SAN ANTONIO — Pete Arredondo pleaded not guilty to criminal charges filed against him last month in connection with the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, county officials confirmed to KENS 5, as proceedings against him gain momentum more than two years later.
According to the district clerk, Arredondo filed the waiver of arraignment carrying his plea on Monday, but a next court date has not yet been set. He faces 10 counts of endangering/abandoning a child.
Arredondo was chief of police for Uvalde CISD at the time of the May 2022 shooting in which 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman. He's been repeatedly cited in reports detailing a failed law enforcement response at the school and was fired later that summer.
He and another former Uvalde schools police officer, Adrian Gonzales, were indicted on June 28—the first taste of the level of accountability families of Robb victims have been fighting for since 2022. Both were booked into the Uvalde County jail and released.
Gonzales, who was indicted on 29 counts of endangering/abandoning a child, also intends to plead not guilty when he appears in court next week, according to his attorney.
Many first responders to the Robb shooting scene were seen in the hallway for more than an hour before entering the classroom where the gunman was with the victims. Uvalde City Council earlier this year released a reporter clearing city police of wrongdoing.
The grand jury was originally convened by local prosecutor Christina Mitchell in January and has spent nearly six months reviewing a trove of evidence in the case, including both oral and written statements.