The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District suspended its entire police department on Friday amidst criticism of how it handled the mass shooting that killed over a dozen school children.
“The District remains committed to resolving issues with verifiable evidence. Decisions concerning the UCISD police department have been pending the results of the Texas Police Chiefs Association and JPPI investigation. Recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations,” the district said in a statement.
The district said Lt. Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller had been placed on leave, and other police department members would be placed in different roles for the time being. District officials have requested that the Texas Department of Public Safety handle school security in the police department’s absence.
“We are confident that staff and student safety will not be compromised during this transition,” the district said.
Nineteen students and two teachers were murdered at Robb Elementary School last May, when a gunman broke into a classroom and began firing. Although law enforcement made it outside the classroom relatively quickly, it took over one hour for them to stop the gunman. Footage of the school’s hallway showed officers standing outside the classroom, with the shooter still inside.
“He shot the next person’s door,” one fourth-grader who survived recalled to local news outlet Kens5. “We have a door in the middle. He opened it. He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said, ‘It’s time to die.’”
The gunman was killed by authorities.
The Uvalde School Board voted unanimously in August to fire Police Chief Pete Arredondo, following the district’s recommendation that he be fired. Arredondo did not show up to the board meeting. His lawyer said in a statement that Arrendondo was refusing to participate “in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching.”
People in the room reportedly applauded after he was fired.
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