By Acacia Coronado and Paul J. Weber, AP
Even though Uvalde’s school police chief is now gone, Mario Jimenez doesn’t feel any safer about sending his 10-year-old son back to class for the first time since his teacher was shot at Robb Elementary School.
“There were a lot more officers that were there and they should take responsibility for their own actions,” Jimenez said.
The firing of embattled Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who for more than 70 minutes during the May 24 massacre made no attempt to confront a gunman firing an AR-15-style rifle inside a fourth grade classroom, did not satisfy or reassure many Uvalde residents nervously facing a fast approaching school year.
The restlessness illustrates the depths of the broken trust in Uvalde between residents and law enforcement more than three months after the slaying of 19 children and two teachers in one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history. The demands are constant: more firings, more security, more gun restrictions. But even then, some are unconvinced that any change is enough.
The first day of school in Uvalde is Sept. 6 and a big question is how many students will return.
Jimenez is putting his son back in the district, this time with an iPhone so he can track his location and have him phone for help if needed. His son’s teacher, Elsa Avila, was wounded in attack.
“He just runs up to her, hugs her and starts to cry because he knows that she is okay,” Jimenez said. “Everyday all he does is ask about how everybody else is doing even though his mental state is horrible.”
Ronnie Garza, a Uvalde County commissioner, has five grandkids returning to class next month — three to Uvalde schools and two to a private school. He has noticed a reluctance from parents to reenroll their children in the district and said many families are switching their children to the local private Catholic school.
Virtual schooling is another option, but a new Texas law passed during the pandemic caps the number of students who can learn at home to 10% of a district’s enrollment. The Uvalde school district has not requested a waiver, according to the Texas Education Agency.
The district is installing higher fences, more security cameras and spreading more than 30 state troopers on campuses across the small South Texas town. To some families, that provides little peace of mind; the Texas Department of Public Safety had more than 90 troopers, many heavily armed, who were at Robb Elementary as the massacre dragged on.
“They were on campus that day and they also didn’t do anything, so I don’t know how much comfort that brings to us,” said Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was among the students killed.
She has four other children between the ages of 8 and 18, the youngest of whom was also at Robb Elementary and now may do school virtually this year.
“They failed me, they failed us. I don’t know that I will ever be the same after this as far as law enforcement,” she said.
Arredondo’s dismissal Wednesday followed months of pressure from Uvalde residents and investigations that revealed how nearly 400 law enforcement officers on the scene waited outside for more than an hour before they took down the 18-year-old gunman. Signs carried by parents into a heated school board meeting ahead of Arredondo’s firing included one that read, “If you did not do your job, turn in your badge.”
But it is not clear whether any officers besides Arredondo will have to do so over a fumbled response that Col. Steve McCraw, the head of the state police force, has called “an abject failure.” Only one other officer, Uvalde Police Lt. Mariano Pargas — who was the city’s acting police chief on the day of massacre — is known to have been placed on leave for their actions during the shooting.
An investigation into Pargas’ actions is ongoing. Texas DPS also launched an internal review over the response by its troopers after a damning report by lawmakers revealed that the lengthy inaction by law enforcement went beyond Arredondo and local police.
It is not clear when either review will finish.
“Every officer that was in there that did nothing, we are going to go after them too,” said Donna Torres, a Uvalde resident who since the shooting has demanded accountability at school board and city council meetings.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called Arredondo’s dismissal “the first step for accountability.” Abbott’s first comments after the shooting praised the law enforcement response but said days later he had been misled, a reversal that laid bare the conflicting and at times inaccurate statements by authorities in the days after the tragedy.
“This is a good start, but there is more work to be done,” Abbott said in a statement. “There must be accountability at all levels in the response at Robb Elementary School.”
they’re placing guards and k9 units at the cta turnstiles. they willneed to stop 20,000 fare jumpers to cover the outlay.
