The Diocese of Covington's investigation involving Covington Catholic students in Washington D.C. that went viral has concluded and found that the students did not "instigate the incident."

On Wednesday, Bishop Rev. Roger Foys said his hopes had been realized in that the students were exonerated and that they "can move forward with their lives."

The investigation was done by Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc. in Taylor Mill. The company said it found no evidence students made "offensive or racist statements." But it acknowledged students performed the tomahawk chop.

Lance Soto, a local indigenous leader who lives in Covington, disagreed with the report's conclusion. He said the tomahawk chop is tied to some professional sport teams that use racist imagery like mascots to depict indigenous people.

"I hope that our people realize that it’s not up to white people to determine what is racist or derogatory toward Native Americans," said Soto, a member of the Cocopah tribe and leader within the Indiana and Kentucky chapter of the American Indian Movement.

"They (the investigators of the CovCath incident) need to ask a Native American. And there are plenty of us living here," Soto added.

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Greater Cincinnati Investigation Inc. did not immediately respond to a question about whether the company interviewed any Native Americans before concluding its report.

Soto said the local American Indian Movement chapter has called for a public apology addressed to Nathan Phillips and for all Covington Catholic staff at the Mall during the incident to be fired.

He also said the school should implement new curriculum about Native American history.

"I saw young men mocking and disrespecting an elder," Soto said, "and it made me sad to think about how much work we have to do locally in order for our Native Americans to be recognized as actual human beings."

He added he invited Diocese of Covington officials to a community meeting on Feb. 3, but Soto said they didn't attend.

Chase Iron Eyes, spokesperson for the Indigenous Peoples March, called it unsurprising that the investigative team hired by the school "would fail to hold the students accountable."

"It’s possible that people within the Covington Catholic community are not willingly expressing racism," Iron Eyes said in a statement, "but as is clear from the report’s findings, there’s a lack of understanding about the racism inherent in the tomahawk chop."

Multiple videos of Covington Catholic students interacting with a Native American elder and a group of Black Hebrew Israelites went viral in January after the national March for Life in Washington D.C. Jan. 18 The investigation breaks down the videos and highlights interviews with parents and students who were present at the incident.

"The immediate world-wide reaction to the initial video led almost everyone to believe that our students had initiated the incident and the perception of those few minutes of video became reality," Foys said in the letter to parents. "In truth, taking everything into account, our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening."

Foys said the reaction of the students was expected and "one might even say laudatory."

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Vincent Schilling, a Mohawk tribe member and acquaintance of Phillips, was disappointed by the report.

"I believe overall, this entire incident is a failure of adults that were overseeing this event to take culpability in any way," Schilling said by email. "What should have been a teachable moment has turned into a tide of dismissiveness and an unwillingness to look at the facts."

More than 40 students were interviewed by the investigative team, as well as some of the 16 chaperones who went to D.C.

Nick Sandmann, a Covington Catholic student featured in the video, and Phillips, the Native American man who approaches the crowd of students, were not interviewed in the investigation.

"We have nothing more to add," a statement to local media said.

Here's what the investigation found: