AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Division of Public Security fired an officer Friday who was on the scene of the Uvalde faculty bloodbath and turns into the primary member of the state police drive to lose their job within the fallout over the hesitant response to the Could assault.
The division served Sgt. Juan Maldonado with termination papers, spokeswoman Ericka Miller stated.
The firing comes 5 months after the capturing at Robb Elementary College that has put state police below scrutiny over their actions on the campus as a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle killed 19 youngsters and two lecturers.
Physique digital camera footage and media experiences have proven the Division of Public Security had a bigger function on the scene than the division appeared to counsel after the Could 24 capturing. State troopers have been among the many first wave of officers to reach however didn’t instantly confront the gunman, which specialists say goes in opposition to commonplace police process throughout mass shootings.
As a substitute, greater than 70 minutes handed earlier than officers lastly stormed inside a fourth-grade classroom and killed the gunman, ending one of many deadliest faculty assaults in U.S. historical past. Almost 400 officers in all ultimately made their method to the scene, together with state police, Uvalde police, faculty officers and U.S. Border Patrol brokers.
Persevering with protection of the Uvalde faculty bloodbath
Maldonado couldn’t be reached for remark Friday evening.
Seven Division of Public Security troopers have been put below inside investigation this summer season after a damning report by lawmakers revealed that state police has extra 90 officers on the scene, greater than some other company.
Steve McCraw, the Division of Public Security director, has referred to as the legislation enforcement response an “abject failure” however put many of the blame on former Uvalde faculty police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was fired in August and could be seen on physique cam video looking in futility for a key to the classroom door which will been unlocked all the time.
However the Uvalde mayor, mother and father of the victims and a few lawmakers have accused the Division of Public Security of making an attempt to reduce its personal failures.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district contains Uvalde, reacted to information of the firing by saying that accountability within the division mustn’t finish there.
“Ninety extra to go, plus the DPS director,” he stated.
Gutierrez has sued the division in an effort to acquire paperwork surrounding the response to the capturing. A number of media shops, together with The Related Press, have additionally requested courts to compel authorities and Uvalde officers to launch information below public data legal guidelines.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s up for reelection in November, has stood by McCraw and stated throughout a September debate there wanted to be “accountability for legislation enforcement at each degree.” A spokesperson for Abbott didn’t return messages in search of remark concerning the firing.
One of many state troopers put below inside investigation was Crimson Elizondo, who resigned and later was employed by Uvalde faculties to work as a campus police officer. She was fired lower than 24 hours after outraged mother and father in Uvalde came upon about her hiring.
