Former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo is scheduled to stand trial on February 22, 2027, on charges that he endangered students during the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, according to ABC News.
Judge Sid Harle set the tentative date during a brief court conference Friday. Arredondo faces 10 counts of endangering students. Prosecutors allege he ignored his training by waiting approximately 77 minutes before agents stormed a classroom and killed the gunman. Nineteen students and two teachers died in the attack on May 24, 2022, the last day of school that year.
The trial date remains tentative. Ongoing civil litigation seeks to force agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol Tactical Unit to testify about their role in neutralizing the shooter. Both Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell and Arredondo have filed federal lawsuits to compel those federal agents to cooperate with investigators.
Arredondo's attorney, Paul Looney, told ABC News that both sides hope the trial date could push forward the resolution of those civil lawsuits. "We are both doing everything we can," Looney said.
Arredondo has pleaded not guilty. His defense argues he followed his training and that he did not consider himself the incident commander that day, even though investigators concluded he was. Looney also told ABC News that he believes the case against Arredondo is weaker than the prosecution that failed earlier this year against former school police officer Adrian Gonzales, who was acquitted on similar charges after a three-week trial.
That acquittal hit victims' families hard. Jacinto Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jackie died in the shooting, spoke after the Gonzales verdict in January. "We had a little hope, but it wasn't enough," Cazares said. "Again, we are failed. I don't even know what to say."
Judge Harle is also weighing whether Arredondo's trial should be moved out of Uvalde, as was considered in the Gonzales case.
