Uvalde's disgraced police chief is fired over his handling of tragedy
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Uvalde Police Department/American Photo Archive/Alamy Stock Photo
The Uvalde school district has fired its police chief who was under increasing pressure over law enforcement response to a school shooting in Texas earlier this year.
Pete Arredondo was unanimously voted out by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s board of trustees after his response to one of the most deadly classroom shooting in US history.
18-year-old Salvador Ramos, armed with a AR-15-style rifle, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and remained in the fourth-grade classroom for more than an hour where he killed 19 children and two teachers.
Arredondo, the former police chief, did not attend the meeting where he was dismissed in person as he said he did not feel safe in doing so.
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However, he did send a 17-page document as to why he should keep his job, with little sympathy coming from people at the meeting, which included families of the victims.
One member in the meeting reportedly shouted 'coward' after it was announced Arredondo would not be attending.
The former police chief is the first officer to lose his job after another deadly school shooting in the Untied Sates.
Arredondo's fate was announced three months to the day since the shooting, and only two weeks before students return to school after the summer break.
Understandably, some pupils are still too scared to go back into the classroom.
Arredondo has been away from the police force since 22 June after questions arose of the role he played in one of the most deadly US school shootings.
Nearly 400 officers reportedly under the supervision of Arredondo rushed to Robb Elementary school in May, but it was claimed they waited more than 70 minutes before they confronted the 18-year-old gunman.
Arredondo was criticised for not ordering officers to act sooner, and director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo was in charge of the law enforcement response to the attack that day.
In his 17-page document released minutes before the meeting started, Arredondo said that he was a brave officer whose level-headed decisions saved the lives of other pupils.
He says that he warned the district about the levels of security issues in schools a year before the fatal shooting at Robb Elementary School took place.
With this document, he also said that he was not in charge of the scene despite claims by others, and accused Uvalde school officials of putting his safety at risk by not allowing him to carry a weapon for the board meeting.
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