Former Uvalde school police chief indicted

A Uvalde County, Texas, grand jury on Thursday charged former school district police Chief Pete Arredondo and former officer Adrian Gonzales with child endangerment. The indictments are the first criminal charges against law enforcement officers in connection with the May 2022 shooting in which an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. Law enforcement officers waited more than an hour to confront the gunman.

What were the charges? The felony charge of endangering a child is applied when an individual causes a child bodily injury “intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence.” Arredondo turned himself in at the Uvalde County Jail on Thursday to be booked on 10 counts, according to the San Antonio Express-News, and was later released on bond. Arredondo was listed as the incident commander on the school district’s active shooter response plan. Gonzales was charged separately with 29 counts of child endangerment and was expected to turn himself in on Friday.

When did the investigation begin? Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell in January convened a 12-member grand jury to investigate law enforcement’s response to the school shooting. A U.S. Justice Department report issued in January found that law enforcement from multiple departments failed to respond appropriately to the shooting and could have saved more victims if they had followed standard practices. Meanwhile, a March report commissioned by the city found that city police officers did not violate policy and acted in good faith. 

Dig deeper: Read Marc LiVecche’s column in WORLD Opinions about the federal report on the police response to the shooting.