The ex-Uvalde schools police principal and other former workers have been indicted over their role in the lazy police reaction to the 2022 massacre at a Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers killed, the local sheriff said Thursday.
Pete Arredondo was told by a grand jury on 10 counts of felony child endangerment or abandonment and briefly booked into the county prison before he was released on bond, according to prison history.
The Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News examined that ex-school officer Adrian Gonzales also was indicted on numerous same charges. The Uvalde Leader-News examined that District Attorney Christina Mitchell confirmed the indictment.
Mitchell did not return mobile and email messages from The Associated Press gaining comment. Several household members of victims of the shooting did not react to mobile messages seeking comment.
The indictments were kept under private until the men were in custody. It was unclear when Arredondo’s indictment would be generally published.
Over two years ago, an 18-year-old gunman burned fire in a fourth-grade class, where he stayed for more than 70 minutes before officers confronted and slaughtered him. In total, 376 law enforcement officers massed at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, some waiting in the hallway outside the room, even as the gunman could be heard or seen firing an AR-15-style gun inside.
Whether any officers would face prisoner charges over their movements in Uvalde has been a question hanging over the town of 15,000 since the Texas Rangers completed their investigation and turned their search over to prosecutors.
Mitchell’s room has also come under scrutiny. Uvalde city officials filed a lawsuit in 2022 that accused prosecutors of not being visible and withholding records related to the shooting. Media outlets, containing the AP, also sued Uvalde officials for withholding history requested under general information laws.
Uvalde stays divided between residents who say they wish to move past the tragedy and others who still require answers and accountability. During the first mayoral race since the shooting, locals voted in a man who had provided as mayor more than a decade ago over a mother who led calls for tougher gun laws after her daughter was slaughtered in the attack.
Robb Elementary School is now permanently banned. The town broke ground on a latest school in October 2023.