The former Uvalde schools police chief and another former officer have been indicted over their role in the slow police response to the 2022 massacre in a Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to multiple reports Thursday.

The Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News reported former schools police Chief Pete Arredondo and former officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment. The Uvalde Leader-News reported that District Attorney Christina Mitchell confirmed the indictment.

The Austin American-Statesman also reported two former officers had been indicted but did not identify them.

Mitchell did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. Several family members of victims of the shooting did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The indictments would make Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack, and Gonzales the first officers to face criminal charges in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. A scathing report by Texas lawmakers that examined the police response described Gonzales as one of the first officers to enter the building after the shooting began.

The indictments were kept under seal until the men were in custody, and both were expected to turn themselves in by Friday, the news outlets reported.

The indictments come more than two years after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire in a fourth grade classroom, where he remained for more than 70 minutes before officers confronted and killed him. In total, 376 law enforcement officers massed at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, some waiting in the hallway outside the classroom, even as the gunman could be heard firing an AR-15-style rifle inside.

The officer of a former attorney for Arredondo said they did not know whether the former chief has new representation. The AP could not immediately find a phone number to reach Gonzales.

Arredondo lost his job three months later. Several officers involved were eventually fired, and separate investigations by the Department of Justice and state lawmakers faulted law enforcement with botching their response to the massacre. A 600-page Justice Department report released in January that catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems that day.

by: Joshua Fechter, Texas Tribune, Emily Foxhall, Texas Tribune

Posted: Jun 27, 2024 / 10:57 AM CDT

Updated: Jun 27, 2024 / 01:11 PM CDT

AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Richard “Kinky” Friedman — the provocative and flamboyant Texas satirist who mounted a spirited campaign for governor in 2006 — has died. He was 79.

Friedman died at his longtime home at Echo Hill Ranch in Medina, his friends Cleve Hattersley said in an interview and Kent Perkins said on social media. He had Parkinson’s disease, Hattersley said.

Friedman ran for governor against Republican incumbent Rick Perry in 2006. Despite a colorful campaign and heavy media attention, Friedman finished fourth in the race. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for agriculture commissioner in 2010 and in 2014.

Friedman was known for his outsized persona, pithy one-liners and signature look: curly hair poking out from beneath a black cowboy hat, cigar in hand.

“He was a communicator. An unusual, but very pointed and poignant communicator,” Hattersley said. “He could bring you to tears on stage. He could make you roll on the floor in laughter.”

Friedman gained a reputation as a provocateur. In the early 1970s, he formed the satirical country band Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys — which penned songs like “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.” Later, he published novels that often featured a fictionalized version of himself, including “Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola” and “Armadillos and Old Lace.”

In politics, Friedman staked out unusual positions at the time for someone seeking statewide office in Texas, like legalization of marijuana and casino gambling. He supported same-sex marriage in 2006, long before the Supreme Court legalized it nationally, quipping, “I support gay marriage because I believe they have right to be just as miserable as the rest of us.”

Hattersley said Friedman’s irreverence gave voice to more ideas.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/27/kinky-friedman-dies-texas-governor-race-musician/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

June 26 (UPI) — Charges filed against 79 pro-Palestinian protesters, who were arrested in April at the University of Texas at Austin campus, will be dismissed, according to prosecutors who attracted praise from Muslim and free speech advocates.

Travis County Attorney Delia Garza made the announcement Wednesday during a press conference explaining the decision was based on a number of factors, including whether they would be able to obtain a conviction by a jury.

“After weighing all the evidence, we cannot meet our legal burden to prove these 79 criminal trespass cases beyond a reasonable doubt and they will be dismissed,” she said.

The protest erupted at the school as many had at universities across the United States and Canada in support of Palestinians and in criticism of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The protesters were generally demanding that their schools divest from Israel and companies that support its military.

On April 29, law enforcement officers rounded up protesters who were demonstrating on the South Lawn of the UT-Austin campus in a police action directed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and at the request for assistance by the school. The school said some were arrested for criminal trespass while other were arrested for disorderly conduct.

Abbott has been a vocal critic of the protesters, calling for demonstrators to be arrested and describing their demonstration as “hate-filled” and “anti-Semitic.”

The arrests on April 29 came days after more than two dozen protesting on campus were arrested.

The local Palestine Solidarity Committee behind the protest accused Abbott and the police of violating their First Amendment rights. Garza on Wednesday seemingly chastised the Republican governor for his actions that day.

“The decisions that were made in response to these protests continue to show, as I’ve said before, the severe lack of leadership we expect from our leaders, as they continue to prioritize extreme government overreach over actual public safety,” she said.

This is the second time Garza has dismissed charges filed against protesters arrested that day, with the first batch being thrown out shortly after the police action on the grounds of lacking probable cause.

She told reporters that the charges dismissed Wednesday were all for criminal trespass and that some cases resulting from April’s arrest are still under review.

“The decision is a relief for the students, their families and civil rights and free speech organizations,” Shaimaa Zayan, Austin operations manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement.

“We hope that the dismissal of these charges will prompt the UT Austin administration to reconsider any disciplinary actions against the students. Attorney Garza’s statement highlighted the undue influence of the governor and the UT Austin administration in the arrests. We share her wish that the situation had been handled differently.”

UPI has contacted both UT-Austin and Austin’s branch of the Palestine Solidarity Committee for comment.

Late last week, Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dismissed charges laid against 31 of 46 pro-Palestinians charged with trespassing in connection to last month’s demonstrations inside Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall.

The office said 14 of the defendants were offered to have their charges dismissed if they avoided arrest over the next six months, an offer the demonstrators rejected.