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The Uvalde school board on Wednesday night fired school district police Chief Pete Arredondo, a move that comes three months to the day after the mass shooting at an elementary school that claimed the lives of 21 victims.
Arredondo has been the focus of much of the scrutiny and blame for law enforcement’s 77-minute delay in confronting the gunman who shot and killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24 at Robb Elementary School.
Arredondo did not attend the meeting. Instead, his attorney released a 17-page statement Wednesday evening, arguing that all of Arredondo’s actions on May 24 were consistent with active shooter training and that „Chief Arredondo did the right thing.“
„Any allegation of lack of leadership is wholly misplaced,“ the statement says. „The complaint that an officer should have rushed the door, believed to be locked, to open it up without a shield capable of stopping an AR-15 bullet, without breaching tools … is tantamount to suicide.“
However, his statement also cites active shooter protocol from the International Association of Police Chiefs, which says that „immediate action by officers at the scene is necessary when such actions are deemed reasonable to prevent further injuries or loss of life.“
State investigators have found that the door was never locked and there was no video evidence that any officer tried simply opening the door.
In total, 376 officers responded to the deadly shooting, including 149 U.S. Border Patrol agents, 91 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and five Uvalde school district officers.
