Texas school shooting: Uvalde mayor says Robb Elementary 'will be demolished'

Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where the US witnessed its deadliest mass school shooting in decades, will be demolished, announced Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin at a reportedly heated city council meeting on Tuesday (local time). While US President Joe Biden had previously said that the officials are mulling knocking down the school where 19 children and two teachers were shot dead by an 18-year-old, McLaughlin noted that a child or a teacher can “never” be asked to enter that building.

Uvalde mayor said, “My understanding — and I had this discussion with the superintendent — that school will be demolished. You can never ask a child to go back or teacher to go back in that school ever”, as per Insider.

On May 24, Robb Elementary School became the backdrop of the horrific shooting when the 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos killed 21 and injured 17 others, sending shock waves across the nation which was already reeling from a series of mass shootings.

According to an Axios report, officials had announced on June 3 during the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board meeting that students and staff will not return to the Robb Elementary campus. As per reports, Superintendent Hal Harrell had said that the Texas school would be turned into “something other than a school site” and that the school would be moved to a different address. 

‘Raze that school, build a new one’: Biden

Uvalde mayor’s definite remarks that Robb Elementary School will be demolished came weeks after Biden had said that he was considering the same. Earlier this month, State Senator Roland Gutierrez told KSAT that the president promised to provide federal resources to raze the Texas school and build a new campus in the community. 

“He [Biden] said, ‘I’m not going away. I’m going to bring you resources. We’re going to look to raze that school, build a new one,’” said the Democrat, who represents Uvalde.

“I can’t tell you how many little children that I’ve talked to that don’t want to go into that building. They’re just traumatized. They’re just destroyed.”

Meanwhile, amid heightened pressure on US lawmakers to control mass shootings, on Tuesday, Senate bargainers reportedly reached an agreement on a bipartisan gun violence bill, stated AP citing parties’ top negotiators said stirring votes this week on an incremental but significant package which would stand as Congress’ response to mass shootings in Texas and New York that rocked the entire country.

Image: AP