Topline
The former Uvalde, Texas school district police chief was indicted Thursday, according to multiple outlets, as he faces felony charges over the police response to a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in 2022 that resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers.
The indictment was handed down Thursday evening. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Key Facts
The former police chief, Pete Arredondo, and ex-school police officer Adrian Gonzales face charges of abandoning and endangering a child, according to the Uvalde Leader-News.
District Attorney Christina Mitchell told the Uvalde Leader-News that one of the two officers is expected to turn himself in today while the other will likely do so tomorrow—though it is not clear which one will surrender to authorities first.
The indictment marks the first charges brought against police officers who responded to the school shooting, which lasted more than an hour before law enforcement killed the shooter.
Arredondo was fired from his role as chief in August 2022 while Gonzales was no longer employed by the district by January 2023, the Uvalde Leader-News reported, more than six months after the shooting occurred.
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Tangent
The victims’ families reached a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde late last month. The families’ attorney, Josh Koskoff, said the settlement figure was all the city could afford and that the families had no intent to pursue a higher number that could bankrupt the city and “inflict financial hardship.”
Key Background
The tragedy at Robb Elementary took place in May 2022, provoking a response from almost 400 officers from the local, state and federal levels. Seventy-seven minutes passed before the shooter was killed by Border Patrol agents in a response that had “multiple failures,” according to a Justice Department report. Specifically, the agency found “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training.” An independent review of law enforcement’s response to the shooting published in March also found multiple issues with officers’ course of action but cleared more than 20 Uvalde police officers of wrongdoing, concluding the officers did not violate department policies and acted in good faith.
Further Reading
Uvalde Shooting Report Clears Officers Of Wrongdoing—Angering Victims’ Families (Forbes)
Uvalde Shooting Victims’ Families Announce $2 Million Settlement—Now Suing 92 Police Officers (Forbes)
