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The first criminal charges have been brought in Uvalde, Texas, against law enforcement officers involved in the failed response to the deadly Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022.
Pete Arredondo, who served as the school district police chief of Uvalde, was indicted by a grand jury Thursday and arrested on 10 felony counts of child endangerment. Arredondo, who posted bail the same day, did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.
Arredondo was the incident commander in the law enforcement response to the shooting on May 24, 2022. After an 18-year-old gunman barricaded himself inside a classroom with students and teachers, Arredondo and other officers stood in the hallway for more than an hour, waiting for a key to enter the locked classroom.
A total of 376 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting that day. The shooter killed 19 children and two teachers.
According to NBC News, a second former school district officer, Adrian Gonzales, has been indicted on similar charges.
Shortly after the shooting, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety largely blamed the delayed response on Arredondo and called the police response an “abject failure.”
Shortly after the shooting, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety largely blamed the delayed response on Arredondo and called the police response an “abject failure.” The New York Times found that highly trained law enforcement officers from other agencies also failed to act decisively and with urgency.
Arredondo resigned from the Uvalde City Council in July 2022, and he was fired as the school district police chief a month later.
Families of the shooting victims have pushed for criminal charges against the officers. Jesse Rizo, whose niece Jacklyn Cazares was among those killed, told the Tribune that he hoped it was “just the beginning of indictments that may be coming down.”
“There are a lot of officers that need to be held accountable,” he added.
There was some movement on gun safety laws in Texas after the massacre, which was the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history, but the GOP-led Texas Legislature has largely pushed other measures, including a bill that would arm teachers. President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan gun safety law the month after the shooting.