Perhaps finger pointing parents should do better than whistling Dixie and sending their kids off to school without first verifying school security is prepared for the worst. Otherwise by all accounts and failure to do so is child endangerment.
there were nine posts when you got here. is your comment so profound you have to buttinski? take a number or reply.
But we should bear in mind the statistical risk is low. Keeping kids out of public school for poor response to shooters probably doesn’t make sense. What portion of total school injury and death do shooters cause? I don’t know but can guess it is far below 1%.
Keeping kids out of public schools for any reason makes sense. They are nothing but warehouses and indoctrination centers.
OK. Finger pointing is about the only thing parents can do. Or are you conveniently forgetting the incident where a mother tried to get into the school to save her kid but was handcuffed by the cops? The school is a gun free zone and they control access as to who gets in. And only the cops are allowed to have weapons on school grounds. but if the school deliberately circumvents the security of an exterior door allowing the killer to enter, and if the cops decide that they need someone to tell them to do their job. What are the parents going to do? Nothing. They get to do nothing except bury their dead kids and point fingers.
Just how do you verify the school security is prepared for the worst? Even if they aren’t, they’ll say they are. The problem is that the cops were there in minutes and just stood around. Nobody expected that there would be so many cowards wearing uniforms that day. And only one getting fired is a travesty. Every damn one of them should lose their badge and become Walmart greeters.
I am not sure they would meet the qualifications for Walmart greeters.
if ever there was an argument for arming teachers it’s what happened in this instance…and keeping doors locked isn’t a bad idea either…
“All evil needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”
“I do not stand by in the presence of evil.” – Alita, Battle Angel
Maybe because they don’t trust the cops to do their jobs.
Or the teachers and administrators who left the doors unlocked. Hmm.
shouldn’t checking doors be a priority for school security personnel?…shouldn’t teachers be checking them, as well?
If I was a child I wouldn’t want to go back to school.
Fck no, September the fish are still biting, dove season starts, squirrel season still on, then comes November, deer, turkey quail.
Nope , we can go to school February-March but that’s it.
What, you don’t fish through hard water? Man, there’s always a critter to be had, year-round.
Possums have fur coats, but they’re kinda thin and ratty…
This can all be takin care of by getting rid of gun free zones.
I wonder if they ordered a lot of hand sanitizer.
Lots of emotional pain here.
I feel bad for the dead and wounded and also the cops who would have gone in but followed orders to stand by while hearing gun shots.
Not sure I’d cope with that if I had done so.
I do believe I would have gotten fired that day, or shot by the perp. If I were a cop on scene.
Was told by my dad, 30 year cop retired in 79, do anything but don’t be a cop it’s bad now and only going to get worse. He was right. Said most newer cops were pussys or on ego trips.
they looked like the German army…armed to the teeth…but powerless without leadership…
I believe I would have gotten fired that day or shot.
My dad, 30 year cop, told me don’t be a cop. Said most new recruits were sissy or looking for the ego/ power trip. Drove him crazy the things brass would let slide that the vets got slammed for.
There is no proof that an American police officer will protect your children. You can no longer assume that a cop will automatically run to the sound of gun fire in a school building. But if a student is not wearing a mask, they will arrest that kid, when the teacher calls for the police.
That same teacher who is working to prevent other teachers who volunteer to train and carry a gun in school.
Same teacher will call the cops on your kid because they saw a scary black rifle hanging on their wall. From the camera of his computer.
Face it Uvalde, you are not going to trust law enforcement for a longgggg time. When the parents pass away the children will still know and they will tell their kids. That mistrust will be in the town collective memory and passed from generation to generation for a long time, it will be in the documents, it will be there every time you look at that school. Uvalde, you now know what the rest of us out here that carry guns for protection know and have been saying for years and that is that law enforcement is most likely not going to be there to save you when you need them most.
what happened there was Parkland times a factor of 10….a real black eye for LE…..
