Washington Examiner | by Emily Jacobs, Weekend News Editor – May 30, 2022 12:28 AM
A Texas state senator says he discussed tearing down the elementary school where 19 children and two teachers were murdered last week with President Joe Biden on his Sunday visit to Uvalde.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, revealed details of his conversation with Biden in an interview with local station KSAT 12. The commander in chief, who visited Uvalde with first lady Jill Biden on Sunday, met with survivors, victims’ families, first responders, and other local officials at a church service after visiting Robb Elementary School, where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos slaughtered a class of fourth graders.
Gutierrez said Biden told him that he would instruct the federal government to assist with the demolition of the campus and the building of a new facility.
“We’re going to look to raze that school, build a new one,” Gutierrez told the network, quoting Biden. He also quoted the president as saying, “I’m not going away,” and, “I’m going to bring you resources.”
The Texas Democrat noted how young students from Robb Elementary had expressed deep concern about returning to the site of the sickening massacre, saying, “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.”
Gutierrez added that Biden also committed to providing mental health resources to the community in the wake of the tragic shooting, noting how “this is a community that is going to need therapy. There is one psychiatrist in Uvalde, very few mental health therapists. We’re going to change that. It is a must.”
If knocked down, Robb Elementary would follow in the footsteps of Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six faculty members in 2012. The school, based in Newtown, Connecticut, was torn down and replaced with a new building on the same property. Building a new facility cost about $50 million.
