The superintendent for the Uvalde school district in Texas retired on Monday after a school board hearing at which relatives of some of the 19 children and two teachers shot to death at one of the district’s campuses in May again demanded accountability for the botched response to the massacre.
Hal Harrell, the retiring superintendent, said in a Facebook post by his wife that the decision to retire “has not been made lightly”, according to CNN. The post was no longer on Facebook as of Tuesday morning.
At Monday’s board’s meeting, family members of victims described their grief and their commitment to continue fighting for justice. Their remarks came days after officials suspended the district’s entire police force following outrage over the hiring of a former Texas state trooper who was part of the reluctant law enforcement response during the 24 May killings at Robb elementary school.
“You have angered the wrong people, and we will not stop defending our families,” Velma Lisa Duran, sister of teacher Irma Garcia, said in her testimony on Friday, followed by cheers in the crowd. “You all should be self-examining your choices.”
The shooting, which took place a week before summer break was to begin, ignited almost unbearable grief over the slain students and teachers as well as scrutiny over the fact that police took nearly 80 minutes to confront and kill the sole murderer.
In July, Harrell had said “a lot of work” would be required to “bring back trust”.
“It’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to be bit by bit,” he said.
At one point, after a report that criticized the campus over its security and an unfixed lock, Harrell suspended the Robb elementary principal with pay. But he reinstated her within days.
Harrell on Monday told CNN just before the meeting that he was “going to enjoy this right now”.
Video taken outside the meeting showed dozens of people chanting “Harrell” to express support for him.
The mother of slain Robb student Amerie Jo Garza – Kimberly Garcia, who has been documenting her family’s grief in the aftermath – expressed her frustration with the crowd supporting Harrell.
“This is the crowd ONE man brings,” Garcia said in a tweet. “[Twenty-one] loved ones lost their life and they couldn’t get the same in return. This is the community of Uvalde. [Shaking my head]. A joke.”