Hopefully the Uvalde cops all got fired and are driving fork lifts or sweeping streets, because none of them should ever be allowed to serve as LEO ever again. I hear the IRS is looking for clowns with guns, I doubt even the IRS would want them.
If a man can stand by and listen to children scream as they die and do nothing then yes, the irs will want him. He’s the soulless creature they need to weaponize a .gov agency against the people.
This^^^^^^…
A man cannot be called a man if he stands by and listens to children scream and die. That is evil and is matched by the same evil who killed the children.
So how many times does it have to be demonstrated with blood and gore, that individuals are their own first responder; whether it’s in a school, in a grocery store, in a church, in your own house, in your car, or on the street? YOU, Mr. and Ms. America, better grow a spine. Get a gun. Learn how to use it. Carry it everywhere.
👍
Locking your house up after its been robbed comes to mind.
Leaving it unlocked is asking for it to happen again, asshole.
This action in Uvalde will spur other school districts into taking positive steps to protect their students.
This isn’t locking anything up.
This is posting an ADT sign in front. Wether the ADT system is installed or not.
nearly 400 law enforcement officers failed, a 100% failure rate for law enforcement that did not act.
Over 90 of them were state troopers, 100% failure rate for state troopers who did not act.
The shooter acted and was 100% successful in his assault on the victims.
The cops acted and assaulted the hand sanitizer dispenser and their cell phones.
One teacher or staff member with a gun would have had a chance to stop the shooter from being 100% successful. One teacher with a gun, one teacher with the firearms means and capability, one teacher to be the only person that had a chance in that classroom. Some chance is better than no chance at all, law enforcement ensured they had no chance at all.
“The cops acted and assaulted the hand sanitizer dispenser and their cell phones.”
And assaulted a mother trying to save her child.
Colion Noir: Uvalde Families Now Suing Daniel Defense Because Shooter Used Their Rifle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1yhUv_9PqI
DD should counter sue for defamation or whatever they can plus costs. Better be thrown out immediately.
Something seriously disgusting about cashing out on your dead child by going after a company you know damn well isn’t at fault.
sounds like they’re suing the wrong people….
Most cops today are former military. Training emphasizes following orders no matter what. Or waiting for orders to be issued. 1 of the reasons I know a large number of LEO’s but trust only a few.
The example of how police responded should have been a wake up call for those who are anti gun etc. Call911 and pray. Because the cops might or might not get there and do something to save your butt.
If a teacher, or school employee is qualified to have a CC permit, there is no reason they shouldn’t be able and allowed to carry the CC weapon at work. Or allow parents, grandparents who also qualify for CC to work as security in conjunction with LEO’s. or else require the LEO’s who work as school officers to also have their kids in the same school. Simply because those who have their kids in the school are more likely to actually step up and act to stop the threat than those who are just there for a paycheck.
Somebody couldn’t lock a door so let’s spend millions on more locks and doors.
For the record, let’s not blame that teacher who was initially blamed for leaving that door open. She actually closed the door. The problem was, the locks weren’t working. Apparently the locks weren’t working on the classrooms either. There basically was no lockdown when the shooter entered the school, he was free to roam wherever he wished. The principal has been taken to task for not having the locks repaired for months.
The principal was suspended for two days then reinstated. She has the dirt on somebody high up.
The government set it up to call for gun control. Can’t wait to sign on to the UN Small Arms Treat. You can call me a crack pot but in 2018 2 kids were arrested for planning a attack on Uvalde for 2022. Let’s Go Brandon US to be part of the New World Order.
It will be a shining utopia for the elites. A steaming and fetid dystopia for the masses.
But lil’d will be an enthusiastic and overzealous enforcer for the elites in exchange for some crumbs off their table and whatever loot he can seize.
I’m thinking Soylent Green collector will be a major future occupation.
But lil’d will be more proactive in his collection of raw material.
