Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo was fired by the school board Wednesday evening following a unanimous vote in a closed-door meeting. He did not attend, citing a fear of “gun violence.”
CNN reported Arredondo’s contract was terminated following a meeting he refused to attend after he called it “illegal” and a “lynching” in a statement through an attorney.
An excerpt of the lengthy statement reads:
Quote:
No blame should be placed on Chief Arredondo from this event. None of his decisions or actions demonstrate a failure to meet the accepted standards of conduct for law enforcement officers in similarly situated school districts in Texas.
Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal lynching and respectfully requests the Board immediately reinstate him, with all backpay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded.
Arredondo presided over an active shooter scene in May at Robb Elementary School where an armed gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. His officers did not act to stop the shooting.
Multiple law enforcement agencies on scene stood idly by as the massacre went on unabated for more than an hour.
The school district chief has been under the microscope since the week of the shooting.
The deadliest school shooting in Texas history only ended when highly-trained Border Patrol agents acted alone to take out the shooter.
In the statement via his attorney, Arredondo argued he had received “death threats” and said the shooter, and only the shooter, was to blame.
He also argued that, without being permitted to carry his service firearm to the Wednesday’s meeting, he did not feel safe.
The statement reads:
Quote:
The last thing anyone wants is for these proceedings to be compounded by violence, especially gun violence. Despite death threats being common knowledge, the School District has not disclosed any effort on its part to ensure the safety of Chief Arredondo, his legal counsel, or any of the pubic in attendance under such tense circumstances.
Without such steps, Chief Arredondo does not believe the planned district meeting is safe and is certainly not going to appear without exercising his state rights to be armed, unless the School District discloses in writing its safety protocol to ensure Chief Arredondo’s life and the lives of those in attendance, including both the Board, its Superintendent, and the media.
Gotta say, "I can't show up unless I'm armed for my own protection" when you're being accused of failing to protect a room full of school children who were killed while you stood around heavily armed is a bold strategy.
24 Aug 2022, 8:22 pm
