After a high school shooting in Santa Fe, a suburb of Houston, killed 10 people in 2018, state leaders have imposed new plans aimed at strengthening school security. The plan focused on detecting mental health problems, expanding social media surveillance of threats, providing training on shooting, and increasing the presence of law enforcement officers in schools. A $ 100 million budget has been allocated for security upgrades to metal detectors, security systems, two-way radios, bulletproof glass, and more throughout the state.
Uvalde, a small community not far from the US-Mexico border, was one of the beneficiaries with a $ 69,141 grant.
At about the same time, the school district was building its own security. Last year, it hired two new police officers, expanded into a unit of six, and served approximately 4,000 students at several schools. Budget records show that spending on security and surveillance services for school systems has more than doubled in the last four years.
The district’s security plan included two-way radio, each school’s threat assessment team, and a policy to lock each classroom door. At Rob Elementary, where the rampage broke out on Tuesday, authorities described the fence surrounding the campus, which was “designed to limit and / or limit access to individuals without having to be on campus.”
The school district’s security training exercises in August 2020 included its own police officers, the Yuvarde City Police, the County Sheriff’s Office, and other local agencies.
“It was very successful,” said Pete Aledondo, the school district’s police chief, wrote a summary for school district officials.
School district officials did not respond to a message requesting comment on Thursday.
Details of the slaughter in Rob Elementary School have not yet been revealed, but officials said the school district police went to school after a 911 call around 11:30 am on Tuesday. Provided a timeline of. After the police arrived, a gunman who had been stripping the fence to enter the parking lot fired at the school and entered the school according to the timeline. At one point, at least two members of the Yuvarde police station entered the school, but they were shot dead and withdrawn.
Approximately 90 minutes after the first 911 call, an agent of the US Border Guard entered the building and killed the shooter, officials said.