Pete Arredondo, the former district chief, and Adrian Gonzales, a former school police officer, are facing charges for their actions during the 2022 elementary school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.
The former Uvalde schools police chief and another former district officer have been indicted by a grand jury for their roles in the response to a gunman who opened fire inside Robb Elementary School, killing 19 students and two teachers in May 2022.
Pete Arredondo, the former chief who served as police commander, is in custody and charged with abandoning and endangering a child, the San Antonio Express-News reported on Thursday. Adrian Gonzalez, a former police officer in the area, was also charged Thursday, according to multiple reports. The Austin American-Statesman said the two former police officers could face up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted of the felony charges.
The new indictments come after a six-month grand jury investigation that included in-person testimony.
Law enforcement officials' response to the 2022 massacre has been described as a major failure by both the Justice Department and the Texas House of Representatives, following lengthy investigations. Officials infamously waited outside Robb Elementary for over an hour before finally entering and confronting the gunman, who was killed inside a classroom.
News of the indictment comes a little more than a month after the families of Robb Elementary School shooting victims reached a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde and filed a lawsuit against the law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting.
The settlement's damages at the end of May will be distributed to the families of the 17 children who were killed, as well as to the families of the two children who were injured. The agreement also includes several points aimed at improving Uvalde's police force.
The lawsuit against 92 Texas Department of Public Safety officers accuses the officers of not doing enough to stop the gunman during the massacre. The suit also names as defendants the Uvalde School District and several employees, including the school district's principal and police chief at the time. The families claimed the school's lockdown procedures, such as turning off the lights and locking the doors, exacerbated the damage as it left them “completely dependent on law enforcement to respond.”
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/uvalde-officers-indicted-over-response-elementary-school-massacre-1235048336/