UVALDE (WBAP/KLIF News ) – The former Uvalde school district police chief who oversaw the botched response to the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in May of 2022 has been arrested on 10 counts of felony child endangerment.
A grand jury indicted 52-year-old Pete Arredondo on Thursday. He was arrested and released from custody after posting a $10,000 bond.
Former officer Adrian Gonzales was also indicted for his role in the response. The arrests were first reported by the San Antonio Express News.
The development comes after years of the families of the victims calling for the police to be held accountable for the failed response to the shooting.
It took law enforcement on the scene over an hour before confronting and killing the lone gunman. There were almost 400 officers, including Uvalde police, Uvalde CISD officers, DPS troopers and U.S. Border Patrol Agents on the scene.
Brett Cross lost his 10-year-old son Uziyah Garcia in the massacre and said the response was infuriating.
“You’re taught from an early age to call police because they’re supposed to protect because they’re the good guys and everything. They just sat around and did nothing,” he said.
19 students and two teachers died. Arredondo was fired about three months after the massacre.
The Department of Justice issued a report this year pointing to a series of “cascading failures” by Arredondo and others.
The report noted that “poor coordination, training and execution of active shooter protocols led to the failed response.”
Last month, the families of the victims reached a $2 million settlement with the City of Uvalde.
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