(NewsNation) — The lawyer for Pete Arredondo, the former police chief for the Uvalde school district in Texas, said at a news conference Friday that he wants the case against his client thrown out as “illegal prosecution of police.”
Arredondo and former Uvalde schools police Officer Adrian Gonzales pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of child endangerment and abandonment. They are the only two people charged over their actions on the day of the shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 19 students and two teachers.
Law enforcement’s response to the shooting was widely condemned. Nearly 400 local, state and federal officers responded to the scene on May 24, 2022, and waited more than an hour to confront the gunman, even as children called 911 and parents begged authorities to go in.
The indictment against Arredondo states that he didn’t follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was “hunting” victims.
Attorney Paul Looney said Arredondo was charged under a “novel theory of criminality that only makes matters tragically worse than they would have been.” Instead of pointing the finger at Arredondo, Looney said, authorities should look into improving police protocols.
“The protocols failed the situation,” Looney told reporters, claiming his client wasn’t at fault.
During a CNN interview that aired Thursday, Arredondo said he’s “been scapegoated from the very beginning.” These were his first public remarks in the two years since the shooting.
Arredondo said on CNN the idea that he was responsible for the police response, or that he ignored his training, is based on “lies and deception.”
“If you look at the bodycam footage, there was no hesitation — there was no hesitation in myself and the first handful of officers that went in there and went straight into the hot zone, as you may call it, and took fire,” Arredondo said.
State police, Arredondo said, should have taken control and set up a command post outside the school.
“The guidebook tells you the incident commander does not stand in the hallway and get shot at,” Arredondo. “The incident commander is someone who is not in the hot zone.”
On Friday, Looney also said that someone else “outside the door, outside the fire zone” should have set up a command post.
Arredondo’s comments did not sit well with the parents of the victims.
“To claim that you’re a scapegoat, that you did no wrong, is absolutely appalling,” Brett Cross, father of Uziyah Garcia, one of the 19 children killed, said to KENS5. “…The fact of the matter is he (Arredondo) was one of the first on scene and in active shooter training, you are taught to stop the shooting, stop the killing, something that he did not do.”
One comment Arredondo made, that the students who died were “(his) children too,” infuriated Cross, according to KENS5.
“Saying that they’re your kids, that is insulting my child,” Cross said.
Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jacklyn Cazares died, criticized Arredondo’s comments as well.
“I don’t understand his feeling that there was no wrongdoing. He heard the shots. There’s no excuse for not going in,” Cazares told The Associated Press. “There were children. Shots were fired. Kids were calling, and he didn’t do anything.”
Currently, Arredondo is “selling barbecue” and “making the best living he can” given the circumstances, Looney said.
As for the trial, Looney said the defense team has a mountain of discovery and several decisions to make, including whether to file for a change of venue, or how fast to push for an expedited trial — if at all.
“I’m balancing all that,” Looney said, with the need to protect Arredondo from a prosecution that the lawyer says shouldn’t be happening.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
