Uvalde school district suspends entire police force amid ongoing fallout over May school shooting

The Uvalde, Texas school district suspended its entire police force on Friday, a measure apparently stemming from the continued fallout surrounding the brutal May massacre at one of the district's elementary schools. 

That mass shooting, in which a gunman killed 19 young students and two staff members, has led to intense criticism of the Uvalde School District Police Department, which was among the police forces that failed to enter the classroom in which the shooter had barricaded himself while he carried out his massacre. 

The school district said on Friday that "recent developments" led the district to make "the decision to suspend all activities of the Uvalde CISD Police Department for a period of time."

Texas state officers will take over security duties for the time being, the district said. "We are confident that staff and student safety will not be compromised during this transition," the district's statement read. 

The "recent developments" claimed by the district likely refer to major controversy earlier this week in which it was discovered that the school district had hired a former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper to join the district's police force; the trooper in question, Crimson Elizondo, was under investigation for her delayed response to the May shooting at Robb Elementary. 

Following major backlash, the district said on Thursday that it had fired Elizondo.