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Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was placed on administrative leave Wednesday, according to the district.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell made the decision “because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations.”
Harrell had previously said that he would wait until the investigations were complete before making any personnel decisions.
“Today, I am still without details of the investigations being conducted by various agencies,” Harrell wrote.
Arredondo testified behind closed doors Tuesday to a Texas House committee seeking to understand the timeline of what took place on May 24 at Robb Elementary School.
The district’s announcement comes a day after the Uvalde City Council voted unanimously to not grant a leave of absence for Arredondo. Arredondo was elected to City Council earlier this year, and was sworn in during a private ceremony the week after the shooting. He has not made a public appearance or been to a City Council meeting yet. If he misses another meeting, a third consecutive, he could be removed from the City Council.
Uvalde Police Chief Response labeled an “Abject Failure”
At a state Senate hearing Tuesday morning, Col. Steve McCraw, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, called the Uvalde response by law enforcement an “abject failure”.
McCraw placed the blame on “the on-scene commander”, who was Arredondo at the time.
“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112, was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.
Parents and community members have long-called for the firing of Arredondo for his role in the response to last month’s shooting.
Almost a month after the shooting, there seems to be more questions than answers surrounding the tragedy of that day.
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