell told the San Antonio Express-News that he has no plans to resign and defended his investigation.
She called the lawsuit a “distraction and an attempt to prevent me, as the district attorney, from completing my tenure to ensure that justice is served to the best of my ability under the law with the facts and evidence that I have.”
Mitchell also said that while his lead investigator, Shayne Gilland, was at Robb Elementary School during the mass shooting, he is “not a first responder.”
The Uvalde Police Department has faced intense scrutiny and backlash for its delayed response.AP
She claims he stood outside in the school parking lot while police officers waited in the hallway for 77 minutes as 18-year-old shooter Salvador Ramos continued to shoot fourth-graders.
Mitchell went on to describe the city’s announcement as “an attempt to make excuses for why they haven’t completed their internal investigation, when all other law enforcement agencies have completed their internal investigations.”
“And they did it without any help from my office, and they never asked me for any information,” he said.
Nineteen elementary students and two teachers died in the elementary school massacre. AFP via Getty Images
“It is unfortunate that I now have to address this distraction instead of my primary responsibility of reviewing the Texas Rangers investigation.”
Mitchell had previously told the Express-News that the Texas Rangers turned over their investigative file to him in July and that he planned to present the case to a grand jury later in the year.
The Post also contacted the district attorney’s office for comment.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn