Former Uvalde police chief charged with botched response to shooting

Local media reported that a former police officer, Adrian Gonzales, was also charged. The charges were first reported by the San Antonio Express-News. District Attorney Christina Mitchell did not respond to requests for comment.

The attack was one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. Texas politicians initially praised the police response, but later admitted that officers waited 77 minutes before confronting the 18-year-old shooter, sparking outrage.

In January, the U.S. Justice Department released a scathing 575-page report criticizing local police chiefs and state law enforcement for not immediately entering the classroom and killing the gunman. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “lives would have been saved” had officers responded quickly.

Police arrived at the school but quickly retreated in the face of gunfire. They decided to treat the shooter as a barricaded man and wait for backup. During that time, officers spent about 40 minutes searching for a key to a classroom that, federal investigators concluded, was likely unlocked the entire time.

Early on, much of the blame was placed on Arredondo, who was then head of the Uvalde school police force. The former chief repeatedly told officers trying to get into the classroom to stop, the investigation found, because he believed there were other victims from surrounding classrooms who should be removed first.

Arredondo defended his response by saying he did not believe he was responsible, but the Justice Department’s investigation concluded that Arredondo was the “de facto commander of operations” and failed to fulfill his obligations.

The poorly organized response also hampered emergency services’ attempts to treat victims quickly. Delays in the medical response were detailed in a 2022 Washington Post investigation with the Texas Tribune and ProPublica.

A Post investigation found that the overall delay in prosecution was due to the inaction of a number of senior and senior law enforcement officers Officers, some of whom were still on duty and had immediate knowledge of shootings in the classrooms, but failed to quickly stop the shooter.