The Uvalde college district’s embattled police chief was fired Wednesday following allegations that he made a number of important errors throughout the mass capturing at Robb Elementary College that left 19 college students and two academics lifeless.

In a unanimous vote that arrived after months of indignant requires his ouster, the Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District’s board of trustees fired Pete Arredondo in an auditorium of fogeys and survivors of the Could 24 bloodbath. His ouster got here three months to the day after one of many deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. historical past.

Cheers from the group adopted the vote, and a few dad and mom walked out in tears.

“Coward!” dad and mom yelled in a Uvalde auditorium because the assembly bought underway.

Arredondo, who has been on go away from the district since June 22, has come below the most intense scrutiny of the practically 400 officers who rushed to high school however waited greater than an hour to confront the 18-year-old gunman in a fourth-grade classroom.

Most notably, Arredondo was criticized for not ordering officers to behave sooner. Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Division of Public Security, has stated Arredondo was accountable for the regulation enforcement response to the assault.

Arredondo was not in attendance together with his profession on the road.

As an alternative, minutes earlier than the assembly of the Uvalde college board bought underway, Arredondo’s lawyer launched a scathing 4,500-word letter that amounted to the police chief’s fullest protection up to now of his actions. Over 17 defiant pages, Arredondo just isn’t the fumbling college police chief who a damning state investigation blamed for not taking command and wasted time by searching for keys to a possible unlocked door, however a courageous officer whose level-headed choices saved the lives of different college students.

It alleges that Arrendondo warned the district about quite a lot of safety points within the colleges a 12 months earlier than the capturing and asserted he wasn’t accountable for the scene. The letter additionally accused Uvalde college officers of placing his security in danger by not letting him carry a weapon to the varsity board assembly, citing “official dangers of hurt to the general public and to Chief Arredondo.”

“Chief Arredondo is a pacesetter and a brave officer who with the entire different regulation enforcement officers who responded to the scene, ought to be celebrated for the lives saved, as a substitute of vilified for these they could not attain in time,” Hyde wrote.

Uvalde college officers have been below mounting stress from victims’ households and members of the neighborhood, lots of whom have known as for Arredondo’s termination. Superintendent Hal Harrell had first moved to fireplace Arredondo in July however postponed the choice on the request of the police chief’s lawyer.

Amongst these on the assembly was Ruben Torres, father of Chloe Torres, who survived the capturing in room 112 of the varsity. He stated that as a former Marine, he took an oath that he faithfully executed willingly, and didn’t perceive why officers didn’t take motion when management failed.

“Proper now, being younger, she is having a tough time dealing with this horrific occasion,” Torres stated.

Arredondo is the primary officer dismissed over the hesitant and fumbling regulation enforcement response to the Could 24 tragedy. Just one different officer — Uvalde Police Division Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was the town’s performing police chief on the day of bloodbath — is understood to have been positioned on go away for his or her actions throughout the capturing.

The Texas Division of Public Security, which had greater than 90 state troopers on the scene, has additionally launched an inner investigation into the response by state police.

Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott introduced that the state Division of Public Security will present at the very least 30 further regulation enforcement officers to Uvalde public college campuses.  “We should guarantee college students, dad and mom, and all devoted college personnel can look ahead to new alternatives to be taught and develop,” Abbott stated in a press release. “Texas will maintain working to offer all obtainable help and assets to the Uvalde neighborhood as they proceed to heal.”

College officers have stated the campus at Robb Elementary will not be used. As an alternative, campuses elsewhere in Uvalde will function non permanent lecture rooms for elementary college college students, not all of whom are prepared to return to high school in-person following the capturing.

College officers say a digital academy shall be supplied for college students. The district has not stated what number of college students will attend just about, however a brand new state regulation handed final 12 months in Texas following the pandemic limits the variety of eligible college students receiving distant instruction to “10% of all enrolled college students inside a given college system.”

Faculties can search a waiver to exceed the restrict however Uvalde has not accomplished so, in keeping with Melissa Holmes, a spokeswoman for the Texas Training Company.

New measures to enhance college security in Uvalde embody “8-foot, non-scalable perimeter fencing” at elementary, center and highschool campuses, in keeping with the varsity district. Officers say they’ve additionally put in further safety cameras, upgraded locks, enhanced coaching for district employees and bettering communication.

Nonetheless, in keeping with the district’s personal progress studies, as of Tuesday no fencing had been erected at six of the eight campuses the place it was deliberate, and cameras had solely been put in at the highschool. Some progress had been made on locks at three of eight campuses, and communication enchancment was marked as half full for every campus.

Uvalde CISD didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.