Uvalde school board votes unanimously to fire police chief Pete Arredondo

The Uvalde school board voted unanimously Wednesday evening to immediately terminate the contract of district police chief Pete Arredondo, three months after a teenaged gunman took the lives of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

The board made its decision in a closed session meeting lasting nearly an hour-and-a-half. Several members of the audience applauded after the decision was announced. One person was heard repeatedly shouting: "We're not done."

Arredondo didn't attend the meeting. His attorney instead issued a 17-page press statement that said the district wasn't following legal procedure as it moved to fire Arredondo and that the police chief was concerned about his safety.

In the statement, which came less than an hour before the meeting started, Arredondo's attorney George Hyde argued that a letter from the district suspending him without pay does not count as an official "complaint" required by law to consider termination.

"Chief Arredondo will not participate in his own illegal and unconstitutional public lynching and respectfully requests the Board immediately reinstate him, with all backpay and benefits and close the complaint as unfounded," the statement concludes.