Uvalde Mayor Makes Decision On Demolishing Robb Elementary School

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin confirmed Tuesday (June 21) that Robb Elementary School would be destroyed following the deadly shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers last month.

McLaughlin made the announcement at Tuesday's city council meeting, according to KENS5. He did not say when the school would be demolished. "My understanding — I had a discussion with the superintendent — that school will be demolished. We could never ask a child to go back, or a teacher to go back into that school ever," McLaughlin said during the meeting.

Last month, President Joe Biden reportedly told a local lawmaker there might be plans in place to raze the elementary school. Senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, told KSAT about his conversation with Biden during his visit: "He 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.' 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."

Representative Tony Gonzales also said a few weeks ago he was "working with many private and public partners to ensure no child will have to return to Robb Elementary" while congressman Joaquin Castro pushed for the school to be rebuilt.