Pete Arredondo, the police chief of the Uvalde school district, was put on administrative leave on Wednesday, the school superintendent said. The action is effective immediately.
Dr. Hal Harrell said in a statement that while the district wanted to wait until the investigation into law enforcement’s responses to the deadly mass shooting was completed before any decision was made, it went ahead and put on leave of absence from Arredondo “for lack of clarity” and the “unknown time” of when the investigation will be concluded.
Lieutenant Mike Hernandez will take over while Arredondo is out, Harrell said.
Arredondo has received intense criticism since the May 24 shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers. He was responsible for the law enforcement response that day, and investigations have revealed several errors, including that the police had a chance to shoot the gunman within three minutes of his arrival at the scene. ‘school and instead left him at school for over an hour. Police also did not check whether the door of the classroom where the gunman was hidden was closed.
Arredondo has not only faced interrogation, but further investigation into the response to the shooting has also raised red flags, and many are confused by what actually happened that day.
Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Texas Department of Homeland Security, accusing state officials of not sharing information with the public, but of pointing the finger at Uvalde School police.
“They want to give us snippets of local police body camera footage, but they want to keep their own body camera footage,” Gutierrez said of Texas state soldiers. “We learned yesterday that there were 91 officers from the Department of Public Safety.”
The mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, is blaming the feet of the state authorities, who he says have been responsible for keeping the citizens in the dark.
McLaughlin told CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca that the DPS last reported on the morning of May 25, a day after the shooting.
“I get in touch with them every day. I don’t get anything out of them,” McLaughlin said.
The search for answers has left the community and family members feeling lost in the midst of the struggle to find answers. Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jacklyn, 9, was killed, said the contradictory messages from officials are frustrating and bad.
The news comes as state lawmakers continue to focus on mental health and gun safety following the aftermath of the shooting.
McGraw said Tuesday that the shooter was “on a path to violence,” as he dropped out of high school at age 17 and had asked a family member to buy him a gun. Also Tuesday, McLaughlin promised that no student or professor at Uvalde would set foot on Robb Elementary again, saying he understood the building would be demolished.
School shooting in Uvalde, Texas
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Omar Villafranca is a Dallas-based CBS News correspondent.