Even though Uvalde's school police chief is now gone, Mario Jimenez doesn't feel any safer about sending his 10-year-old son back to class for the first time since his teacher was shot at Robb Elementary School.
The restlessness illustrates the depths of the broken trust in Uvalde between residents and law enforcement more than three months after the slaying of 19 children and two teachers in one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history. The demands are constant: more firings, more security, more gun restrictions. But even then, some are unconvinced that any change is enough.
Virtual schooling is another option, but a new Texas law passed during the pandemic caps the number of students who can learn at home to 10% of a district's enrollment. The Uvalde school district has not requested a waiver, according to the Texas Education Agency. She has four other children between the ages of 8 and 18, the youngest of whom was also at Robb Elementary and now may do school virtually this year.
But it is not clear whether any officers besides Arredondo will have to do so over a fumbled response that Col. Steve McCraw, the head of the state police force, has called "an abject failure." Only one other officer, Uvalde Police Lt. Mariano Pargas -- who was the city's acting police chief on the day of massacre -- is known to have been placed on leave for their actions during the shooting.
What is unfortunate is that the US courts have ruled that police have no duty to protect people and can't be held liable.