UVALDE, Texas – Records from a 10-count indictment were released Friday in the case against former Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo.
Arredondo has been charged with abandoning/endangering a child, which is a state jail felony, Uvalde County District Clerk records show.
Each of the 10 counts is for children who survived the deadly attack at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed after a gunman entered the school and then the classrooms.
The indictment lists Arredondo as the incident commander of an incident involving an active shooter on a school campus that was under his control.
More specifically, under each count, the charge said that Arredondo, by act and omission intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, and with criminal negligence, placed a child younger than 15 years of age in imminent danger of bodily injury, death, physical impairment and mental impairment.
Some of the failures listed are failing to identify the incident as an active shooter incident, delaying response by law enforcement officers to an active shooter situation, failing to enforce an active shooter response plan developed by Uvalde Consolidated ISD, deciding to negotiate while the gunman was engaged in an active shooter incident and failing to timely provide keys and breaching tools to enter classrooms 111 and 112.
Arredondo turned himself in on Thursday and posted the $10,000 bond, officials confirmed to KSAT.
The charges come more than five months after a grand jury in Uvalde County was first impaneled to review the case for possible criminal charges.
Arredondo was fired months after the massacre.
Sources told KSAT that a second former UCISD police officer, Adrian Gonzales, was also indicted Thursday.
A Uvalde County official confirmed to KSAT that he has been booked into the Uvalde County Jail, but he has since bonded out of jail.
According to Gonzales’ indictment, which KSAT received on Friday, he is facing 29 charges in connection with his response to Robb Elementary School.
The Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office said each of Gonzales’ charges are for abandoning/endangering a child.
Nico LaHood, attorney for Adrian Gonzales, issued the following statement:
“Our firm represents Adrian Gonzales. He will be self-surrendering so the judicial process can move forward. It is very early on, in our representation, so we will be working to acquire the evidence, the government is relying on, in this accusation. Mr Gonzales’ position is he did not violate school district policy or state law. The application of this statute, to law enforcement, under these circumstances is unprecedented in the state of Texas. It will take time to evaluate these allegations and the underlying facts.”
Uvalde County’s District Attorney has yet to respond to multiple requests from KSAT seeking comment about the indictments.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, issued the following statement:
“What happened in Uvalde two years ago was unthinkable. Nearly 400 officers failed to confront a teenager with an AR-15 for 77 agonizing minutes, while children and teachers endured terror while officers armed to the teeth huddled in hallways and outside the building.
“The gross incompetence of the Texas Department of Public Safety and their cowardice will forever be a stain on this tragedy. The top law enforcement agency in the State of Texas must answer for grave errors in judgment and for lying every single day to the public about how the massacre unfolded.
“From falsely blaming a teacher for propping open a door to pinning the entire catastrophe on one ignorant officer, the Texas Department of Public Safety has done nothing in Uvalde but cover up for their abject failure.
“We must get to the core of the cover-up and have the truth, so that this never happens again. Every single officer that stood down that day must be held accountable, from Pete Arredondo all the way up to Steve McCraw. We can’t rest until we have justice.”
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