The former police chief of the Uvalde school district in the southern Texas city of Uvalde has been charged with child endangerment more than two years after a school shooting in the city, multiple US media outlets reported Thursday.
In May 2022, a man armed with an assault rifle burst into an elementary school in Uvalde, killing 19 children aged 9 to 10, and two teachers aged 44 and 48.
In the aftermath, the delay in police intervention to stop the massacre provoked anger and incomprehension, with the 19 officers on site awaiting the assault by a specialist unit.
Pete Arredondo, 52, was charged with abandonment and child endangerment, several American media announced, citing judicial sources. Along with Pete Arredondo, former school police officer Adrian Gonzales was also named in the indictment, CNN reported.
A prison official declined to comment to AFP and the prison did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In January 2024, the US Department of Justice acknowledged a “cascade of failures” in the response of law enforcement in this shooting.
In the wake of the Uvalde massacre, along with other mass shootings that shocked the country, Congress passed a bill that imposed new gun restrictions, the most sweeping in nearly 30 years but far short of what President Joe Biden wanted. In May, the families of the children killed and injured in the shootings reached a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde.