Still looking to the government for solutions I see
IMO, the parents should just shut down the school district. Everyone with kids move out. Or at least move the kids out. No kids, no school. Just shut them down. The principal, teachers, and the school board are all out of a job, as well as some worthless “school district police chief”. Vote with your feet, vote “no confidence”. With no students in the school district, there would be zero income from either state or federal sources. The city and/or county would be faced with maintaining the infrastructure with local taxes alone.
I think if I was Ulvade I’d burn the school.
Over 400 LE cowards on scene in Uvalde and 21 people still got slaughtered. Now you see why I have little faith.
MR JIMINEZ is going to be one hell of a help if some loony is shooting up his kid a mile or so away. Pure fantasy and how anybody could even quote such nonsense is beyond me. Quoting one man’s warped knee jerk reaction is NOT ENOUGH to make any kind of case.
The fact is that in any practical sense it is virtually impossible to stop nutcase’s doing this type of thing and it’s a mistake is to think that these nutters are unintelligent they are NOT.
I do not see that arming teachers or employing MALL COPS will make the slightest difference anyway and to me it’s all a marketting exercise by the PRO GUN and arms manufacturing lobby. If nutters really want to shoot up kids they can do it from a distance and the FIRST TARGETS are likely to be teachers and the MALL-COPS.
They may even become the ONLY bloody targets simply because they are the ‘One’s With the Guns’. Nought like clearing the cdecks!
“I do not see that arming teachers or employing MALL COPS will make the slightest difference anyway …”
Tell us how many school shootings there have been at schools that employ security.
“…the FIRST TARGETS are likely to be teachers and the MALL-COPS.”
Tell us exactly how many times this has been the case.
Goddamn, Albert, are you naturally this stupid or do you have to work at it?
“Goddamn, Albert, are you naturally this stupid or do you have to work at it?”
It is a special school they go to. Tuition includes a lobotomy.
My ex was a prison psychologist and she explained to me that a shooter of this type tends to want to be close and mingling. They use rifles or handguns as they see this as what they saw on TV and movies in their revenge fantasy. They don’t want to do such things as blow up buildings or burn then, they want the gun up close as that better matches movie camera angles. She had actually treated a shooter.
these kids weren’t “shot from a distance”…he never should have got in…
Fox News quickly reverted to blue line worship. Refusing to cover stories of police crime and instead focusing on some podunk deputy saving a cat from an effing tree. Brains are hard wired.
We had a shooting at our community college many years ago..
Stunning thing was the first officers on scene actually confronted the gunman and killed him..
How did the head of the college respond was demand that the officers be fired for shooting their guns on campus grounds, after the perp had killed people..
She stated they should have waited for the SWAT team, even though he was holding hostages and threatening to shoot them, according to the students..
She was fired and several members of the staff that backed her demand were fired..
Even parents of the dead came out in defense of of the police officers..
Then Obama tried to turn it political by visiting, and was met with thousands of people lining our freeway and roads, telling him to go back home and we supported gun rights…
90 of them, eh?
Those are a lot of cops to stop parents from doing their job and rescuing their own children.
If you are a parent, and you are sending your child to public schools today, you are guilty of parental malpractice. Not just for questions of security, but for what perversions of the truth you now know they are teaching your children, the sexual recruitment of your children by teachers, etc.
Public schools no longer have any reason to exist.
It seems the teachers, when in school, we’re totally indoctrinated into far leftist beliefs.
They seem to speak as brainwashed zombies. So of course they flow this onto their students.
Ignoring all the political posturing and BS for the moment, every police officer in the USA has the same training and standards for responding to a school shooting. You engage the shooter as fast as your feet will get you there. Your life is secondary, you attack the shooter, that’s what you do.
Every officer who failed in that duty should have already been unemployed.
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Nobody is listening again! Quick Fix get rid of the gun free zones in the shootings will stop. When is somebody going to listen?
Cowards, chicken livered POS! No more no less!
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