The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced Friday it has suspended its entire district police force, months after a shooting at Robb Elementary School left 19 students and two teachers dead, ABC News reported.
Officials around the nation have questioned why it took 77 minutes for police to breach a pair of adjoining rooms where a gunman was mercilessly slaughtering fourth-grade students and their teachers.
The Uvalde school board previously voted unanimously in August to fire district police chief Pete Arredondo over the botched police response.
On Friday, the district said it has requested additional Texas Department of Public Safety troopers for its campuses and places where extracurricular activities occur.
“We are confident that staff and student safety will not be compromised during this transition,” the district said, according to the report.
It was not immediately clear how long the members of the school district police force would be suspended.
The district said it had been awaiting the results of investigations from the Texas Police Chiefs Association and the private investigative firm JPPI Investigations to make decisions regarding the school police force but “recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations.”
The suspensions come one day after the district fired a newly hired school officer after reports surfaced identifying her as one of seven officers under investigation for her response to the Uvalde shooting.
Crimson Elizondo, one of the state troopers who arrived to the school within two minutes of the gunman’s attack, was heard on body camera footage saying: “If my son had been in there, I would not have been outside. I promise you that.”
Elizondo was hired as a police officer for the school district over the summer after leaving DPS.
“We are deeply distressed by the information that was disclosed yesterday evening concerning one of our recently hired employees, Crimson Elizondo,” the school district said in a statement to CNN. “We sincerely apologize to the victim’s families and the greater Uvalde community for the pain that this revelation has caused. Ms. Elizondo’s statement in the audio is not consistent with the District’s expectations.”
Seven Department of Public Safety officers of the 91 to respond to the shooting are under investigation for their actions that day.