UVALDE, Texas — Uvalde City Council on Tuesday evening approved the establishing of a memorial for Robb Elementary victims in the town square, effectively giving the green light to a committee of community members who will decide on the eventual design.
The town square became one of many sites in Uvalde where mourners and community members gathered to pay their respects to the 19 children and two teachers who were killed on May 24.
“The families spoke, they established their own committee, and we support them 100%,” one councilmember said.
The Monument Builders Association is also offering to help with planning for the memorial.
There have also been discussions about tearing down Robb Elementary and replacing it with a permanent memorial. In June Mayor Don McLaughlin confirmed Robb Elementary will be demolished, but did not provide a timetable.
City Council also approved the use of standing headstones for the graves of Robb Elementary victims at Hillcrest Cemetery; city ordinance currently only approves headstones maintained "below the surface of the ground."
Tuesday's discussions unfolded between two consequential meetings of the Uvalde CISD school board. On Monday, the board met behind closed doors with members of the community who had filed grievances against Superintendent Hal Harrell.
A California-based law firm also took the first steps towards filing a $27 billion class-action lawsuit for victims of the shooting, serving notices to Uvalde CISD trustees on Monday and to City Council representatives on Tuesday.
The law firm of Bonner & Bonner, which is representing victims and their families in the case, provided Harrell and other school trustees with a notice of claim at Monday evening's school board meeting. The firm plans to give notice to the City of Uvalde at Tuesday's City Council meeting and to Uvalde County at Wednesday's Commissioner's Court meeting.
On Wednesday, a twice-postponed hearing to determine the future of district Police Chief Pete Arredondo is expected to take place. The meeting is expected to be packed with community members and relatives of Robb victims who have spent most of the summer calling for the district to sever ties with Arredondo, who has been blamed for the failed law enforcement response on May 24.