AUSTIN, Texas — New outrage ripped by way of Uvalde on Thursday over revelations {that a} faculty police officer employed after the Robb Elementary bloodbath was not solely on campus in the course of the Could assault as a Texas state trooper however below investigation over her actions whereas a gunman killed 19 college students and two academics.
The hiring of Officer Crimson Elizondo was first reported by CNN on Wednesday evening. Lower than 24 hours later, the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District fired Elizondo on Thursday within the face of swift and mounting backlash from households of the fourth-grade victims and Texas lawmakers.
However the abrupt firing did little to diffuse anger in Uvalde. Households demanded solutions over why the varsity district’s small police drive within the first place employed one of the practically 400 legislation enforcement officers who rushed to the scene of the Could 24 assault however waited greater than an hour to confront a gunman with a AR-15-style rifle.
Including to some mother and father’ disbelief was the truth that Elizondo, in line with information launched by the Texas Division of Public Security, is amongst at the very least seven troopers who had been on the scene and put below inside investigation over their actions throughout one of many deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. historical past.
“They knowingly employed her,” tweeted Brett Cross, whose 10-year-old son Uziyah Garcia was killed within the assault.
Elizondo didn’t instantly reply to voicemail and Fb messages in search of remark Thursday.
The paperwork present that after the Uvalde faculty district contacted DPS in July whereas conducting a background screening of Elizondo, the company despatched again a letter noting that she was below inside investigation over allegations that her actions had been “inconsistent with coaching and Division necessities.”
In a press release Thursday saying the firing, Uvalde faculty officers didn’t deal with their resolution to initially rent Elizondo.
“We sincerely apologize to the sufferer’s households and the better Uvalde group for the ache that this revelation has precipitated,” the assertion mentioned.
Elizondo gave discover of her resignation as a Texas state trooper Aug. 17 and her final day with the division of public security was Aug. 29, mentioned Travis Considine, a DPS spokesperson.
In police physique digicam footage, CNN reported, Elizondo is heard telling different officers on the scene of Robb Elementary: “If my son had been in there, I’d not have been outdoors. I promise you that.”
Elizondo’s profile was on the Uvalde faculty district’s web site Thursday morning however had been eliminated by the afternoon.
Hours earlier than the firing, households had gathered outdoors the varsity district’s administrative workplace to protest the hiring.
“We’re disgusted and indignant at Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District’s (UCISD) resolution to rent Officer Crimson Elizondo. Her hiring places into query the credibility and thoroughness of UCISD’s HR and vetting practices,” a press release from among the victims’ households mentioned. “And it confirms what we’ve been saying all alongside: UCISD has not and isn’t within the enterprise of guaranteeing the protection of our kids at college.”
In July, a damning report cited “egregiously poor resolution making” by legislation enforcement officers who waited greater than an hour earlier than confronting the 18-year-old gunman. The campus police chief, Pete Arredondo, was fired in August.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, whose district consists of Uvalde, mentioned Elizondo’s hiring “slapped this group within the face.”
“A DPS trooper was on scene inside two minutes of the shooter and didn’t comply with coaching, protocol, and the obligation they had been sworn to,” he mentioned. “Individuals’s youngsters died as a result of DPS officers didn’t do their job.”
A district spokesperson didn’t instantly return messages Thursday.
