Uvalde School District Puts Police Chief on Leave

The Uvalde school district's police chief was put on leave Wednesday following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School last month. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said that he put Pete Arredondo on administrative leave and that another officer would assume the embattled chief's duties. In a statement, Harrell did not give a reason for removing Arredondo, the AP reports, but he said it remains unclear when district officials will know the outcome of the investigation into the shooting.

Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a state Senate hearing on Tuesday that Arredondo—the on-site commander—made "terrible decisions" as the massacre unfolded on May 24 and that the police response was an "abject failure." Arredondo has said he didn't consider himself in charge of the response to the shooting, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed.

(More Uvalde mass shooting stories.)