The former school police chief in Uvalde, Tex., and another ex-officer have been indicted on felony child abandonment and endangerment charges, authorities revealed Thursday.
Pete Arredondo — the chief who led the botched response to the May 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School in which 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were slaughtered — was booked on 10 counts of child endangerment.
Adrian Gonzales, the officer, was indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment, the Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News reported.
They are the first members of law enforcement to be criminally charged in the tragedy, in which it took authorities 70 minutes to make their way inside the school as the young victims and educators desperately called for help while being gunned down.
Arredondo was booked into the Uvalde County Jail on 10 counts of child endangerment and released on bond, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
Gonzales’ indictment was for 29 counts of child endangerment, one for each of the 19 murdered children and one for each of 10 survivors, the newspaper stated. He was slated to surrender on Friday.
Arredondo was fired three months after the bloodbath and the entire school police force was replaced, the Express-News noted. The U.S. Department of Justice and state legislators both deemed the response botched, though another, more recent report said police followed protocol. More than 370 officers gathered outside a classroom and hesitated while an 18-year-old gunman targeted its occupants with an AR-15-style rifle. In the end, officers gunned him down.
Parents said the repercussions shouldn’t continue.
“It’s a step forward, but this is simply not enough,” Ana Rodriguez, who lost her 10-year-old daughter Maite told the Express-News. “There were numerous officers with knowledge that it was an active shooter situation. Others need to also be held accountable for their inaction.”
With News Wire Services
