AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Two former Uvalde school district police officers, including the former chief, have been indicted on felony charges of child endangerment and abandonment for their roles in response to the second-worst mass shooting in American history.
It marks the first criminal charges in the highly-scrutinized police response to the May 2022 shooting, in which an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers.
Former Uvalde CISD police officer Adrian Gonzales was booked and released on 29 counts abandoning and endangering a child on Friday. Former Uvalde CISD police chief Pete Arredondo was been booked and released on 10 counts of child endangerment on Thursday. Both men turned themselves in to the Uvalde County jail and were released on $10,000 surety bonds, according to county records.
Nearly 376 law enforcement officers responded from a slew of local, state and federal agencies during and in the aftermath of the May 2022 shooting. It took officers approximately 77 minutes to breach the classroom and take down the gunman. The gunman was ultimately shot and killed by Border Patrol officers.