Uvalde's district police chief sacked over hesitant response to Texas school massacre

Uvalde’s district police chief sacked over hesitant response to Texas school massacre

Aug 25, 2022

Uvalde’s district police chief has been sacked over the hesitant response by hundreds of heavily armed law enforcement officers during the May massacre at Robb Elementary School.

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) sealed Pete Arredondo’s fate on Wednesday – three months to the day after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in one of the deadliest classroom attacks in US history.

He had been on unpaid administrative leave since shortly after the 24 May shooting.

Mr Arredondo did not attend the meeting, however a written statement from his lawyer was sent to board members highlighting death threats he had received and what it said was the district’s lack of efforts to provide any protection for him.

It also said the district was in the wrong for dismissing him, saying it did not carry out any investigation “establishing evidence supporting a decision to terminate” his employment.

Because Mr Arredondo was UCISD police chief, the school board had the power to fire him.

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State police and a damning investigative report in July criticised the former police chief of the roughly 4,000-student school district for failing to take charge of the scene, not breaching the classroom sooner and wasting time by looking for a key to a likely unlocked door.

Investigations and body camera footage have laid bare how police rushed to the scene with bulletproof shields and high-powered rifles within minutes – but waited more than an hour before finally confronting the gunman in a classroom of fourth graders.

Superintendent Hal Harrell had first moved to fire Mr Arredondo in July but postponed the decision at the request of the police chief’s attorney.

Only one other police official at the scene, Uvalde police lieutenant Mariano Pargas, is known to have been placed on leave since the shooting.

Mr Pargas was the city’s acting police chief during the massacre.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, which had more than 90 state troopers at the scene, has also launched an internal investigation into the response by state police.

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