Former Uvalde School Police Chief Indicted for Slow Response During Mass Shooting

A bit of a bombshell indictment was announced earlier this week.

Two officers who were slow to respond during the Uvalde mass shooting were indicted.

This included the former school police chief.

Going to Trial

Former Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school police officer Adrian Gonzales learned their fate after an indictment was handed down for their role in the disastrous response to the Uvalde school shooting.

Arredondo has reportedly already turned himself in to the Texas Rangers, while Gonzales is expected to do the same very soon.

After the video of the response surfaced, the entire nation was outraged over how long officers waited to respond.

Arredondo was hesitant to send his officers in early, apparently worried about the lack of equipment on site to protect them.

Clearly, however, officers were itching to get in there and stop the shooter.

Seeing the officers standing around in the hallway while shots were being fired, with a student or teacher meeting their demise every time a shot was heard, eventually brought scrutiny down to Arredondo.

As he was being criticized for his response, he stated, “The only thing that was important to me at this time was to save as many teachers and children as possible.”

It took 77 minutes for officers to breach the room, whereas in other situations, we have seen officers go after the shooter within minutes of arriving on scene, usually successfully, I might add.

Arredondo later commented that the criticism of the response was unfair, stating, “Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children.

“We responded to the information that we had and had to adjust to whatever we faced. Our objective was to save as many lives as we could, and the extraction of the students from the classrooms by all that were involved saved over 500 of our Uvalde students and teachers before we gained access to the shooter and eliminated the threat.”

I can tell you this…

I have numerous friends who are in law enforcement, including my brother, who is retired police, and not a single one of them could excuse the actions taken that day by Arredondo.

As my brother told me, “You don’t put on that badge unless you are willing to die to protect innocent people. Those officers failed that day and anyone who hesitated to go after that shooter is a coward and an embarrassment to the badge.”

That sentiment was echoed by virtually every law enforcement friend I have.

Sadly, even if justice is served, it will do nothing to bring those children back, so we can only hope it gives those families some sense of closure on the matter.