Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District shocked many Uvalde residents by its decision to hire former Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officer Crimson Elizondo as a Uvalde CISD police officer. Elizondo is under investigation for her response to the Uvalde school shooting massacre. She resigned from DPS while under investigation. She was fired on Thursday after CNN reported Wednesday she was one of the troopers under investigation. There is a call now for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s director to resign.

Elizondo was one of the first of the 91 DPS officers to respond to the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School. She was one of seven troopers under investigation. Video released on Wednesday included remarks made by Elizondo. She said she would have acted differently if she had a child in the school.

State Senator Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat, released a statement saying Elizondo’s hiring came after Uvalde parents were “assured by Uvalde CISD that no officers involved in the shooting response would be deployed to Uvalde Elementary, where many Robb Elementary students now go to school.”

The district confirmed on Thursday that Elizondo was fired, effective immediately, after her statement became known.

“We are deeply distressed by the information that was disclosed yesterday concerning one of our recently hired employees, Crimson Elizondo,” the statement said. “We sincerely apologize to the victims’ families and the greater Uvalde community for the pain that this revelation has caused.”

CNN reported Thursday that DPS alerted the district in July that Elizondo was being investigated over an allegation her actions were not consistent with her training and department policy.

The CNN video shows body camera footage of Elizondo arriving at Robb Elementary School within two minutes of the initial reports of an armed man entering the school. We know now that eighty minutes elapsed before police killed the shooter. Prior to that, the law enforcement on scene stood around outside the school and outside the classroom. Elizondo walked inside the school building during that time but mostly stood outside.

With her DPS uniform stained with blood — it is not clear whose — Elizondo is heard speaking to someone who asked whether she had children inside the school.

“If my son had been in there, I would not have been outside,” she said. “I promise you that.”

Imagine being a parent of a child who was in that school during the mass shooting, especially a parent who had a child in that classroom, and hearing that remark from Elizondo. She was trained to be a public servant, to protect and serve the entire community, not just her family. Good Lord.

Gutierrez said that DPS Director McCraw promised he would be the “first to resign if there is any culpability in the Department of Public Safety. Period.” So, Gutierrez is calling for Governor Abbott to ask for McCraw’s resignation.

Nineteen children and two teachers were murdered. The parents of the children are also calling for McCraw to make good on his promise to resign.

“I don’t want to hear that it is difficult to prosecute. Not now,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the mother of 10-year-old Lexi Rubio, wrote on Twitter. “She knew those kids, my baby, were in danger. It just wasn’t her child. McCraw, I’ll be waiting on your promised resignation.”

“UCISD installed 8 foot non scalable fences, but failed to consider that the vulnerabilities could be coming from inside the house!” wrote Brett Cross, legal guardian of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia.

“It wasnt your baby, right? Thats why you didnt go in ‘Officer Elizondo?’” wrote Kimberly Garcia, mother of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza. “MY child WAS IN THERE! My child was SCARED! She was in danger! Those babies and 2 teachers were in there! McCraw RESIGN NOW!”

The poor choice of hiring and then having to fire Elizondo was bad enough. But the timing of the announcement of her hiring was bad, too. The announcement was made just after a 10-day protest led by families of the victims to demand the district police officers who responded to be suspended. They want the suspensions to last until after a third-party investigation is completed.

Governor Abbott commented on the district’s inexcusable decision.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday told reporters during a campaign stop in New Braunfels that the school district asked DPS about Elizondo. Abbott said the agency told the school district that “she had actions inconsistent with training and department requirements.”

“So that school district had full information about the person they chose to go ahead and hire, and that’s up to the school district — not DPS, not anybody else — to have to own up to the poor decision they made,” Abbott said.

It is mind-blowing that these mistakes keep playing out in Uvalde. Is there no one competent in local leadership? As far as McCraw goes, he should resign. He gave his word and so far has not kept it. If he doesn’t now voluntarily resign, the governor should call for him to do so. A fish rots from the head down. It is impossible to forget the images of almost 100 law enforcement agents and officers just standing around for so long before acting to kill the shooter and save the children and teachers after watching the video. Elizondo’s remark is inexcusable and unacceptable.