A Uvalde County grand jury has indicted former school district police Chief Pete Arredondo and another former officer on child endangerment charges.
These are the first criminal charges brought against law enforcement over the failed response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
The charges come more than two years after the May 24, 2022 shooting, in which a lone gunman killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers.
The botched law enforcement response has been widely criticized, including in a U.S. Justice Department report. That report documented failures in leadership, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland noted that lives could have been saved had law enforcement acted sooner.
In the months following the shooting, about a dozen officers were fired, suspended or retired. Arredondo was fired about three months after the shooting. He was listed as incident commander on the school district’s active shooter response plan.
Parents and Uvalde residents have been asking for accountability for the officers involved for over a year.