How charges against 2 Uvalde school police officers are still leaving some families frustrated

Austin, Texas — Two charges have been filed against former school police officers in Uvalde, Texas first costs filed against law enforcement over the botched response in which hundreds of officers waited more than an hour to confront an 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

For some Uvalde families, who have spent the past two years demanding police accountability, the charges brought a mix of relief and frustration. Some question why more officers haven’t been charged for waiting to enter classrooms, where some victims were dying or begging for help, in order to end their lives more quickly. one of the worst school shootings in American history.

Former Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former Officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted by a Uvalde County grand jury on June 26 on multiple counts of child abuse and abandonment for their actions and failure to confront the shooter. They were among the first of nearly 400 federal, state and local officers to descend on the school that day.

“I want everyone who stood in the hallway to be charged for failing to protect the most innocent of people,” said Velma Duran, whose sister Irma Garcia was among the slain teachers. “My sister put her body in front of those children to protect them, something they could have done. They had the resources and the tools to do it. My sister had her body.”

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell has not said whether any other officers will be charged or whether the grand jury’s work is done.

Here are some things to know about the criminal investigation into the police response:

The gunman stormed the school on May 24, 2022, killing his victims in two classrooms.

More than 370 officers arrived on the scene but waited more than 70 minutes to confront the gunman, even though he could be heard shooting an AR-15-style rifle.

Terrified students in classrooms called 911 as anguished parents begged for intervention from officers, some of whom could hear gunshots as they stood in a hallway. A tactical team of officers eventually entered the classroom and killed the shooter.

Destructive stands And federal Investigative reports on the police response have cataloged a succession of ‘failures’ in training, communication, leadership and technological issues.

The indictment against Arredondowhich the commander was on site the shootingaccused the chief of delaying the police response despite hearing shots and being informed that there were injured children in the classrooms and that a teacher had been shot.

Arredondo called for a SWAT team, ordered the initially responding officers to leave the building and attempted to negotiate with the 18-year-old gunman, the complaint said. The grand jury said it found his actions to be criminal negligence.

Gonzales was accused of abandoning his training and not confronting the gunman even after hearing shots while standing in the hallway.

All charges are state prison crimes that, if convicted, could result in a prison sentence of up to two years.

Arredondo said in a 2022 interview with the Texas Tribune that he was trying to “eliminate any threats and protect the students and staff.” Gonzalez’s attorney on Friday called the charges “unprecedented in the state of Texas” and said the officer believes he violated no laws or school district policies.

The first U.S. law enforcement officer ever to be tried for allegedly failing to act during a campus shooting was a Florida campus sheriff’s deputy who failed to enter the classroom to confront the perpetrator of the 2018 Parkland massacre. The deputy, who was fired, was acquitted of misdemeanor neglect last year. A lawsuit by the families of the victims and survivors is pending.

The families are seeking accountability from authorities in other state and federal courts. Several have filed multiple civil lawsuits.

Two days before the second anniversary of the shooting, the families of 19 victims filed a complaint. $500 million lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the botched response. The lawsuit accuses the officers of not following their active shooter training and failing to confront the shooter. The highest-ranking Department of Public Safety official named as a defendant is South Texas Regional Director Victor Escalon.

The same families also reached a $2 million settlement with the city, with city leaders promising higher standards for hiring and training local police.

On May 24, a group of families came Meta Platforms Suedowner of Instagram, and creator of the video game Call of Duty, claims the companies are responsible for the weapons used by the teenage shooter.

They also filed a lawsuit against gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, the maker of the AR-style rifle used by the shooter.