Uvalde Faculty Police Chief Pete Arredondo stands throughout a information convention outdoors of the Robb Elementary faculty on Might 26 in Uvalde, Texas.
Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
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Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
Uvalde Faculty Police Chief Pete Arredondo stands throughout a information convention outdoors of the Robb Elementary faculty on Might 26 in Uvalde, Texas.
Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
Pete Arredondo, the police chief accountable for the regulation enforcement response to the Might 24 capturing at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, Texas, has been fired.
After a virtually 90-minute termination listening to held behind closed doorways Wednesday night, the Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District’s board voted unanimously to terminate Arredondo’s contract efficient instantly. Additionally they discovered there was good trigger for him to not obtain pay for the time he was on unpaid administrative depart since July 19.
Arredondo’s termination listening to was initially scheduled to happen a month in the past, however that listening to was canceled on the request of Arredondo’s legal professional, who instructed the district the police chief was entitled to due course of.
Arredondo was not current for Wednesday’s assembly, saying he was involved over his security, however his legal professional launched a 17-page assertion in response to the termination listening to.
“Chief Arredondo is not going to take part in his personal unlawful and unconstitutional public lynching and respectfully requests the Board instantly reinstate him, with all backpay and advantages and shut the grievance as unfounded,” learn the assertion.
The households of the 21 victims of the mass capturing at Robb Elementary have been demanding Arredondo be fired since information first broke in late Might that the police chief was accountable for the regulation enforcement response in the course of the capturing.
Tons of of officers waited greater than an hour to confront the gunman whereas kids within the 4th grade classroom the place he was holed up referred to as 911.
A Texas Home report discovered there have been 376 regulation enforcement officers on the scene, together with 150 U.S. Border Patrol Brokers, 91 Texas Division of Public Security troopers, 25 Uvalde cops, 16 sheriff’s deputies, and 5 Uvalde Consolidated Impartial Faculty District officers.
State lawmakers investigating the capturing discovered regulation enforcement failures in any respect ranges. However the faculty district’s energetic shooter plan — co-written by Arredondo — referred to as for Arredondo to take command of all the officers who responded that day. But, Arredondo maintains he didn’t know he was the incident commander.
Arredondo, a Uvalde native, was employed as the varsity district’s police chief in 2020. Previous to that, he labored on the Webb County Sheriff’s workplace in South Texas. The San Antonio Specific Information reported that Arredondo was demoted from a high-ranking place in 2014 as a result of he had issue getting together with others within the division.
Regardless of rising requires motion following the capturing, Uvalde Superintendent Hal Harrell waited virtually two months to advocate Arredondo’s termination.
At a heated faculty board discussion board in July, Brett Cross, the uncle and guardian of Uziyah Garcia, even gave the board a deadline. Uziyah is without doubt one of the 19 kids killed within the capturing.
“I will let you know this. If he isn’t fired by midday tomorrow, then I need your resignation and each single certainly one of you board members as a result of y’all don’t give a rattling about our youngsters or us,” Cross mentioned on the time. “Stand with us or towards us, as a result of we ain’t going nowhere.”
Cross mentioned he does not purchase Arredondo not displaying as much as his termination hearings out of worry for his security, saying throughout Wednesday’s public feedback that Arredondo was not current “to face the results to his actions.”
