Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo Placed On Unpaid Administrative Leave

Police Chief Pete Arredondo, of the Uvalde CISD, has been put on unpaid administrative leave. This is following an investigation into his actions while a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School.

Since June 22, Arredondo had been on paid administrative leave by the district. He has been criticized since the tragedy, mostly for not commanding officers to quickly go into a classroom. That is where an 18-year-old gunman committed a massacre.

A special meeting intended to discuss Arredondo’s termination was scheduled for the Uvlade School Board on Saturday; however, it has been postponed to a later time.

If he is terminated, Arredondo will be the only officer fired from his job after the worst Texas school shooting, as of yet.

Before now, school officials weren’t considering firing Arredondo. Superintendent Hal Harrell had commented on the matter during a school board meeting. He said that Arredondo was a contact worker who couldn’t be terminated at will.

However, parents demanded that the superintendent terminate Chief Arredondo, or they would come after his job next.

An 80-page report was released by a Texas House Committee prior to the motion to possibly fire the chief. In it, various parts of law enforcement were said to be at fault for a slow and disorganized response. The report noted that there were 376 law enforcement officers located at the school. At least half of those were officers from state and federal agencies.

“However, they failed to adhere to their active duty training, and they failed to prioritize saving innocent lives over their own safety.”

The committe said that Arredondo told politicians that he didn’t believe that he was the on-scene commander in charge. He said that his job was to ensure that other children in different classrooms were safe. The committe noted that decision was a “terrible, tragic mistake.”