Uvalde School District Suspends Entire Police Department
The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced Friday that it is suspending all activities of its police department, a move that comes a day after the district fired an officer who — then working as a state trooper — had been one of the first DPS officers to respond to the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School.
The district said in a news release that “recent developments have uncovered additional concerns” with the department’s operations. For the time being, the district has asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide additional troopers for campus security and at extracurricular activities.
Uvalde CISD police Lt. Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller, the district’s director of student services, were placed on administrative leave, the district said, adding that Mueller had decided to retire.
On Thursday, the district said it had fired Officer Crimson Elizondo. CNN reported a day earlier that Elizondo was one of seven troopers under investigation for their response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, which left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Elizondo resigned from DPS but was hired as an officer for the district. CNN reported that Uvalde CISD had been alerted by DPS in July that Elizondo was being investigated over her actions.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, said the hiring came after parents were assured by the district that no officers involved in the response to the May shooting would be deployed to Uvalde Elementary School, where many Robb Elementary students now attend.
Body-camera footage from the day of the massacre shows Elizondo telling someone, “If my son had been in there, I would not have been outside.”
Uvalde CISD said Friday that officers employed by the district would be reassigned to other jobs, and that the district is continuing to work with the Texas Police Chiefs Association on a review of its police force, which will help guide a rebuilding of the department. The report is expected to be issued this month.
“We are confident that staff and student safety will not be compromised during this transition,” the district said.
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