UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The Uvalde college district has fired police chief Pete Arredondo beneath mounting stress within the grieving Texas city to punish officers over the regulation enforcement response to the lethal elementary college bloodbath by which a person armed with an AR-15-style rifle remained in a fourth-grade classroom for greater than an hour, killing 19 youngsters and two lecturers.
In a unanimous vote Wednesday night, the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District’s board of trustees fired Arredondo throughout a gathering additionally attended by dad and mom and survivors of the May 24 massacre. Arredondo, who was not current, is the primary officer to lose his job following one of many deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. historical past.
His ouster got here three months to the day after the tragedy and fewer than two weeks earlier than college students return to high school in Uvalde, the place some youngsters are nonetheless too scared or scarred to return inside a classroom.
The gang cheered following the vote, and a few dad and mom walked away in tears. Exterior, a number of Uvalde residents known as for different officers to be held accountable.
“Coward!” some within the viewers yelled because the assembly received underway.
Arredondo, who has been on leave from the district since June 22, has come beneath essentially the most intense scrutiny of the practically 400 officers who rushed to high school however waited greater than 70 minutes to confront the 18-year-old gunman within the fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary College.
Most notably, Arredondo was criticized for not ordering officers to behave sooner. Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo was answerable for the regulation enforcement response to the assault.
Minutes earlier than the college board assembly received underway, Arredondo’s lawyer launched a scathing 4,500-word letter that amounted to the police chief’s fullest protection to this point of his actions. Over 17 defiant pages, Arredondo was described not as a fumbling chief blamed in a damning state investigation for not taking command and losing time looking for keys to a possible unlocked door, however as an alternative as a courageous officer whose level-headed selections saved the lives of different college students.
It alleges that Arredondo warned the district about quite a lot of safety points within the faculties a yr earlier than the taking pictures and asserted he wasn’t answerable for the scene. The letter additionally accused Uvalde college officers of placing his security in danger by not permitting him to hold a weapon to the college board assembly, citing “reputable dangers of hurt to the general public and to Chief Arredondo.”
“Chief Arredondo is a frontrunner and a brave officer who with the entire different regulation enforcement officers who responded to the scene, must be celebrated for the lives saved, as an alternative of vilified for these they couldn’t attain in time,” George Hyde wrote.
Hyde’s workplace has not responded to a request for remark.
Uvalde college officers have been beneath growing stress from victims’ households and members of the group, a lot of whom had known as for Arredondo’s termination. Superintendent Hal Harrell first moved to fireside Arredondo in July however postponed the choice on the request of Arredondo’s lawyer.
On the assembly was Ruben Torres, father of Chloe Torres, who survived the taking pictures in room 112 of the college.
“Proper now, being younger, she is having a tough time dealing with this horrific occasion,” Torres stated.
Shirley Zamora, the mom of a pupil at Robb Elementary, stated accountability should not finish with Arredondo’s dismissal.
“That is simply going to be the start. It is a lengthy course of,” she stated.
Just one different officer — Uvalde Police Division Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the town’s appearing police chief on the day of bloodbath — is thought to have been positioned on go away for his or her actions through the taking pictures.
The Texas Division of Public Security, which had greater than 90 state troopers on the scene, is conducting an investigation into the response by state police. State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, stated McCraw, the state police chief, additionally deserves scrutiny.
“You fail at one thing so badly that individuals are getting harm, then definitely we’ve got to have some better accountability,” he stated.
College officers have stated the Robb Elementary campus will not be used when college students return Sept 6. As a substitute, campuses elsewhere in Uvalde will function momentary school rooms for elementary college college students, not all of whom are prepared to return to high school in-person following the taking pictures.
College officers say a digital academy will likely be supplied for college students. The district has not stated what number of college students will attend just about, however a brand new state regulation handed final yr in Texas following the pandemic limits the variety of eligible college students receiving distant instruction to “10% of all enrolled college students inside a given college system.”
Colleges can search a waiver to exceed the restrict however Uvalde has not carried out so, in accordance with the Texas Training Company.
New measures to enhance college security in Uvalde embody “8-foot, non-scalable perimeter fencing” at elementary, center and highschool campuses, in accordance with the college district. Officers say they’ve additionally put in further safety cameras, upgraded locks, enhanced coaching for district employees and enhancing communication.
Related Press author Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
For extra AP protection of the Uvalde college taking pictures: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting
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