Texas state police fireplace 1st officer over Uvalde response : NPR

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Division of Public Security fired an officer Friday who was on the scene of the Uvalde college bloodbath and have become the primary member of the state police power to lose his job on account of a response. hesitant response to the Might assault.

Service Division Sgt. Spokesperson Ericka Miller mentioned Juan Maldonado with a contract termination letter. No particulars have been offered about his position on the scene of the Might 24 taking pictures at Robb Elementary or the precise purpose Maldonado was fired.

The taking pictures comes 5 months after a mass taking pictures prompted state police to watch their actions on a college campus when a gunman utilizing an AR-15-style rifle killed 19 youngsters and two academics. .

Maldonado couldn’t be reached for touch upon Friday evening.

Digicam footage and media experiences have proven the Division of Public Security to have a bigger position on the scene than it had urged after the taking pictures. State troopers have been among the many first to reach however didn’t instantly confront the gunman, which consultants say goes in opposition to customary police process in mass shootings.

As an alternative, greater than 70 minutes handed earlier than officers lastly stormed inside a 4th grade classroom and killed the gunman, ending one of many deadliest college assaults in US historical past. Almost 400 officers finally arrived on the scene, together with state police, Uvalde police, college officers, and US Border Patrol brokers.

Seven Division of Public Security troopers got here beneath inside investigation this summer time after a damning report by lawmakers revealed that the state police had greater than 90 officers on the scene, greater than every other. every other company.

Steve McCraw, the director of the Division of Public Security, referred to as the legislation enforcement response an “unlucky failure” however blamed it largely on former Uvalde college police chief Pete Arredondo, who was fired in August and could be seen on video looking on the physique cam in useless for a key to the classroom door that may be left open on a regular basis.

However the mayor of Uvalde, the victims’ mother and father and a few lawmakers have accused the Division of Public Security of attempting to attenuate its personal failures.

State Senator Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district consists of Uvalde, reacted to the information of the layoffs by saying that accountability throughout the division shouldn’t finish there.

“Ninety extra to go, plus the DPS director,” he mentioned.

Gutierrez sued the division in an try to assemble paperwork surrounding the response to the taking pictures. A number of media retailers, together with The Related Press, have additionally requested the courtroom to power the Uvalde authorities and officers to launch the data beneath public info legal guidelines.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who might be re-elected in November, sided with McCraw and mentioned throughout a September debate that there ought to be “legislation enforcement accountability at each stage.” A spokesperson for Abbott didn’t return messages in search of touch upon the layoffs.

One of many state troopers beneath inside investigation was Crimson Elizondo, who resigned and was later employed by the Uvalde faculties to function a college police officer. She was fired lower than 24 hours after outraged mother and father in Uvalde found her hiring.