UVALDE, Texas — A former Texas state trooper who was part of the law enforcement response now under investigation for its actions during the deadly school shooting in Uvalde has been hired by the school district as a campus police officer.
Families gathered Thursday outside the Uvalde Independent School District’s administrative office to protest the hiring of former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Crimson Elizondo. News of her hiring was first reported Wednesday night by CNN.
“We are disgusted and angry at Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s (UCISD) decision to hire Officer Crimson Elizondo. Her hiring puts into question the credibility and thoroughness of UCISD’s HR and vetting practices,” a statement from some of the victims’ families said. “And it confirms what we have been saying all along: UCISD has not and is not in the business of ensuring the safety of our children at school.”
Elizondo, who resigned from DPS following the May 24 attack at Robb Elementary School, is listed on the district’s website as a campus police officer.
The school district did not immediately return a message Thursday seeking comment and Elizondo declined to speak to CNN.
In July, a damning report cited “egregiously poor decision making” by law enforcement officers who waited more than an hour before confronting a gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in a classroom. The campus police chief, Pete Arredondo, was fired in August.
Elizondo is heard speaking with other officers on body camera footage that was released after the attack, CNN reported. In the video, she says: “If my son had been in there, I would not have been outside. I promise you that.”
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, said Elizondo’s hiring “slapped this community in the face.”
“A DPS trooper was on scene within two minutes of the shooter and failed to follow training, protocol, and the duty they were sworn to,” he said. “People’s children died because DPS officials failed to do their job.”
A DPS spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Thursday.
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For more AP coverage of the Uvalde school shooting: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting
