The Uvalde, Texas school district continues to face fierce criticism over its police department’s failings during the May 24 elementary school massacre and since – announced on Friday the suspension of the entire district police force.
The district said it has requested that more Texas Department of Public Safety soldiers be stationed on campuses and during extracurricular activities, adding, “We are confident that the safety of staff and students will not be compromised during this transition.”
The length of the suspension from the school district’s police department is unclear.
An officer walks outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022.
Dinner Allison/AFP via Getty Images
Lt. Miguel Hernandez, assigned to lead the department after the fallout from the attack, and Ken Mueller, director of student services for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, were placed on administrative leave. Mueller chose to retire, according to the school district.
“Currently employed officers will fill other roles in the district,” the school district said. According to the district’s website, that includes four officers and a security guard.
Families of the victims, led by Brett Cross, guardian of 10-year-old victim Uziyah Garcia, were holding a 24-hour vigil outside school district headquarters calling for change. Families are now welcoming Friday’s announcement.
Family members of Robb Elementary School victims and their supporters demonstrate outside the Uvalde School District offices, September 29, 2022.
Kate Holland/ABC News
“They don’t know how to hire people, they don’t know how to control agents,” Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter, Lexi, was killed at Robb Elementary, told ABC News. “They didn’t provide proper training.”
Friday’s news was “what we were asking for – it’s more than we were asking for,” she said.
Kimberly Rubio, mother of slain Robb Elementary student Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, is comforted after speaking as Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke and some of the family members of the children who lost their lives at Robb Elementary at Uvalde hold a press conference at Fountain Park on Friday, September 30, 2022 in Edinburg, Texas.
Joel Martinez / The Monitor via AP
Gloria Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jackie, was killed, called Friday’s announcement “bittersweet.”
“It’s a victory, a small victory,” she told ABC News. “We are not finished.”
The school district’s move comes a day after Crimson Elizondo’s shotan officer who was hired by the Uvalde School District although he is under investigation for his conduct as a DPS soldier during the massacre, which claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers.
Elizondo was the first DPS member to enter the hallway at Robb Elementary School after the shooter entered. The soldier did not bring his rifle or vest into the school, according to the results of an internal review by DPS that was detailed to ABC News.
Due to the potential non-compliance with standard procedures, the soldier was among seven DPS personnel whose conduct is currently under investigation by the agency’s inspector general. The seven were suspended, however, by Elizondo’s resignation from the DPS to work for Uvalde Schools, she was no longer subject to any internal discipline or sanction. His conduct — if found to be contrary to law or policy — would still be included in the DPS Inspector General’s final report.
Hernandez, the acting police chief, is the officer who admitted receiving an official notification from the DPS in July that Elizondo was under investigation.
The school district said in Friday’s statement that “decisions regarding” the school district’s police department await the results of investigations by the Texas Police Chiefs Association and the private investigation firm JPPI Investigations, but “recent developments revealed additional concerns about the department’s operations.”
The results of the JPPI survey “will inform future personnel decisions” and the Texas Police Chiefs Association review “will guide the rebuilding of the department and the hiring of a new police chief,” says the press release.
School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was fired in August.
ABC News’ Patrick Linehan and Olivia Osteen contributed to this report.