On Tuesday, the top Texas official in charge of the investigation described the response as an “abject failure.” At the center of the fury has been school district police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo. On Wednesday, almost a month after the horrific shooting, he was fired.
“From the beginning of this horrific event, I shared that the district would wait until the investigation was completed before decisions were made on staffing,” Halvell Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said in a statement. press release.
“Today I am still without details of the investigations being carried out by the different agencies. Due to the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown moment of when I will receive the results of the investigations, I have made the decision to put the head Arredondo in charge. effective administrative leave on that date, “he said.
Arredondo and law enforcement have faced fierce criticism during the time officers were parked in a hallway outside classrooms 111 and 112 at Robb Elementary, where an 18-year-old gunman was located. years and victims. The gunman fired at officers who responded in the first minutes of the shooting, two of whom received scraping wounds, according to an updated timeline from the Texas Department of Homeland Security. However, it would be more than 70 minutes before the gunman was shot dead by authorities who stormed the room. Earlier this month, Arredondo told The Texas Tribune that he was not considered the commander of the incident and did not order officers to refrain from violating the scene. Berlinda Irene Arreola, the grandmother of the victim of the Amerie Jo Garza shooting, spoke at a tense town hall meeting Tuesday where Arredondo was not present. The school’s police chief was elected to the council earlier this year and has remained out of public attention since the shooting.
“We failed,” Arreola told Arredondo to councilors. “Don’t make the same mistake as him and fail us too. Go ahead and do it right … please, please, we are begging, take this man out of our lives.”
Subsequently, the council voted unanimously in favor of denying Arredondo a leave of absence at future council meetings, and the decision was received with applause from the attending neighbors. According to the city’s letter, Arredondo could be fired if he does not attend three consecutive city council meetings without excuse.
Arreola spoke to CNN on Wednesday about the pain of losing 10-year-old Amerie, as well as the aftermath, with preliminary details of the investigation indicating that more could have been done earlier.
“It’s getting harder and harder to miss her, the pain we feel. But also with the anger that is unfolding before our eyes,” Arreola told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
“We have to speak for all these children, all these families. We have to do things right, we have to go to the bottom of everything that has happened and find out the truth.”
Amerie’s stepfather, Angel Garza, was the first medical respondent at the scene of the shooting and told CNN on Wednesday that he did not understand how the police did not act when they were outside the classroom, so close to the victims.
“I don’t understand how you can hear these kids crying and asking for help, but you’re afraid to come in because your commander doesn’t want you to come in,” he said.
The parents, including himself, were “just outside” the school. “I was trying to get in, they handcuffed me,” he said, distressed because the police he confided in “did not save my daughter or any of the other children.”
Arredondo testified in front of a Texas House committee on Tuesday about the day of the shooting and made no public comment. CNN has contacted Arredondo’s attorney for comment.
Lt. Mike Hernandez is taking over as UCISD police chief during Arredondo’s discharge, according to the school district.
The mayor of Uvalde calls the director of the DPS
Although Arredondo has received the lion’s share of public criticism for how the police handled the crisis, the mayor of Uvalde was quick to point out on Tuesday that he believes other police forces should also be held accountable and provide updates to city officials.
In a timely statement at the town hall meeting, Mayor Don McLaughlin accused DPS director Colonel Steven McCraw of evading the responsibility of his department and noted that agents from at least eight law enforcement agencies the law were inside Robb Elementary during the shooting.
“Colonel McCraw has continued, so to speak, lying, filtering, misleading or misleading information in order to distance his own soldiers and Rangers from the response. Each briefing session sets aside the number of its own officers and Rangers. that they were on the scene that day, “McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin also denounced leaks from anonymous sources who said they intended to shift the blame for the police response from certain agencies and more towards local law enforcement.
“Colonel McCraw has an agenda and is not presenting a full report on what happened and giving answers made about what happened to this community,” the mayor said, adding that he should receive daily information from the authorities from the next day. filming but none was provided.
McCraw on Tuesday in a Texas Senate hearing accused Arredondo of ordering police to wait for unnecessary equipment and keys to a door that may not have been locked, as suspected.
CNN has contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety for comment.
CNN’s Jamiel Lynch, Matthew J. Friedman, Amanda Musa, Eric Levenson, Christina Maxouris, Rosalina Nieves, Andy Rose, and Amy Simonson contributed to this report.