The Uvalde school superintendent wants to fire the district’s police chief over the botched response to the May school massacre that left 19 kids and two teachers dead.
The Uvalde Independent School District’s board of education will hold a special meeting Saturday to discuss the “termination for good cause” of Chief Pete Arredondo “as recommended by the Superintendent,” the meeting’s agenda shows.
The agenda also lists a consultation with the district’s lawyer for related “legal and procedural issues” as well as a closed-door conduct hearing for Arredondo.
The chief was the on-site commander at Robb Elementary School on May 24 when police waited more than an hour to take out the teenage gunman who had marched into two interconnected classrooms and opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle.
The school board members would have to vote to approve giving Arredondo the boot on Superintendent Hal Harrell’s recommendation. Harrell and board members have faced calls by parents and survivors’ families to ax Arredondo — with one parent declaring at a Monday meeting, “Y’all hired him, y’all can fire him.”
The widely condemned law enforcement response to the mass shooting included a scathing report by state lawmakers released Saturday that outlined a series of missteps and an “overall lackadaisical approach.” Officers stood back rather than storm the classroom to take out 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos, the report found.
A Texas House report found that Uvalde officers wasted time in their response. via REUTERS
There have been widespread calls to remove Arredondo from his position. REUTERS“At Robb Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety,” the report said.
Arredondo, who commands a department of six people, ended up as the on-site commander of nearly 400 officers. Arredondo himself claimed to the Texas Tribune that he didn’t believe he was commanding and the scene was described as chaotic by many involved.
The Uvalde school chief mistakenly treated the situation as a “barricaded suspect” rather than an active shooter response. Ramos was inside a classroom with students, several of whom made 911 calls begging for help. Questions have been raised over whether the slow response cost lives.
Arredondo was “consumed” during the standoff with getting a key to the classroom that Ramos was in, wasting time instead of trying to find another way to open the door — which may not even have been locked, the report said.
Arredondo had been elected to the Uvalde City Council in May, but resigned from that post without attending any meetings, and was placed on administrative leave as school district chief in June.
The backlash has also led to the suspension of Lt. Mariano Pargas, acting chief of the Uvalde Police Department — an agency separate from the school district department.
