In an unanimous decision, the Uvalde school district’s board voted on Wednesday to fire its police chief Pete Arredondo, exactly two months after themass shooting that took place at the city’s Robb Elementary Schoolon May 24.
The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District voted to terminate Arredondo, making him the first officer who has been fired since 19 students and 2 teachers were killed at the school, according toThe Associated Press.
Per the AP, parents were heard screaming “Coward!” at the meeting in an auditorium — and some became emotional and cried.
PEOPLE has reached out to UCISD for additional comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Arredondo was not present; however, his lawyer George Hyde presented a statement on his behalf less than an hour before the meeting began, according toCNN.
In the 17-pagestatement, Hyde said that his client was not given proper due process ahead of the hearing, and his 14th Amendment rights were violated. He added that Arredondo has been a target of death threats, and the school district has not provided “any effort on its part to ensure the safety” of Arredondo, his legal counsel, “or any of the [public] in attendance under such tense circumstances.”
Hyde later said the only person at fault of the killings “is the shooter himself.”
Pete Arredondo.Austin American-Statesman-USA Today Network/Sipa USA
“Chief Arredondo is a leader and a courageous officer who with all of the other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, should be celebrated for the lives saved, instead of vilified for those they couldn’t reach in time, and not for lack of effort,” Hyde wrote.
Hyde did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
AccordingtotheSan Antonio Express-News, surveillance footage seems to indicate thatneither Arredondo nor any other officereverattemptedto open the doors where the gunman held two classrooms full of children — and that one of the doors may have been unlocked the whole time.
On June 22, Arredondo wasplaced on leave.He was one of the first officers to respond to the scene, according toThe New York Times.
“From the beginning of this horrible event, I shared that the district would wait until the investigation was complete before making personnel decisions,“a news releasefrom Dr. Hal Harrell, Superintendent, read at the time.
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Arredondo had previouslydefended his actionsand toldThe Texas Tribunethat he did not consider himself to be the commanding officer on the scene that day.
In phone interviews and statements provided to theTribunethrough his lawyer, Arredondo said that he never told any officers to stand down from breaching the building and that no one told him about the 911 calls that came in during the 77 minutes before the gunman was shot.
But one of Arredondo’s subordinate officers disputed Arredondo’s claim that he did not realize that he was in charge.
“We were looking to him for guidance,” said the officer, whospoke to PEOPLE immediately after the incidentand again days after. “We wanted him to tell us what to do. He was the chief. He knew the school building better than anyone. So he knew we were all looking to him for decisions. I was literally five feet away from him as we asked what we should do.”
source: people.com
