Schools Police Chief Arredondo Presses to Drop Uvalde Charges
Pete Arredondo’s lawyers tell the court that the shooter, not the police, was to blame for the school violence.
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Former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo asked a state district court on Friday to quash ten felony charges of child endangerment for his response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.
Arredondo is one of two law enforcement officers who face criminal charges for their response to Texas’ deadliest school shooting, which left nineteen children and two teachers dead on May 22, 2022. An indictment handed down in June by a Uvalde County grand jury called Arredondo the incident commander and accused him of causing imminent danger to ten children by delaying law enforcement’s response to the active shooter and not responding as trained.
In their motion to toss out the indictment, Arredondo’s lawyers say school districts and their employees don’t have a duty to protect students from third-party threats. The lawyers also point out that the children were already in danger when Arredondo responded.
“The indictment does not allege that Mr. Arredondo engaged in any conduct that placed a child in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment,” the filing states. “To the contrary, the language in the indictment itself makes clear that when Mr. Arredondo responded as part of his official duties, an active shooter incident was already in progress.”
Arredondo said soon after the shooting that he did not think he was the incident commander and that he did not give any orders. Nearly 400 local, state and federal law enforcement officers descended upon the school but failed to act decisively, instead waiting for more than an hour to confront the gunman.
Border Patrol agents ultimately decided to breach the classroom and killed the shooter.
Since the school shooting, families of Uvalde victims have called on local and state elected officials to hold officers accountable for their failures in leadership. Many said they were disappointed that the grand jury indicted only two officers.
In addition to Arredondo, former district officer Adrian Gonzales was indicted on 29 counts of child endangerment. Gonzales has also denied violating school district policy or state law. Both officers were released from Uvalde County Jail on bond.
Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/06/uvalde-charges-arredondo-schools-police-chief/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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