UVALDE, Texas – Police in Uvalde CISD will go through active shooter training next week, just more than a year after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
The training comes after law enforcement waited 77 minutes to enter the classrooms after the shooting began at Robb Elementary last May, when 19 students and two teachers were killed.
Here is what the district has released about the training that is happening next week:
- The school district says its police officers’ exercises will include entry and confrontation training.
- UCISD has revamped its police force since the May 2022 shooting.- This is a different group of officers that will go through this training.- Next week’s training will be held at the district’s Dual Language Academy June 20-22 Tuesday- Thursday.
- People living near the school should expect to hear simulated gunfire and see vehicles driving quickly.
- The district wanted to prepare the parents and community about those sounds of gunfire.
- They will be using blanks, not actual bullets that will most likely be heard in the neighborhood.
- The campus will be closed during this time period.
Uvalde CISD named Joshua Gutierrez as its official police chief in March of this year, after working as the interim chief since last year.
The school board unanimously approved Gutierrez in November 2022 for the interim position. The previous police chief was Pete Arredondo, who came under major scrutiny for the law enforcement handling of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022. Arredondo was fired in August.
One year since the Robb Elementary school shooting, it remains unclear whether any of the nearly 400 law enforcement officers who responded that fateful may day will be criminally charged for their inaction.
Only five of the 376 peace officers who responded to the massacre have been terminated or resigned while facing possible disciplinary action. None have been criminally charged.