U.S. President Joe Biden told a local lawmaker during a visit to O'Aldi, Texas, on Sunday that the federal government could provide resources to demolish Rob Elementary School, where 19 children and two teachers were killed earlier this week.
"I'm not going away, I'm going to save you resources, we're going to look forward to demolishing that school and building a new school," Biden told Rep. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Yuvaldi.
"I can't tell you how many young children I've spoken to who don't want to go to that building," the mp said. They're just shocked, they're just destroyed."
Previously, other sites where mass shootings had occurred in recent years had been demolished.
Sandy Hook Elementary School was demolished, where a gunman shot and killed 26 people in 2012 and replaced it with a new $50 million school in the same city in Newtown, Connecticut.
Colorado officials were considering demolishing Columbine High School in 2019 because of the "psychological state" surrounding the building, where 13 people were killed in 1999, but ultimately decided not to demolish it.
A church was previously demolished after a mass shooting in which members of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, about 110 miles east of Ofaldi, voted last year to demolish the old church where a gunman opened fire in 2017, killing 26 people.
Biden also told lawmaker Gutierrez that he was committed to providing mental health resources to the community in the wake of this week's shooting.
"This is a community that will need treatment," said Lawmaker Gutierrez. There's only one psychiatrist in Ofaldi, and very few therapists. We're going to change that, it's a must."The president visited a memorial outside Robb Elementary School on Sunday before attending a mass at a local church and then met with the families of the victims and policemen.