UVALDE, Texas — Nearly a month after a resource hub began servicing Uvalde families affected by the May mass shooting at Robb Elementary, state and local representatives of the south Texas community are calling for different leadership, citing "troubling concerns from Uvalde families."
In a letter sent Tuesday to Gov. Greg Abbott, whose office made an initial $5 million investment in the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center in June, Mayor Don McLaughlin and State Sen. Roland Gutierrez called on the Texas leader to replace District Attorney Christina Busbee as head of the center's operations. They allege "numerous troubling reports" from Uvalde residents about the center's efficiency, including delayed delivery of financial resources.
"This, simply, is insufficient," the letter reads, in part. "These families cannot begin to heal unless they are given time to grieve free from financial worry. The State of Texas ought to use every available resource in law to make these families whole."
McLaughlin and Gutierrez finish the letter by request that the Texas Department of Emergency Management be put in charge of the resiliency center.
Their request echoed complaints from relatives of Robb Elementary victims at last week's City Council meeting, some of which said Busbee had acted dismissive towards them.
The resiliency center was set up to provide help for mental health, education, child care services, insurance claims, health care and general expenses for community members. It's currently operating out of the Uvalde County Fairplex, with plans to shift to a more permanent location elsewhere in town soon.
Similar centers were organized in El Paso and Odessa after mass shooting incidents in those cities in August of 2019.
KENS 5 has reached out to both Busbee and Abbott's offices for a comment on this story, but we have yet to hear back.