The Department of Public Safety (DPS) has reinstated a Texas Ranger, who was suspended for not handling the Uvalde elementary school shooting in 2022.
DPS Director Steve McCraw said in a letter to Christopher Ryan Kindell that he could return to his job because the Texas Rangers had finished their investigation of the shooting at Robb Elementary School. No criminal charges were made against any DPS officers, Texas Tribune reported.
McCraw mentioned that Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell, who started a grand jury in January to look into the delayed response to the May 2022 shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers, asked for Kindell to be reinstated.
Mitchell, who confirmed she asked for Kindell to be brought back, said rangers from Real County, Val Verde County and Maverick County were handling Kindell's area, while he was suspended.
"Ranger Kindell has worked diligently to serve the citizens of Uvalde County for approximately seven years and has been the lead investigator on several complicated cases, from child sexual abuse to murder cases," Mitchell mentioned, Texas Tribune reported. "It was time that Ranger Kindell got back to work serving Uvalde County."
Mitchell did not reveal what evidence the grand jury looked at regarding Kindell, saying it was illegal to share details about grand jury proceedings.
The massacre was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. Law enforcement officers waited 77 minutes to confront the lone gunman, even though, 376 officers were at the scene. A Border Patrol tactical unit eventually killed the shooter.
Kindell was told in January 2023 that he would be fired. In his termination letter, McCraw said Kindell's actions "did not conform to department standards" and that he should have recognized it as an active shooter situation, not a barricaded subject situation.
Meanwhile, families of the victims were angry, saying there hasn't been enough accountability or transparency since the shooting.
"I posted earlier about people not caring about Uvalde and my son's murder earlier," a parent named Brett Cross wrote on social media, whose son died in the tragic incident. "Kindell was the only one who was 'disciplined' and I say that loosely because he was giving two year paid vacation."
Cross added, "Not only is it sick and disgusting that he is reinstated... Our f------ D.A. REQUESTED IT! How much lower will any of these people go to spit in our faces?!?!" alongside the Texas DPS letter.
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