The local mayor of Uvalde, Texas, announced on Tuesday the demolition of Robb Elementary School, where a gunman killed 19 schoolchildren and two teachers last month.
Don McLaughlin told a council meeting in Uvalde on Tuesday that he was aware of the plan to demolish Robb Elementary School and a new school built for its nearly 600 pupils after the tragedy in May, according to a report from The Guardian.
"My understanding - and I had this discussion with the [school district] superintendent - is that the school will be demolished. You can never ask a child to go back, or teacher to go back, in that school ever," McLaughlin said. McLaughlin, however, did not mention when the demolition would take place.
Last month, State Senator Roland Gutierrez disclosed to local media that US President Joe Biden had proposed Robb Elementary School be demolished.
According to BBC, the Uvalde school is not the first to be torn down following a horrific shooting.
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was demolished after 20 students and six staff members were shot dead in 2012. On the same site, a new school was constructed.
Texas Public Safety Chief Blasts Police Response
Mayor Mclaughlin made the remarks amid growing public outrage over the police response to the shooting on May 25 and how heavily armed police waited 70 minutes after arriving at the school before storming the classroom where the shooter was.
Steve McCraw, Texas public safety chief, described the response as "an abject failure and antithetical to everything" before a state panel investigating the incident. McCraw claimed the local police chief, Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, who was the on-scene commander, held back other officers from stopping the intruder sooner and potentially limiting the carnage.
Arredondo "decided to place the lives of officers over the lives of children," McCraw stated.
"The officers had weapons - the children had none. The officers had body armor - the children had none. The officers had training - the subject had none."
According to McCraw, the local police chief and the on-scene commander Pedro "Pete" Arredondo prevented police from apprehending the shooter sooner and possibly lessening the carnage.
Hours before McCraw's testimony, an image from the surveillance video during the showing incident inside the school circulated, where police officers were equipped with guns and ballistic shields in the hallway. They appeared ready to move toward the shooter despite Arrendodo's directive to wait.
Uvalde Mayor Will Not Hold Back as Investigation Digs Deep
Mayor Don McLaughlin earlier announced his vow to remain silent on the new details of the investigation of the Robb Elementary School shooting "for legal reasons." But he broke that during the City Council meeting on Tuesday.
McLaughlin expressed his disappointment in the council's unanimous decision to deny Police Chief Arredondo a leave of absence from upcoming council meetings, per KSAT.
McLaughlin said: "The gloves are off. As we know it, we will share it. We kept quiet at the request because we thought... we were doing the right thing."
As the investigation into the fatal Robb Elementary shooting continues, McLaughlin asserted during Tuesday's council meeting that he had been kept in the dark by law police and state authorities.
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