The Uvalde school board voted unanimously to fire Pete Arredondo, the school district's police chief, who was widely condemned for leading a slow police response to the Robb Elementary School massacre.
In this May 26, 2022, photo, Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo speaks to the media. In this file photo, Dario Lopez- Mills.
The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety called Arredondo's response to the shooting an "abject failure" on June 22.
The law enforcement response to the May 24 shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead.
He is the first police officer to lose his job because of the response.
Arredondo's lawyer released a statement before the hearing that said his firing would be illegal and unconstitutional.
It took more than an hour for law enforcement officers to kill the shooter, who was holed up in adjoining classrooms, as students begged for help. There was a lot of confusion among responding officers. In an interview with the Texas Tribune, Arredondo claimed that he was unaware that he was in charge of the response and that police had trouble opening the classroom where the shooting took place. According to an investigative report released by a Texas House committee, Arredondo's police force only made up five of the 368 law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting. A group of 149 Border Patrol agents was the largest response force, according to the report, which noted that many of the better trained and better equipped officers from state and federal agencies could have stepped up to take command.
In July, Arredondo resigned from the Uvalde City Council to "minimize further distraction"
Here's everything that turned out to be false.
Arredondo was placed on leave.
The Uvalde schools police chief defended the delay in confronting the shooter.
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