The Robb Elementary School in Uvalde is to be demolished, authorities have announced. The Texas school was the target of a gruesome mass shooting last month.
"You can never ask a child to go back or teacher to go back in that school ever", Mayor Don McLaughlin stated upon announcing the move.
He noted, however, that there is no date set for the demolition.
Two teachers and 19 children aged nine to eleven were murdered by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos in Uvalde on 24 May. It was the deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook attack in Connecticut in 2012.
Law enforcement work the scene after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School where 19 people, including 18 children, were killed on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas
© AFP 2023 / Getty Images/Jordan Vonderhaar
Commenting on the authorities’ reaction to the attack, Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, called the police response an "abject failure", blaming the on-site commander for "terrible decisions". He stated that at least 19 officers had waited over an hour in a corridor outside classrooms before a special Border Force team entered and took the perpetrator out.
Media reports also claim that officers possessed enough firepower and equipment to storm the classroom earlier, but opted to wait.