Uvalde Police Chief Resigns Amid Settlement With Shooting Victims Parents | EUROtoday

Parents of the victims of the May 2022 mass capturing at an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas, noticed sweeping wins this week of their struggle for accountability from town and legislation enforcement departments.

On Wednesday, simply as town settled with the households of 19 victims for $2 million over its failed response to the May 24, 2022, bloodbath, the Uvalde college district police chief resigned after one 12 months within the place. Also on Wednesday, the households of 17 youngsters who had been killed and two who had been injured filed a lawsuit towards the Texas Department of Safety and the Uvalde college district.

Josh Koskoff, an lawyer representing the households, mentioned Wednesday in a information convention, “These were the last lines of defense for these children. But they were failed long before the shooting. They’re failed. We’re failing children.”

The lawsuit, which seeks $500 million in damages, names 92 Texas DPS troopers, the Uvalde college district and Pete Arredondo, who was chief of police for the varsity district when a lone gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two lecturers inside the varsity. Mandy Gutierrez, who was principal of the varsity on the time can also be named within the go well with.

According to the lawsuit, Texas state troopers got active-shooter response coaching, which says that first responders’ essential precedence is to “stop the killing, then stop the dying and then evacuate the injured.”

Veronica Luevanos, whose daughter Jailah and nephew Jayce had been killed within the mass capturing, mentioned in an announcement that the $2 million settlement exhibits a “good faith effort” by town of Uvalde.

“But it wasn’t just Uvalde officers who failed us that day,” Luevanos mentioned. “Nearly 100 officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety have yet to face a shred of accountability for cowering in fear while my daughter and nephew bled to death in their classroom.”

Koskoff mentioned on Wednesday that the state of Texas has performed “nothing at all” however burden Uvalde earlier than the capturing by not giving Uvalde cops the assets they wanted to cease the gunman.

“Blame the least well-trained, least-resourced and least-equipped officers for a problem you helped to create,” he mentioned.

Friday marks the second anniversary of the mass capturing, which was carried out by an 18-year-old former Uvalde pupil. Nearly 400 cops from a number of companies arrived on campus that day, and it took 77 minutes for anybody to confront and kill the gunman. The response was referred to as an “abject failure” by the top of the DPS.

When requested by HuffPost for remark, the Texas DPS mentioned it doesn’t focus on pending litigation.

In an announcement to HuffPost, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District mentioned it could not remark “the specifics of such actions to maintain the integrity of the legal process and ensure that all parties’ rights are respected.”

Along with the $2 million settlement, town of Uvalde agreed to determine an annual day of remembrance for the victims and fund a memorial on the plaza in Uvalde. In an announcement, town of Uvalde mentioned that was “thankful” for the settlement with the victims’ households.

Joshua Gutierrez, the Uvalde college district police chief who took over after Arredondo was fired in August 2022, didn’t say why he was resigning. In an announcement to HuffPost, the varsity district mentioned the varsity board has to approve his resignation at a gathering on June 17.

“We thank Chief Gutierrez for his dedicated leadership and guidance in reestablishing the Uvalde CISD Police Department,” the varsity district mentioned. “His contributions have been instrumental in enhancing the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and school community. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”