AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas decide on Thursday refused to throw out legal prices accusing the previous Uvalde faculties police chief of placing kids in danger throughout the gradual response to the 2022 Robb Elementary College taking pictures, whereas a lawyer for his co-defendant stated they need to transfer the upcoming trial out of the small city the place the bloodbath occurred.
At a court docket listening to in Uvalde, Choose Sid Harle rejected Pete Arredondo’s declare that was he improperly charged and that solely the shooter was chargeable for placing the victims in peril. Nineteen kids and two academics had been killed within the taking pictures on Could 24, 2022.
Harle additionally set an Oct. 20, 2025, trial date. An legal professional for Arredondo’s co-defendant, former Uvalde faculties police officer Adrian Gonzales, stated he’ll ask for the trial to be moved out of Uvalde as a result of his shopper can not get a good trial there. Uvalde County is generally rural with fewer than 25,000 residents about 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of San Antonio.
“All people is aware of all people,” in Uvalde, Gonzales legal professional Nico LaHood stated.
Each former officers attended the listening to.
Almost 400 legislation enforcement brokers rushed to the college however waited greater than 70 minutes to confront and kill the gunman in a fourth-grade classroom. Arredondo and Gonzales are the one two officers dealing with prices – a incontrovertible fact that has raised complaints from some victims’ households.
Each males have pleaded not responsible to a number of counts of abandoning or endangering a baby, every of which carry punishment of as much as two years in jail. Gonzales has not requested the decide to dismiss his prices.
A federal investigation of the taking pictures recognized Arredondo because the incident commander in cost, though he has argued that state police ought to have arrange a command publish exterior the college and brought management. Gonzales was among the many first officers to reach on the scene. He was accused of abandoning his coaching and never confronting the shooter, even after listening to gunshots as he stood in a hallway.
Arredondo has stated he was scapegoated for the halting police response. The indictment alleges he didn’t comply with his lively shooter coaching and made crucial selections that slowed the police response whereas the gunman was “looking” his victims.
It alleges that as an alternative of confronting the gunman instantly, Arredondo brought about delays by telling officers to evacuate a hallway to attend for a SWAT staff, evacuating college students from different areas of the constructing first, and making an attempt to barter with the shooter whereas victims contained in the classroom had been wounded and dying.
Arredondo’s attorneys say the hazard that day was not attributable to him, however by the shooter. They argued Arredondo was blamed for making an attempt to avoid wasting the lives of the opposite kids within the constructing, and have warned that prosecuting him would open many future legislation enforcement actions to related prices.
“Arredondo did nothing to place these kids within the path of a gunman,” stated Arredondo legal professional Matthew Hefti.
Uvalde County prosecutors informed the decide Arredondo acted recklessly.
“The state has alleged he’s completely conscious of the hazard of the youngsters,” stated assistant district legal professional Invoice Turner.
Jesse Rizo, the uncle of 9-year-old Jacklyn Cazares who was killed within the taking pictures, was one in all a number of relations of victims on the listening to.
“To me, it is hurtful and painful to listen to Arredondo’s attorneys attempt to persuade the decide to get the costs dismissed,” Rizo stated.
He known as the watch for a trial exhausting and questioned whether or not shifting the trial would assist the protection.
“The longer it takes, the longer the agony,” Rizo stated. “I feel what’s occurred in Uvalde … you may most likely get a greater probability at conviction if it is moved. To carry their very own accountable goes to be very troublesome.”
The bloodbath at Robb Elementary was one of many worst college shootings in U.S. historical past, and the legislation enforcement response has been broadly condemned as a large failure.
Almost 150 U.S. Border Patrol brokers, 91 state law enforcement officials, as nicely and faculty and metropolis police rushed to the campus. Whereas terrified college students and academics known as 911 from inside lecture rooms, dozens of officers stood within the hallway making an attempt to determine what to do. Greater than an hour later, a staff of officers breached the classroom and killed the gunman.
Inside days of the taking pictures, the main target of the gradual response turned on Arredondo, who was described by different responding businesses because the incident commander in cost.
A number of federal and state investigations have laid naked cascading issues in legislation enforcement coaching, communication, management and expertise, and questioned whether or not officers prioritized their very own lives over these of kids and academics. A number of victims or their households have filed a number of state and federal lawsuits.
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