They waited approximately 77 minutes before intervening. Two years later, the first criminal charges over the 2022 Uvalde mass shooting were filed.
A grand jury with the Texas Department of Justice has indicted former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo and former officer Adrian Gonzales for their role in the slow and failed law enforcement response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School.
Pedro “Pete” Arredondo and a former school police officer were indicted by a Uvalde County grand jury on charges of child endangerment for their roles in the bungled police response to the 2022 mass shooting, sources said. https://t.co/BKxNYIT5m8 pic.twitter.com/NV2v7djsAs
— San Antonio Express-News (@ExpressNews) June 27, 2024
According to reports from the Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News, later confirmed by local district attorney Christina Mitchell, the two former Uvalde school police officers face multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment. Mr. Gonzales was among the first to enter the building when the shooting began, but more than an hour of inaction passed as children remained in life-threatening danger.
Additionally, two other former officers have also been indicted, although their identities were not disclosed by the Austin American-Statesman.
A total of 376 law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded to the scene on the day of the shooting; some waited in the hallway without intervening, even as the 18-year-old gunman could be heard firing an AR-15-style rifle inside the classrooms. Months have passed since the Texas Rangers completed their investigation and handed their findings over to prosecutors, so far, only four of them have been indicted.
The 2022 Uvalde mass shooting remains a complex and unresolved case. Two years on, significant gaps persist, and there is considerable trauma to address. Prosecutors handling the case have faced accusations of lacking transparency and withholding documents. Investigative journalists have revealed discrepancies between body-camera footage, school CCTV footage, survivors’ accounts, and the information communicated by police.
