The former Uvalde schools police chief asks a judge to throw out the charges against him
The former Uvalde, Texas, schools police chief is asking a judge to throw out the criminal indictment against him over the slow law enforcement response to the 2022 school shooting massacre
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The former Uvalde, Texas, schools police chief asked a judge on Friday to throw out the criminal indictment filed against him over the slow law enforcement response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
In a motion filed in a Uvalde court, Pete Arredondo's lawyers question whether the 10-count indictment on child endangerment and abandonment charges applies to the former chief, who has been described as the on-site “incident commander” as nearly 400 federal, state and local officers waited more than 70 minutes to confront and kill the shooter in a classroom.
Arredondo has said he should not have been considered the incident commander and has been “scapegoated” into shouldering the blame for law enforcement failures that day.
The indictment alleges Arredondo did not follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was “hunting” victims.
