UVALDE, Texas – One of the first Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to arrive at the scene of the Uvalde school mass shooting is being fired by DPS, according to state police officials.
The trooper being fired is Sgt. Juan Maldonado, one of seven DPS members whose conduct is being investigated by the DPS Inspector General because of their actions or inaction during the shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two of their teachers at Robb Elementary on May 24.
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DPS announced on Sept. 6 that five DPS officers on-site at the school had been referred to the inspector general. That number grew to seven.
Maldonado is the first one disciplined, and the inspector general probe into him was the first one completed, an official told ABC News.
“We expect more of our troopers,” the official said.
Security camera footage revealed that Maldonado held the door to the school open and stood idly by when another officer ran out of the building bleeding, begging others to go in. Maldonado was accused of not following active shooter protocol.
Maldonado was a 23-year veteran of the state agency and public information officer for the region.
DPS Officer Crimson Elizondo, who was the first DPS member to enter the hallway at the school after the shooter gained entry, is also under investigation.
Elizondo was hired, then fired, by Uvalde CISD, after she resigned from DPS. However, by Elizondo resigning from DPS to work for Uvalde schools, she is no longer subject to any internal discipline or penalties. Her conduct -- if found to be in violation of law or policy -- would be included in the final report from the IG.
The DPS internal investigation prompted new DPS protocols to be enacted. Now, policy dictates that once an “active shooter” is declared at a school, the situation cannot be treated as anything else by Texas DPS personnel until the shooter or shooters are neutralized. According to the new rules, all DPS personnel are ordered to override any other law enforcement officers who are standing in the way of taking active measures to neutralize a school shooter.
DPS Director Steve McCraw is scheduled to testify about the Robb Elementary response and probe during a hearing Thursday in Austin.