AUSTIN, Texas (AP) 鈥� The police chief for schools in Uvalde, Texas, failed to identify an active shooting, did not follow his training and made critical decisions that to stop a killer who was 鈥渉unting鈥� victims and ultimately killed 21 people at Robb Elementary, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
Pete Arredondo and briefly booked into the Uvalde County jail before he was released Thursday night on 10 state jail felony counts of abandoning or endangering a child in the May 24, 2022, attack that killed 19 children and two teachers. Former school officer Adrian Gonzales also was indicted on similar charges, the and the reported, but that indictment was not yet public.
Arredondo and Gonzales are the first officers to be criminally charged for the botched police response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, and the indictments from a Uvalde County grand jury follow two years of calls from some families for such action.
The indictment against Arredondo, who was the on-site commander at , accused the chief of delaying the police response despite hearing shots fired and 小蓝视频 notified that injured children were in the classrooms and that a teacher had been shot. Arredondo called for a SWAT team, ordered the initial responding officers to leave the building, and attempted to negotiate with the 18-year-old gunman, the indictment said.
鈥淎fter 小蓝视频 advised that a child or children were injured in a class at Robb Elementary School (Arredondo) failed to identify the incident as an active shooter incident and failed to respond as trained to an active shooter incident and instead directed law enforcement officers to evacuate the wing before confronting the shooter thereby delaying the response by law enforcement officers to an active shooter who was hunting and shooting a child or children,鈥� the indictment said.
More than 370 federal, state and local officers converged on Robb Elementary, but they waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter, even as the gunman could be heard firing an AR-15-style rifle. Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as agonized parents begged officers 鈥� some of whom could hear shots 小蓝视频 fired while they stood in a hallway 鈥� to go in. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.
The indictment charges Arredondo with failing to protect survivors of the attack, including Khloie Torres, who called 911 and begged for help, telling a dispatcher, 鈥淧lease hurry. There鈥檚 a lot of dead bodies. Some of my teachers are still alive but they鈥檙e shot.鈥�
The charges carry up to two years in jail if convicted. The court clerk had no record yet of an attorney for Arredondo who could comment.
In an interview with the Texas Tribune two weeks after the shooting, Arredondo insisted to took the steps he thought would best protect the lives of students and teachers.
鈥淢y mind was to get there as fast as possible, eliminate any threats, and protect the students and staff," he told the newspaper.
Since then, scathing and investigative reports on the police response have catalogued 鈥渃ascading failures鈥� in training, communication, leadership and technology problems.
Arredondo three months after the shooting. Several officers involved were eventually fired, and separate investigations by the Department of Justice and state lawmakers alleged law enforcement botched their response to the massacre.
Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said the investigation should not stop with the two indictments against the school officers. Gutierrez has been critical of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the head of the agency, Steve McCraw, who testified before the grand jury in February.
It was unclear Friday whether the grand jury considered indictments against any other officers.
鈥淓very single officer that stood down that day must be held accountable," Gutierrez said. We can鈥檛 rest until we have justice.鈥�
Jim Vertuno, The Associated Press
