The former school district police chief in Uvalde, Texas, who oversaw the response to a 2022 elementary school shooting that left 21 people dead, including 19 children, has been arrested on a child endangerment charge, Uvalde prison officials announced Thursday.
Pete Arredondo, 52, was taken into custody by officers and charged with child abandonment and endangerment, prison officials said.
The charges were first reported by the San Antonio Express-News.
Uvalde Jail officials confirmed Arredondo was booked into the facility Thursday afternoon. Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco said Thursday night that Arredondo had been released on bail.
Arredondo did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it was unclear whether he has an attorney representing him.
According to the parents of the slain child, who asked not to be identified, a second officer has also been indicted on multiple similar charges.
The Uvalde Leader-News and San Antonio Express-News also reported charges had been filed against the man, whose identity has not been released by authorities.
The Justice Department released a 600-page report earlier this year saying Uvalde Police’s “failed” response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, was due to inadequate coordination, training and implementation of “active shooter” countermeasures.
Instead of continuing to engage the 18-year-old gunman, who was holed up in a classroom with 33 students and three teachers, officers retreated after the initial exchange of gunfire and “did not immediately and sustainably advance to eliminate the threat,” the Justice Department said.
The report said officers had been mistakenly taught that situations involving an active shooter – an armed person defined by federal authorities as “actively” killing or attempting to kill another person – “could easily morph into a hostage situation.”
More than 70 minutes passed between when police arrived at the school and when the gunman was killed, killing 19 students, two teachers and wounding 17 others.
State lawmakers previously reached a similar conclusion to the Department of Justice, saying in a 2022 report that “systematic failures and grossly inadequate decision-making” plagued law enforcement and the school district’s response.
Arredondo, who was described in the Justice Department report as the de facto commander at the scene, was one of the officers to receive administrative discipline over his response.
The Uvalde school board fired him last year. At the time, his lawyer described him as a shooting victim and said his firing was an “illegal and unconstitutional public lynching.”
The school district said in a statement that it had no information.
“Our hearts have been and continue to be with all those who have lost loved ones,” the company said. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this difficult situation.”
Berlinda Arreola, whose 10-year-old granddaughter, Amelie Jo Garza, was among those killed, said Thursday that Arredondo’s arrest was not a “happy moment.”
“It’s still a sad moment, there’s nothing to be happy about,” she said. “They had a chance to save some, maybe all, of our loved ones, and now we have to relive this nightmare.”
