Uvalde CISD fires Police Chief Arredondo during closed hearing
UVALDE, TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo has been fired.
On Wednesday night, the Uvalde CISD Board held a closed hearing to decide if Arredondo should be terminated.
Just after 7 p.m., the Uvalde CISD Board voted unanimously to terminate Arredondo. Arredondo has been on administrative leave since June 22, nearly a month after the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Arredondo is the first officer dismissed over the hesitant and fumbling law enforcement response to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Only one other officer — Uvalde Police Department Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the city's acting police chief on the day of massacre — is known to have been placed on leave for their actions during the shooting.
Arredondo was widely criticized for his handling of the shooting at Robb Elementary in May that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Police took over an hour to breach the classroom where the shooter carried out the massacre in part due to a lack of leadership.
Ahead of the meeting, Arredondo's attorney released a statement calling on the district to reinstate the former police chief. In it, the attorney compares Arredondo's firing to lynching:
"No blame should be placed on Chief Arredondo from this event. None of his decisions or actions demonstrate a failure to meet the accepted standards of conduct for law enforcement officers in similarly situated school districts in Texas. Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal lynching and respectfully requests the Board immediately reinstate him, with all backpay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded."
The full statement can be read below.
