|
Listen now
|
A police chief accused of botching the response to the fatal shooting of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, has been sacked.
The local school board voted unanimously to fire Pete Arredondo, who had been on leave since June.
His lawyers said in a written statement that he had been unaware anyone was inside the classrooms with the shooter.
The firing came three months to the day since the attack and two weeks before the new school term begins.
The attack at Robb Elementary School on 24 May was the deadliest US school shooting in nearly a decade.
Many parents and relatives have expressed deep anger at the police response and there has been growing pressure for law enforcements to be held accountable.
Mr Arredondo has taken the brunt of criticism for officers’ 77-minute delay in confronting the teenage gunman, and is the first officer to be dismissed.
Cheering was heard in the auditorium as Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s board of trustees filed the motion to remove him from his post immediately.
As Wednesday evening’s meeting began, some in the audience shouted: “Coward!”
School pupil Caitlin Gonzalez, who survived the shooting, said her message for Mr Arredondo was: “Turn in your badge and step down.”
Lawyers for Mr Arredondo – who was not at the meeting – called him “a courageous officer” and his firing “an unconstitutional public lynching.”