Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas - where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers - will be demolished, the city's mayor has said.

Don McLaughlin made the claim on Tuesday at a tense and emotional council meeting with residents demanding answers over the shooting.

He did not say when the school would be demolished.

Public anger has risen since the May rampage, with police accused of waiting over an hour to confront the assailant.

"My understanding - and I had this discussion with the superintendent - is that school will be demolished. You can never ask a child to go back or teacher to go back in that school ever," Mr McLaughlin said.

Robb Elementary has nearly 600 students in the second, third and fourth grades.

US President Joe Biden had suggested knocking down the school, State Senator Roland Gutierrez told local media last month.

Robb Elementary will not be the first school to be demolished after a mass shooting.

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was razed after 20 students aged six and seven years old and six staff members were shot in 2012. A new school was built on the same land.