Officials in the Uvalde, Texas, school district announced Friday they had suspended the school districts entire police force, five months after shooting at an elementary school there left 19 children and two teachers dead.
In a release posted to the district's official website, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said it "remained committed to resolving issues with verifiable evidence," and "recent developments have uncovered additional concerns with department operations."
As a result, the district said it had "made the decision to suspend all activities of the Uvalde CISD Police Department for a period of time. Officers currently employed will fill other roles in the district." They also placed two police department officials, Lt. Miguel Hernandez and Ken Mueller, on administrative leave. After the decision, Mueller opted to retire.
The statement went on to say it had requested the Texas Department of Public Safety provide additional troopers for campus and extra-curricular activities. The district said it had hired the private investigation firm JPPI to conduct an investigation into the UCISD police officers' response to the May 24 shooting.
Many questions arose regarding the school district's police department response to the shooting in which an 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, entered the school through an unlocked door and killed 19 children and two teachers.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
