School police chief says he’s ‘in contact’ with investigators

As new details emerge that change the police narrative of what happened during the Robb Elementary School massacre last week, the school district police chief who led the law enforcement response had not responded to investigators for two days, a public safety official said Tuesday.

Uvalde school district police department chief Pete Arredondo, who was sworn in as a newly elected city council member Tuesday, did an initial interview with the Texas Rangers, which is investigating the May 24 shooting, but hasn’t responded for a followup interview in two days, said Travis Considine, spokesperson for Texas Department of Public Safety, on Tuesday.

However, Arredondo said Wednesday he was “in contact” with the Department of Public Safety “every day,” when asked about the reports by CNN. The network reported Arredondo was wearing a badge and gun Wednesday, and that Arredondo said the city council swearing in was “a private thing.”

Mourners say goodbye to Uvalde teacher Irma Garcia, husband Joe

Mourners gathered Wednesday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to say goodbye to Robb Elementary School teacher Irma Garcia – who died in the shooting at the Uvalde, Texas, grade school – and her husband, Joe – who died two days later from a heart attack.

Twin black hearses carrying the coffins of the Garcias arrived in a procession led by police and civilian motorcycle riders. Covered by flowers and white cloths, the two closed caskets were borne by pallbearers past a phalanx of police in uniforms and priests in white robes.

Some sobbed throughout the service in which Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller offered thanks for Irma Garcia’s dedication. He listed the names of the slain schoolchildren several times throughout the homily.

“Because you were there with them,” he said. “You did what you would have done with your own children. You took care of them until your last breath.”

Irma was finishing up her 23rd year as a teacher at Robb Elementary. In a letter posted on the school’s website at the beginning of the school year, Garcia told her students that she and Joe had four children – a Marine, a college student, a high school student and a seventh grader.

The couple would have been married 25 years on June 28. His obituary noted that he and Irma “began their relationship in high school and it flourished into a love that was beautiful and kind.”

Jose Flores Jr., 10, also was laid to rest Wednesday.

Superintendent: Students, staff won’t return to Robb Elementary campus

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said Wednesday students and staff would not return to the campus of Robb Elementary school.

“We are working through plans on how to serve students on other campuses and will provide that information as soon as it is finalized,” Harrell said in a statement.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin previously told KXAS-TV he thought students shouldn’t return to the building, adding, “That building needs to be gone.” Texas Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said federal funds could be available to help with the costs of demolishing the school.

Teacher closed door gunman used to enter school, officials now say

The teacher who police said left a door propped open minutes before a gunman entered Robb Elementary School had actually closed the door, though it did not lock, state authorities now say.

State police initially said the teacher, who has not been identified, propped the door open with a rock and did not remove it before the gunman entered.

“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock. We know that much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock,” Travis Considine, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson, said Tuesday.

Officials have offered differing accounts of how the May 24 shooting unfolded, including details about officers’ interactions with the gunman and how long it took for law enforcement to enter the classrooms where he was holed up.