Texas trooper fired for inaction during Uvalde school massacre

Some family members of the victims have already been notified.

UVALDE, Texas — One of the first Texas state troopers to arrive at the scene of the May 24 elementary school mass shooting is being fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a law enforcement official briefed on the matter told ABC News.

Some family members of Robb Elementary School victims have already been notified.

DPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

The trooper being fired is Sgt. Juan Maldonado, one of seven members of Texas DPS whose conduct was being investigated by the DPS inspector general because of their actions or inaction during the shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two of their teachers.

DPS announced Sept. 6 that five DPS officers on-site at Robb had been referred to the IG. That number grew to seven.

Maldonado is the first one disciplined and the IG probe into him was the first one completed, the official said.

“We expect more of our troopers,” the official said. Security camera footage revealed that Maldonado held the door open to the school open and stood idly by when another officer ran out of the building bleeding, begging others to go in. Maldonado was accused of not following active shooter protocol.

Maldonado was a 23-year veteran of the state agency and public information officer for the region.

The DPS internal investigation prompted new DPS protocols to be enacted. Now, policy dictates that once an “active shooter” is declared at a school, the situation cannot be treated as anything else by Texas DPS personnel until the shooter or shooters are neutralized. According to the new rules, all DPS personnel are ordered to override any other law enforcement officers who are standing in the way of taking active measures to neutralize a school shooter.

McCraw is scheduled to testify about the Robb Elementary response and probe during a hearing Thursday in Austin.

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