Husband of slain Uvalde teacher escorted off scene

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The husband of an Uvalde teacher that was killed in May’s shooting had his gun taken away and was escorted from the scene after trying to move forward to save his dying wife.

Ruben Ruiz is an officer for the Uvalde school district and was at Robb Elementary after a gunman entered the school and opened fire.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steven McCraw, Ruiz received a call from his wife, Eva Mireles, saying “she had been shot and was dying”.

“And what happened to him, is he tried to move forward into the hallway,” McCraw said. “He was detained and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene.”

Abject failure.

The words used by Texas DPS Director Steve McGraw in a scathing evisceration of the police response in #Uvalde, specifically, the on-scene commander.

This is during testimony for special called Texas Senate committee meeting. pic.twitter.com/FUJSaDFvq9

— Chris Sadeghi (@chrissadeghi) June 21, 2022

New Information Around Uvalde Law Enforcement Response 

As the days go on, more information has been revealed regarding law enforcement’s response on May 24. Col. McCraw called the response an “abject failure” and said District police chief Pete Arredondo was responsible.

“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112, was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said. The on-scene commander was Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo.

At a City Council meeting Tuesday evening, public comment was made to not grant Arredondo a leave of absence and require him to appear publicly.

Uvalde City Council: Extremely inspired by the lady who lives 2 doors down from the school coming up w the plan to sack Arredondo. No leave of abs. If he misses 1 more mtg he's out. If he wants to keep his job he has to show. She studied & found a technicality no one else had. pic.twitter.com/uigygoDxMu

— Serene ? (@MythSerene) June 22, 2022

After hearing public comment, council member Earnest “Chip” W. King III said that initially the plan was to grant Arredondo, who is also a council member, a leave of absence “so you guys wouldn’t see him,” but he later made a motion to not grant the leave of absence. The motion passed unanimously.

McCraw said that Arredondo made “terrible decisions” that “set our profession back a decade”.

If Arredondo misses one more City Council meeting, he will be removed from the council for three absences in a row.