Disgraced Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo finally FIRED for botched response to school shooting
UVALDE, TEXAS: After months of being widely criticized for his delays in response to the mass shooting in May 2022 at Robb Elementary in Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers, Uvalde's police chief Pete Arredondo was fired on Wednesday, August 24, in a unanimous vote by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s board after a report was found that he made several critical mistakes that took lives of 21 victims. Uvalde school shooting is considered to be one of the deadliest classroom shootings in US history that occurred on May 24.
Arredondo did not show up for the school board meeting on Wednesday, August 24, where his dismissal was on the agenda. He issued a statement criticizing officials and defending his own actions. "Chief Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching and respectfully requests the Board immediately reinstate him, with all backpay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded," Arredondo's attorney, George Hyde, wrote in a 17-page letter that was sent out less than an hour before the meeting.
RELATED ARTICLES
Outrage after under fire Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo is sworn in to CITY COUNCIL
Disgraced Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo resigns from city council weeks after being sworn in
Agitated parents and family members of the 21 victims spoke up at the start of the meeting. The crowd yelled "Coward!" after Uvalde resident Brett Cross criticized Arredondo for failing to appear at his own termination hearing. "Our babies are dead. Our teachers are dead. Our parents are dead. The least y'all can do is show us the respect to do this in the public," Cross said, pushing the board to hold the termination vote in an open session, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Following an hour-and-a-half closed-door discussion, school board members determined that there was sufficient cause to terminate Arredondo's contract immediately. They didn't go into any further detail about their reasoning. Members of the school board meeting applauded and yelled, "Dereliction of duty!".
In the statement released by Arredondo's attorney, he described his client's conduct on duty as “outstanding” on the day of the massacre. According to the statement, the chief did the right thing by not engaging with the gunman and that he had no idea children were in the classroom. It stated that he genuinely believed he lacked the necessary tools to breach the classroom door.
An investigation conducted by a Texas House of Representatives committee discovered that no one attempted to open the classroom door, which was most likely not locked. Hyde also said that out of 100 cops who were on duty that day, the blame is only being directed toward Arredondo. “Out of all the officers that were there, from all sorts of agencies and departments, not even one came to him with even a suggestion that he should take a different approach,” he said in the statement.
Arredondo, who was elected to the City Council in early May, before the shooting, resigned in July in response to public pressure. The shooting's aftermath has been marked by a lack of consistent and accurate information from officials, who have publicly traded blame at times.
Ruben Torres, the father of Chloe Torres, who survived the shooting in room 112 of the school, was among those present at the meeting. He stated that as a former Marine, he took an oath that he willingly fulfilled and that he did not understand why officers did not take action when leadership failed.
''Right now, being young, she is having a hard time handling this horrific event,'' Torres said. Robb Elementary's campus will no longer be used, according to school officials. Instead, campuses throughout Uvalde will serve as temporary classrooms for elementary school students, not all of whom are eager to return to school after the shooting. School officials have stated that a virtual academy will be available to students, but they have not stated how many students will attend virtually.
The shooting's aftermath has been marked by a lack of reliable and consistent information from officials. According to a Texas House committee report, nearly 400 heavily armed law-enforcement officers from local, state, and federal agencies who responded to the scene failed miserably.
"Although the encounter had begun as an ‘active shooter’ scenario, Chief Arredondo testified that he immediately began to think of the attacker as being 'cornered' and the situation as being one of a ‘barricaded subject,'" House lawmakers wrote in the report. "With the benefit of hindsight, we now know this was a terrible, tragic mistake."
Meanwhile, according to the school district, new measures aimed at increasing school safety in Uvalde include "8-foot, non-scalable perimeter fencing" at elementary, middle, and high school campuses. Officials say they've also installed more security cameras, upgraded locks, improved training for district employees, and improved communication.