CNN
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The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said Friday it has suspended its school police within five months 19 children and two teachers were killed in the attack.
“The district has decided to temporarily suspend all operations of the Uvalde CISD Police Department. The currently posted officers will also fill other posts in the district,” the district statement said.
Additionally, Lt. Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller have been placed on administrative leave, with Mueller elected to retire, the report said.
“The district has requested the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide additional troopers for college and extracurricular activities,” the district said. “We are confident that the safety of staff and students will not be compromised during this transition.”
The district cited unspecified “recent developments” that “revealed additional concerns with department operations.”
A parent who protested in front of the school district building for days demanding the district take action told CNN Friday night that she was pleased with the decision.
The moves come as CNN reported Wednesday that the newly hired state trooper was among the state troopers under investigation for the actions of Uvalde school officer Crimson Elizando while responding to the Rapp Elementary School massacre in May.
In this regard, the Department of School Education released a statement on Thursday: CNN reportsAnnouncing Elizando’s dismissal.
Following the CNN report, the school district The superintendent told staff he wanted to retire.
Superintendent Hal Harrell told district staff that Monday’s school board meeting will include a closed session to “discuss superintendent retirement and transition options,” according to an email obtained by CNN.
Bret Cross, who was the legal guardian The victim is Uzziah GarciaHe told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Friday night that the decision to suspend campus officials was “our first win, you know, and I’m happy about it.”
Gross said she wasn’t alone, as people often showed up in front of school district headquarters to show their support.
They only want transparency and accountability from the authorities, he said.
“I didn’t ask much. We want to see action,” Cross said, adding that he expects a report on what happened that day. “I hope it’s discovered and I hope it’s published because we deserve it. Our kids deserve it.
Cross tweeted the end of his protest after the announcement: “We did it! We’re going home! ”
Elizando was the first of 91 DPS officers to arrive at the school that day. He was one of 376 law enforcement personnel who responded for 77 minutes before the shooter was stopped with dead, dying and traumatized victims. The response to the attack was condemned as a “dismal failure” and Crime was widespread.
The school police chief was fired, and now seven DPS officers are being investigated. Elizando is one of the officers under investigation, CNN exclusively reported. A source close to the investigation also confirmed to CNN.
So far, the only person to lose his job in response to the shooting is school police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, who was fired by the school board in August. Arredondo He became a key figure in the failed response, although he has said he does not consider himself the incident commander and should be reinstated.
Sources familiar with the investigation confirmed to CNN that Elizando is one of seven officers being investigated by DPS, but neither their names nor their conduct were made public during the response.
Elizando was not properly equipped and told investigators she did not feel comfortable entering the school without her gear, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
She no longer works for DPS. During the summer, Elizondo was hired as an officer in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, where his role was to protect the same children who survived the Rapp Elementary shooting.
Elizando declined to speak to CNN in person, by phone or by direct message.
Footage from police body cameras and other officers seen by CNN shows Elizando arriving as one of the first responders to the school’s outskirts. He gets out of his official vehicle, but does not retrieve any tactical body armor or his long gun, as officers are trained to do. Elizando walked inside the building for a while, but mostly stood outside.
The school district has said it wants to hire 10 more officers after the attack. It did not specifically announce the hiring of Elizondo over the summer, although the names and photos of him and four police officers, a lieutenant and a security guard are on its website under the banner “Keep UCISD safe.”
At least 33 DPS officers will be hired around the district’s eight schools, Harrell said at a special town hall meeting in August.
After concerns from residents that officers who failed to prevent a homicide would be working in school security, Gross told CNN that DPS officers who were hired would not have been the ones responding to the shooting.
“Our children have been taken from us. We will not stop fighting until we have answers, and we are making sure that the safety of the children in our community is our number one priority,” according to a statement from representatives to families of district students.
Texas DPS launched last month Internal inspection of its employees A school shooting responder.
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