Angry calls to fire Uvalde’s embattled school police chief swept through an auditorium Wednesday where school board members faced demands to make Pete Arredondo the first officer to lose his job over the fumbled response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School.
The school board fired Arredondo Wednesday, three months to the day after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history.
Arredondo was not in attendance but through his attorney released a blistering and defiant 17-page letter that lashed out at state officials, defended the police response to the May 24 massacre and accused the school board of putting his safety at risk by not allowing him to carry a weapon to the meeting.
Arredondo, who had previously been on administrative leave since June, has come under the most scrutiny for his actions during the May 24 tragedy. State police and a damning investigative report in July have criticized the police chief of the roughly 4,000-student school district for failing to take charge of the scene, not breaching the classroom sooner and wasting time by looking for a key to a likely unlocked door.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING
But a letter released by his attorney, George Hyde, accused the school district of not being prepared for an attacker and described the actions taken by Arrendondo and hundreds of other officers on the scene as “reasonable.”
Heavily armed law enforcement personnel arrived at the school within minutes of the attack, but police did not breach the classroom and confront the gunman for more than an hour.
“Chief Arredondo is a leader and a courageous officer who with all of the other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, should be celebrated for the lives saved, instead of vilified for those they couldn’t reach in time,” Hyde wrote.
Chief Arredondo is a leader and a courageous officer who with all of the other law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, should be celebrated for the lives saved instead of vilified for those they couldn't reach in time
George Hyde, Attorney to Pete Arredondo, Uvalde ISD Police Chief
Arredondo's attorney also added in the letter Uvalde ISD did not look to give the chief of police a security detail or the right to carry his weapon despite numerous death threats received.
"Despite knowledge of legitimate risks of harm to the public and to Chief Arredondo and all others intending to be present, the district deprives the Chief of his right to lawfully carry a weapon, while at the same time, fails to disclose any alternative and reliable safety measures," Hyde said.
Hyde added that Arredondo would not participate in the Board's meeting and requested his reinstatement, with backpay from his time of leave.
"Chief Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching and respectfully requests the board immediately reinstate him, with all back pay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded," Hyde said.
