Texas bloodbath: Uvalde college board fires police chief after mass taking pictures

The Uvalde college district fired police chief Pete Arrendondo Wednesday, making him the primary officer to lose his job over the hesitant and fumbled response by legislation enforcement at Robb Elementary School as a gunman killed 19 college students and two lecturers in a fourth-grade classroom.

In a unanimous vote that arrived after months of indignant requires his ouster, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s board of trustees fired Arredondo in an auditorium of oldsters and survivors of the May 24 bloodbath. His ouster got here three months to the day after one of many deadliest classroom shootings in US historical past.

Cheers from the gang adopted the vote, and a few dad and mom walked out in tears. “Coward!” some viewers yelled because the assembly bought underway. Arredondo, who has been on go away from the district since June 22, has come beneath essentially the most intense scrutiny of the practically 400 officers who rushed to high school however waited greater than an hour to confront the 18-year-old gunman in a fourth-grade classroom.

Most notably, Arredondo was criticised for not ordering officers to behave sooner. Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has mentioned Arredondo was in command of the legislation enforcement response to the assault.

Arredondo was not in attendance together with his profession on the road. Instead, minutes earlier than the assembly of the Uvalde college board bought underway, Arredondo’s lawyer launched a scathing 4,500-word letter that amounted to the police chief’s fullest protection so far of his actions.

Over 17 defiant pages, Arredondo shouldn’t be the fumbling college police chief who a damning state investigation blamed for not taking command and wasted time by in search of keys to a possible unlocked door, however a courageous officer whose level-headed choices saved the lives of different college students. It alleges that Arrendondo warned the district about quite a lot of safety points within the colleges a yr earlier than the taking pictures and asserted he wasn’t in command of the scene. The letter additionally accused Uvalde college officers of placing his security in danger by not letting him carry a weapon to the varsity board assembly, citing “legitimate risks of harm to the public and to Chief Arredondo.”

“Chief Arredondo is a leader and a courageous officer who with all of the other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, should be celebrated for the lives saved, instead of vilified for those they couldn’t reach in time,” Hyde wrote.

Uvalde college officers have been beneath mounting stress from victims’ households and members of the neighborhood, lots of whom have referred to as for Arredondo’s termination. Superintendent Hal Harrell had first moved to fireside Arredondo in July however postponed the choice on the request of the police chief’s lawyer.

Among these on the assembly was Ruben Torres, father of Chloe Torres, who survived the taking pictures in room 112 of the varsity. He mentioned that as a former Marine, he took an oath that he faithfully executed willingly, and didn’t perceive why officers didn’t take motion when management failed.

“Right now, being young, she is having a hard time handling this horrific event,” Torres mentioned.

Arredondo is the primary officer dismissed over the hesitant and fumbling legislation enforcement response to the May 24 tragedy. Only one different officer — Uvalde Police Department Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the town’s performing police chief on the day of bloodbath — is thought to have been positioned on go away for his or her actions in the course of the taking pictures.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, which had greater than 90 state troopers on the scene, has additionally launched an inner investigation into the response by state police. School officers have mentioned the campus at Robb Elementary will not be used. Instead, campuses elsewhere in Uvalde will function momentary lecture rooms for elementary college college students, not all of whom are keen to return to high school in-person following the taking pictures.

School officers say a digital academy will likely be provided for college students. The district has not mentioned what number of college students will attend just about, however a brand new state legislation handed final yr in Texas following the pandemic limits the variety of eligible college students receiving distant instruction to “10% of all enrolled students within a given school system.”

Schools can search a waiver to exceed the restrict however Uvalde has not achieved so, in response to Melissa Holmes, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency.

New measures to enhance college security in Uvalde embody “8-foot, non-scalable perimeter fencing” at elementary, center and highschool campuses, in response to the varsity district. Officials say they’ve additionally put in further safety cameras, upgraded locks, enhanced coaching for district workers and bettering communication.

However, in response to 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. Uvalde CISD didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.