School police chief fired over mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas

The police chief of the Uvalde, Texas, school district has been fired by the school board for failing to handle the shooting rampage in May that killed 19 students and two teachers.

The firing of Pete Arredondo at a board hearing on Wednesday came three months to the day after the May 24 shooting at the Robb Elementary School. He had been suspended about two months ago.

Shortly before the unanimous vote by the board, Arredondo requested in a statement through his lawyer to be reinstated.

"Chief Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching and respectfully requests the board immediately reinstate him, with all backpay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded," George Hyde said in a 17-page statement.

He argued in the statement that all of Arredondo's actions on May 24 were consistent with active-shooter training and that, "Arredondo did the right thing."

Arredondo didn't attend the hearing, citing concerns over death threats made against him, according to The Texas Tribune. About 100 parents and grandparents attended the hearing.

"Anyone here think that Pete did not do anything wrong? He wants to be reinstated and paid; he wants his job back," Vicente Salazar, whose granddaughter was killed in the shooting, said at the hearing. "Why is it that we have to put up with someone like that after we lost 19 children and two teachers? This has gone too far for too long. He should be terminated immediately, along with County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco and some other ones."

Close to 400 federal, state and local police officers responded to the shooting but failed to act for more than an hour. A Border Patrol tactical unit finally breached a classroom and shot and killed the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.

A Texas House committee report in June concluded that the school district's shooter policy called for Arredondo to act as the commander in any active shooter response, but he didn't. It also said he didn't have reliable communications with other law enforcements.

Hyde asserted that his client shouldn't have been assigned as the incident commander. He argued that the Uvalde County sheriff should have been in charge.

The result was a chaotic scene where the hundreds of police officers gathered without anyone obviously in charge and directing a response.

In the statement, Hyde said that Arredondo and other officers in the school hallway weren't aware children were inside the classroom with the shooter. Emergency 911 dispatchers fielded calls from children inside the classroom pleading to be rescued, but word of those calls apparently never reached officers on the scene.

Hyde also blamed problems at the Robb Elementary school for the tragedy, including an inadequate 5-foot fence and noncompliance by school personnel with door locking.

"If the school district would have prioritized chief Arredondo's request over a year prior to the incident, for key-card locks, better fencing, better training and more equipment, [it] could have been different," Hyde said in the statement.

Some families have filed lawsuits over the failed response by law enforcement. A California-based law firm is seeking $27 billion from a slew of entities, including the school district, City Council, all law enforcement agencies present at the shooting, and Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the AR-15-style rifle the shooter used.