Uvalde opens new elementary school honoring shooting victims 3 years after tragedy

(UVALDE, Texas) — Three and a half years after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the community honored the 21 victims killed in the tragedy at the “bittersweet” opening of a new school.

“Today, as we open the doors of this beautiful elementary school, we do so with reverence for the precious lives lost and with resolute confidence in the legacy we will build within it,” Ashley Chohlis, the superintendent for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.

The new school, Legacy Elementary School, a two-story campus totaling 116,000 square feet, opened on Friday, with classes beginning on Oct. 20. The new school is not located on the Robb Elementary property, which remains closed off with no immediate plans to demolish it.

The campus features a “large oak tree with two large branches” along with 19 “smaller branches,” paying tribute to the two teachers and 19 children who were killed in the May 2022 rampage.

At the start of the emotional ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Chohlis asked for those in attendance to pause for 21 seconds of silence in honor of the victims of the shooting.

“The path to this ribbon cutting has been long and deeply emotional in the wake of unimaginable tragedy. Texans from across the state and here in Uvalde, with sorrow gripping their hearts, vowed to do something, anything they could to offer their deep sympathy, love and support. During the darkest of times, many people came together. From their love, this beautiful building stands proudly,” Chohlis said.

The school, which was built using $60 million in “donations, grants and community support,” will teach third, fourth and fifth graders, school officials said.

Jesse Rizo, the uncle of one of the victims who was killed in the shooting, said the opening of this campus is a “bittersweet” and “heart-wrenching moment.”

Laura Perez, the Uvalde CISC school board president, said the school “stands a testament” to the memory of the victims.

“This school is not about forgetting but remembering with dignity, rebuilding with courage and choosing to believe in the future even when the past still hurts,” Perez said on Friday.

The campus, which includes 36 classrooms, can house up to 800 students, according to a press release from Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation, an organization that was created in the wake of the tragedy.

The opening of the school comes days after a trial date was set for one of the two senior police officers charged in connection with the failures on the day of the shooting, the judge overseeing the case told ABC News.

Former Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander at Robb Elementary School on the day of the shooting, and former school officer Adrian Gonzales, were charged in June 2024 with multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment.

On the day of the shooting, law enforcement waited some 77 minutes at the scene before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman.

Gonzales’ trial is set to begin on Jan. 5, with Arredondo’s case remaining on hold pending the outcome of ongoing litigation between the Uvalde District Attorney’s Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

ABC News’ Josh Margolin contributed to this report.