Former trooper under investigation for Robb Elementary shooting response hired by school police department

A former Texas state trooper currently under investigation for her response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is now working for the Uvalde school district police department, which has also faced backlash for its officers’ handling of the massacre.

Crimson Elizondo — one of the first of Texas Department of Public Safety officers to arrive at the shooting scene ― has been hired to protect students at the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District this year, CNN reported. Her presence outside Uvalde Elementary, the new home for students who survived the carnage at Robb, riled parents, who have since begun to protest her hiring.

Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Crimson Elizondo responding to a shooting at Robb Elementary School, on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas.

“We are disgusted and angry at Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s (UCISD) decision to hire Officer Crimson Elizondo,” family representatives said. “Her hiring puts into question the credibility and thoroughness of UCISD’s HR and vetting practices.”

Body cam footage obtained by CNN shows Elizondo arriving at Robb Elementary School on May 24, just minutes after Salvador Ramos burst into the building with an assault rifle he purchased for his 18th birthday. She exits her vehicle without tactical body armor or her long rifle, contrary to her training, and then waits with officers from other agencies outside the fence circling the school.

“Shots fired inside the building!” can be heard coming over radio, prompting the officers to start toward the school.

Officers then learn the gunman has been confined to connecting classrooms 111 and 112 on the eastern end of the school. More than an hour later though, no officers or responding agents have done anything to help students inside, some of them wounded and dying, the footage shows.

Ramos killed 19 students and a pair of teachers before he was fatally shot by a boarder patrol agent.

In wake of the massacre, authorities faced fierce criticisms for their failure to immediately confront the shooter. It was later revealed they decided against busting down the door of the classroom and waited to engage until they had the key to unlock it.

The Texas Department of Public Safety in response announced an investigation into five of its officers, including Elizondo. She briefly walked inside Robb Elementary School, but mostly stood outside as the chaos unfolded. With the final breach underway, she offered to help a colleague gather supplies. She was not near the building when Ramos was shot, CNN reported. She later resigned from the DPS.

As of Thursday, Elizondo is the second officer listed on UCISD police department’s webpage.

Pete Arrendondo, once the head of the same department, has been the only person so far to lose their job in connection with the massacre. He was fired by the school board in August.