The police chief who was in charge when an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children and 2 teachers at an elementary school in the American town of Uvalde last month, has been sent home on paid leave. The school board where the police chief is employed reports this in a press release.
Robb Elementary School is part of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD), a school district that has its own police force. Since the fatal shooting, there has been a lot of criticism of the police officers and especially the police chief Pete Arredondo, who arrived minutes after the gunman entered the school. It took about 70 minutes before officers finally confronted the gunman and shot him dead.
Arredondo has previously told US media that they were waiting for a key to the classroom where the gunman had hidden and where students and teachers were present. The officers present would also not have had sufficient weapons and equipment to confront the shooter earlier.
Those arguments have been challenged in recent weeks, when released video images showed that agents with automatic weapons and bulletproof shields were in the school much earlier than said. Security images also show that the officers present never checked whether the classrooms were locked at all. If the officers present had confronted the gunman earlier, they could have saved lives, critics say.
The school board says that it has initially awaited the investigations into the state of affairs that are being carried out by various government bodies. But because there is “still no clarity” about the outcome of the investigations, the board has now decided to send Arredondo on leave for the time being.