Former Uvalde School Police Chief Charged in School Shooting Investigation

June 27 (UPI) – Former Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was arrested Thursday in connection with the investigation into the police response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

Arredondo, who was fired three months after a teenage gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in May 2022, has been charged with 10 counts of child endangerment. He is being held in the Uvalde County Jail on $10,000 bail.

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Adrian Gonzales, a Uvalde School District official who resigned last year, is also wanted on child endangerment charges. He has not yet turned himself in.

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell launched a criminal investigation into the police response shortly after the shooting and convened a grand jury in January to review the evidence against hundreds of officers.

The “scale” of the investigation meant it took more than a year than originally planned, Mitchell said.

The charges come more than two years after the shooting at Robb Elementary School, the second-worst school massacre in U.S. history.

Uvalde police came under criticism for their slow response after it was revealed that officers waited at the scene for over an hour before entering the school and killing the shooter.

The charges also come days after the Justice Department announced it would provide technical assistance to support police reform and restore trust between the police and the public.

In January, the Justice Department issued a brutal critique of the police department’s response, attributing it to “a series of serious failures, failures in leadership, tactics, communications, training and preparation.”

The victims’ families reached a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde last month.

Ana Rodriquez, the mother of one of the victims, Maite Rodriquez, told ABC News that the prosecutor informed her of the complaint.

“My heart breaks for Maite. My heart breaks for her siblings,” she said. “The fact that these two people are being held accountable doesn’t change anything for me, it doesn’t bring them back.”

Javier Cazares, the father of Jackie Cazares, who was also killed in the shooting, said of the charges: “This is something. We were hoping for more, but they are finally going to bring someone to justice.”