Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed last month, will be demolished, local officials say.
During a city council meeting, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said it was his understanding that the elementary school would be demolished after speaking with the district superintendent, reports KSAT News.
“We could never ask a child to go back, or a teacher to go back into that school ever,” said McLaughlin.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steven McCraw, who also spoke at the council meeting, characterized police response to the May 24 shooting as an "abject failure."
Armed officers wearing body armor could have stopped the shooting attack just three minutes after the shooter entered the building, Mc Graw says. Texas Department of Public Safety officials Uvalde police disregarded decades of accepted law enforcement practice by not deciding to enter the classroom sooner.
A day after McCraw's remarks, Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde district's police department, was placed on administrative leave, The Washington Post reports.
“From the beginning of this horrible event, I shared that the district would wait until the investigation was complete before making personnel decisions,” Uvalde School Superintendent Hal Harrell wrote. “Today, I am still without details of the investigations being conducted by various agencies. Because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations, I have made the decision to place Chief Arredondo on administrative leave.”
