Pete Aredondo, Uwalde’s school police chief, was released on administrative leave Wednesday, the school’s chief said. The action is effective immediately.
Dr Hal Harel said in a statement that although the county wanted to wait for the investigation into law enforcement responses to the deadly mass shooting to end before making any decision, he continued and left Aredondo on leave “for lack of remaining clarity “and” unknown moment “when the investigation will end.
Lieutenant Mike Hernandez will play the role while Aredondo is on leave, Harel said.
Aredondo was met with intense criticism after the May 24 shooting, which killed 19 students and two teachers. He was responsible for law enforcement response that day, and investigations revealed several failures, including that police were able to shoot the shooter within three minutes of his arrival at the school and instead left him at the school for more than an hour. Police also never checked that the door to the classroom where the attacker was hiding was locked.
Not only was Aredondo facing questioning, but the subsequent investigation into the reaction to the shooting also raised red flags, with many feeling confused about what actually happened that day.
Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Texas Department of Public Safety, accusing state soldiers of not sharing information with the public, but instead pointing fingers at Uwalde’s school police.
“They want to give us body camera footage from the local police, but they want to keep their own body camera footage,” Gutierrez told Texas State Forces. “Yesterday we found out that there are 91 employees from the public safety department on site.
Uwalde Mayor Don McLaughlin has blamed state authorities, which he says are responsible for keeping citizens in the dark.
McLaughlin told CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca that he was last informed by the DPS on the morning of May 25, the day after the shooting.
“I contacted them every day. I don’t get anything from them,” McLaughlin said.
The search for answers made community members and families feel lost in the struggle to find answers. Javier Casares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jacqueline was killed, said the mixed reports from officials were disappointing and hurtful.
The news comes as state lawmakers continue to focus on the mental health and safety of weapons after a shooting.
McGraw said Tuesday that the shooter was “on the verge of violence” as he left high school at 17 and asked a member of his family to buy a gun for him. Also Tuesday, McLaughlin promised that no student or teacher of Uwalde’s would ever set foot in Rob’s primary school again, saying he thought the building would be demolished.
School shooting in Uwald, Texas
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Omar Villafranca is a Dallas-based CBS News correspondent.
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