Uvalde police chief fired for botched response to school shooting

Uvalde college board fires Pete Arredondo for his much-criticised dealing with of the mass capturing that killed 19 youngsters and two academics.

Dad and mom and relations maintain indicators at a gathering of the Board of Trustees of the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District the place Uvalde Faculty District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was dismissed [Eric Gay/ AP]

A college board within the US state of Texas has fired a district police chief for his dealing with of the mass capturing that killed 19 youngsters and two academics within the metropolis of Uvalde three months in the past.

The Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District Board (UCISD) of Trustees voted unanimously on Wednesday to fireside Pete Arredondo. He had been on unpaid administrative go away since shortly after the Could 24 capturing.

Arredondo didn't attend the assembly.

A written assertion from his lawyer, George Hyde, was emailed to board members simply earlier than the board met. It cited dying threats Arredondo has obtained and what it stated was the district’s lack of efforts to offer any safety for him.

He additionally wrote that the district was within the flawed for dismissing Arredondo, saying it didn't perform any investigation “establishing proof supporting a call to terminate” him.

“Chief Arredondo is a frontrunner and a brave officer who with all the different legislation enforcement officers who responded to the scene, needs to be celebrated for the lives saved, as an alternative of vilified for these they couldn’t attain in time,” Hyde wrote.

Uvalde CISD police chief Pete Arredondo, proper, stands throughout a press convention in Uvalde, Texas, on Could 24, 2022 [File: Eric Thayer/ Getty via AFP]

Arredondo has come beneath scathing criticism for his dealing with of the bloodbath at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, a small city in Texas Hill Nation, about 130km (80 miles) west of San Antonio.

Dad and mom of kids slain and wounded within the deadliest US college capturing in almost a decade had demanded the varsity board dismiss Arredondo.

He was pressured to resign his seat on the Uvalde Metropolis Council on July 2. Three weeks later, the board was scheduled to determine Arredondo’s destiny as the varsity district police chief however postponed the assembly as a result of “course of necessities” on the request of his lawyer.

In keeping with the Texas Division of Public Security (DPS), Arredondo acted as “incident commander” in command of legislation enforcement’s response to the capturing.

DPS officers stated 19 officers waited for an hour in a hallway exterior adjoining school rooms the place the gunman was holed up along with his victims earlier than a US Border Patrol-led tactical group lastly made entry and killed the suspect.

Arredondo, they stated, selected to not ship officers to confront the suspect sooner, believing the instant risk to college students had abated after an preliminary burst of gunfire within the school rooms.

Arredondo, who oversaw a six-member police power earlier than he was fired, has stated he by no means thought of himself the incident commander and that he didn't order police to carry again on storming the suspect’s place.

He's the primary officer dismissed over the legislation enforcement response to the Could 24 tragedy.

Just one different officer — Uvalde Police Division Lieutenant Mariano Pargas, who was town’s performing police chief on the day of the bloodbath — is understood to have been positioned on go away for his actions throughout the capturing.

The Texas Division of Public Security, which had greater than 90 state troopers on the scene, has additionally launched an inner investigation into the response by state police.

Faculty officers have stated the campus at Robb Elementary will now not be used. As a substitute, campuses elsewhere in Uvalde will function momentary school rooms for elementary college college students, not all of whom are keen to return to high school in individual following the capturing.

New measures to enhance college security in Uvalde embrace “8-foot, non-scalable perimeter fencing” at elementary, center and highschool campuses, based on the varsity district. Officers say they've additionally put in further safety cameras, upgraded locks, enhanced coaching for district workers and improved communication.

Nonetheless, based on the district’s personal progress experiences, as of Tuesday, no fencing had been erected at six of the eight campuses the place it was deliberate, and cameras had solely been put in at the highschool.

Some progress had been made on locks at three of eight campuses, and communication enchancment was marked as half full for every campus.