Uvalde shooting: who is sacked police chief Pete Arredondo - and what happened at Robb Elementary School?

Pete Arredondo was criticised for the officers’ 77-minute delay in confronting the teenage gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers.
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A police chief accused of delaying the response to the fatal shooting of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, has been sacked.

The firing came three months to the day since the attack which happened on 24 May. The local school board voted unanimously to fire Pete Arredondo on Wednesday evening (24 August), who had been on leave since June.

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Many parents and relatives have expressed deep anger at the delayed police response and there has been growing pressure for law enforcements to be held accountable.

His lawyers said in a written statement that he had been unaware anyone was inside the classrooms with the shooter.

Who is Pete Arredondo?

Arredondo has come under intense public scrutiny over the law enforcement response to the massacre.

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He had led the small police force since 2020 and did not think he was the official in charge at the time of the attack.

He has taken the brunt of criticism for officers’ 77-minute delay in confronting the teenage gunman, and is the first officer to be dismissed.

Cheering was heard in the auditorium as Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s board of trustees filed the motion to remove him from his post immediately.

Some in the audience shouted: "Coward!"

However, lawyers for Mr Arredondo, who was not at the meeting, called him "a courageous officer" and his firing "an unconstitutional public lynching".

The sun sets behind the memorial for the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The Consolidated Independent School District Board fired Police Chief Pete Arredondo over police response during the May 24 massacre, America’s deadliest school shooting since 2012.  (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)The sun sets behind the memorial for the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The Consolidated Independent School District Board fired Police Chief Pete Arredondo over police response during the May 24 massacre, America’s deadliest school shooting since 2012.  (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)
The sun sets behind the memorial for the victims of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The Consolidated Independent School District Board fired Police Chief Pete Arredondo over police response during the May 24 massacre, America’s deadliest school shooting since 2012. (Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)

What else did his lawyers say?

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In a 17-page statement reported by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, the attorneys said: "Chief Arredondo did the right thing.

"Any allegation of lack of leadership is wholly misplaced."

The statement also said the school district had failed to carry out any investigation "establishing evidence supporting a decision to terminate" his client.

It added that Uvalde school officials had put Mr Arredondo’s safety at risk by refusing to allow him to carry a weapon to the school board meeting if he were to have attended.

Attendees hold signs as they walk out of a Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board special meeting to consider the firing of Police Chief Pete Arredondo. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty ImagesAttendees hold signs as they walk out of a Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board special meeting to consider the firing of Police Chief Pete Arredondo. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images
Attendees hold signs as they walk out of a Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board special meeting to consider the firing of Police Chief Pete Arredondo. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

It continued: "The complaint that an officer should have rushed the door, believed to be locked, to open it up without a shield capable of stopping an AR-15 bullet, without breaching tools… is tantamount to suicide."

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However, an inquiry in June heard that the classroom door was not locked and there was no evidence officers tried to open it.

Texas public safety chief Steven McCraw testified to a state Senate hearing that there were enough police on the scene to have stopped the gunman three minutes after he entered the building.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, which had more than 90 state troopers at the scene, has also launched an internal investigation into the response by state police.

What happened on 24 May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas?

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At around 11.30am a gunman was reported outside the school, shortly after he crashed a pickup truck in a nearby ditch.

After leaving the truck, Ramos entered the school, where he went into a pair of connected fourth-grade classrooms and started shooting.

Nineteen students and two teachers were killed, and more than a dozen others wounded.

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Scores of officers from multiple agencies responded to the scene, but hesitated to confront the gunman - to the frustration of parents who had also gathered outside.

More than an hour after Ramos entered the building, Border Patrol officers stormed the classrooms and fatally shot him.

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