Politics
Posted by Charlie Kirk Staff - 6.28.24

Former Uvalde Schools Police Chief, Former School Officer Indicted On Counts Of Child Endangerment

Former Uvalde Schools Police Chief, Former School Officer Indicted On Counts Of Child Endangerment

Politics
Posted by Charlie Kirk Staff - 6.28.24

The former Uvalde schools police chief has been indicted for his role in the slow police response to the 2022 massacre at a Texas elementary school that resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers, according to the local sheriff on Thursday.

Pete Arredondo faced a grand jury indictment on 10 counts of felony child endangerment/abandonment and was briefly held in the county jail before being released on bond, Uvalde Sheriff Ruben Nolasco told The Associated Press via text message Thursday night.

Reports from the Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News indicate that former school officer Adrian Gonzales also faces multiple similar charges. District Attorney Christina Mitchell confirmed the indictment, according to the Uvalde Leader-News.

Mitchell did not respond to phone and email inquiries from The Associated Press for comments, and several family members of the shooting victims did not return phone calls seeking their reactions.

The indictments make Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack, and Gonzales the first officers to face criminal charges in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. A harsh report by Texas lawmakers examining the police response described Gonzales as one of the first officers to enter the building after the shooting began.

The indictments were sealed until the men were in custody. The timing for the public release of Arredondo’s indictment remains unclear.

Over two years ago, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom, remaining there for over 70 minutes before officers confronted and killed him. On May 24, 2022, 376 law enforcement officers gathered at Robb Elementary School, with some waiting in the hallway outside the classroom while the gunman fired an AR-15-style rifle inside.

“Today is another day in an impossibly painful journey,” state Rep. Joe Moody, who participated in the state lawmakers’ investigation, posted on the social platform X. “The hurt for them will never subside. Today, I pray that there is justice and some sense of closure for them in this process rather than prolonged suffering.”

Arredondo’s former attorney’s office stated they did not know if the former chief has new representation. The AP could not immediately reach Gonzales by phone.

Arredondo lost his job three months after the shooting. Several officers involved were eventually fired, and separate investigations by the Department of Justice and state lawmakers criticized law enforcement for mishandling their response to the massacre.

The question of whether any officers would face criminal charges over their actions in Uvalde has lingered over the city of 15,000 since the Texas Rangers completed their investigation and handed over their findings to prosecutors.

Mitchell’s office has also faced scrutiny. Uvalde city officials filed a lawsuit in 2022 accusing prosecutors of lacking transparency and withholding records related to the shooting. Media outlets, including the AP, also sued Uvalde officials for withholding records requested under public information laws.

However, body camera footage, journalist investigations, and damning government reports have revealed that for over an hour, numerous officers entered and exited the school with weapons drawn but did not go inside the classroom where the shooting occurred. The hundreds of officers on the scene included state police, Uvalde police, school officers, and U.S. Border Patrol agents.

In their July 2022 report, Texas lawmakers criticized law enforcement at every level for failing “to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.” The Justice Department’s report in January detailed “cascading failures” by police, highlighting their excessive delay in confronting the gunman, lack of urgency in establishing a command post, and inaccurate communication to grieving families.

Uvalde remains divided between residents who wish to move past the tragedy and those who still seek answers and accountability. In the first mayoral race since the shooting, locals elected a man who had previously served as mayor over a mother advocating for stricter gun laws after her daughter was killed in the attack.

Robb Elementary School is now permanently closed, and the city broke ground on a new school in October 2023.

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