UVALDE, Texas — Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez announced his resignation Tuesday, which will take effect April 6.
The announcement comes just days after officers were cleared of missteps during the 2022 attack on Robb Elementary that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
"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," Uvalde Mayor Cody Smith said in a statement. "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."
Former Lt. Mariano Pargas was acting chief on the day of the shooting because Rodriguez was out of town on vacation.
Austin-based investigator Jesse Prado made the report for the Uvalde City Council and described failures by responding local, state and federal officers that day. According to the Associated Press, among the failures were communication problems, poor training for live shooter situations, the lack of available equipment and delays in breaching the classroom.
Prado's review detailed that officers showed "immeasurable strength" and "level-headed thinking" as they faced fire from the shooter while refraining from shooting into the darkened classroom.
"There were problems all day long with communication and lack of it. The officers had no way of knowing what was being planned, what was being said,” Prado said. “If they would have had a ballistic shield, it would have been enough to get them to the door ... They were being shot at from eight away from the door."
The March 2024 report is just one of several probes into the massacre. Texas lawmakers found in 2022 that nearly 400 local, state and federal officers rushed to the scene but waited more than an hour before confronting the gunman.
A January report from the U.S. Department of Justice also criticized the "cascading failures" of responding law enforcement.