Former Uvalde police chief's lawyer: 'This man has no criminal liability'
DALLAS - The fallout continues after former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo spoke out for the first time.
His lawyer took questions from reporters in Houston on Friday, saying his client may have made bad decisions but should not be held criminally responsible.
A day after CNN aired its interview with the former school police chief following the murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, lawyer Paul Looney took questions from the media.
"It’s tragic to try to cleanse the situation on the backs of somebody who did his dead-level best as Pete Arredondo did," he said.
That statement alone gives you an idea of how Arredondo's attorney plans to defend his client in court.
In Thursday's interview, Arredondo said he should not be the fall guy for the massive failure by law enforcement, and his attorney repeated that position.
"I’m not defending every decision he made. He doesn’t defend every decision he made," Looney said. "But I am saying is there is no theory under law where this man had criminal liability. Civil? Maybe, maybe not. But criminal? No way."
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Arredondo was in the first group of officers on scene. When they took fire from the gunman, they retreated.
It wasn’t until almost an hour later when law enforcement moved in, killing the shooter.
The Justice Department slammed the response and noted the top priority is always to stop the active shooter first even if that puts officers in danger.
Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales were both indicted in July on multiple counts of child endangerment. They are the only two law enforcement officers charged so far.
Brett Cross lost his son Uziyah Garcia in the shooting. He took to social media to respond to Arredondo’s statement that he avoids watching police video from inside the school.
"I have watched every single piece of footage that I can because those are my son’s last moments," Cross said. "So hard for you? You are not the one that wakes up every morning wishing they didn’t wake up because the pain is that f***ing hard!"
Looney said Arredondo thought because he was one of the first responders to the shooting, someone else would set up a command station. That did not happen.
"No, he did not. Is that a failure? Maybe it is," Looney said. "He is not there as a chief, he is there as a first responder.
As for what happens next…
"We have to make several decisions," Looney said. "One is if I have to file for a change of venue in this case."
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Looney also said Uvalde is Arredondo’s hometown. He wants to gain their trust back and has been selling BBQ to make ends meet since he lost his job.