Uvalde school leaders have canceled a Saturday meeting in which they were scheduled to consider firing district Police Chief Pete Arredondo for his role in the flawed response to the Robb Elementary School shooting, according to a news release from the school district Friday.
“In conformity with due process requirements, and at the request of his attorney, the meeting to consider the termination of Chief Arredondo will be held at a later date which has yet to be determined,” the release says.
Uvalde school Superintendent Hal Harrell had recommended Arredondo’s termination “for good cause,” according to the original agenda.
Officials also placed Arredondo on unpaid administrative leave until the board schedules another meeting to discuss his employment status. He had been on paid leave.
PREVIOUSLY: Uvalde school board to vote on firing police Chief Pete Arredondo after flawed shooting response
UPDATES: Uvalde committee releases Spanish translation of report on school shooting
Arredondo has been criticized for his actions on the day of the shooting by Uvalde residents, other law enforcement officials and state leaders. A special Texas House committee tasked with investigating the shooting determined that the school district chief failed to act quickly enough to shoot and kill the gunman. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the May 24 massacre.
Uvalde residents increasingly have called for Arredondo's removal after investigators said he erred by treating the law enforcement response as a "barricaded subject" instead of an active shooter and by initially responding to the scene without his radio.
The House committee determined that Arredondo assumed the role of incident commander at the scene, responsible for directing law enforcement officers. Arredondo has maintained that he did not know he was the incident commander.
The school board had been scheduled to take public comment Saturday before adjourning into executive session to discuss Arredondo’s employment.
At a Monday school board meeting, several parents urged the board to fire Arredondo and the other five school district officers, as well as Harrell and Robb Elementary Principal Mandy Gutierrez, after the House committee found that school employees left the school vulnerable to an intruder by leaving exterior doors unlocked and not fixing a broken lock on the classroom door where the gunman entered.
Arredondo has made few public statements about his actions but recently testified for five hours in private to the Texas House committee.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Uvalde shooting: School board delays meeting on police chief Arredondo
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