Austin, TX
Charges against 2 Uvalde school officers are still leaving families frustrated
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two indictments against former Uvalde, Texas, schools police officers are the first charges brought against law enforcement for the botched response that saw hundreds of officers wait more than an hour to confront an 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
For some Uvalde families, who have spent the last two years demanding police accountability, the indictments brought a mix of relief and frustration. Several wonder why more officers have not been charged for waiting to go into the classroom, where some victims lay dying or begging for assistance, to help bring a quicker end to one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
Former Uvalde schools police Chief Pete Arredondo and former Officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted on June 26 by a Uvalde County grand jury on multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment over their actions and failure to immediately confront the shooter. They were among the first of nearly 400 federal, state and local officers who converged on the school that day.
“I want every single person who was in the hallway charged for failure to protect the most innocent,” said Velma Duran, whose sister Irma Garcia was one of the teachers killed. “My sister put her body in front of those children to protect them, something they could have done. They had the means and the tools to do it. My sister had her body.”
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell has not said if any other officers will be charged or if the grand jury’s work is done.
Here are some things to know about the criminal investigation into the police response:
The shooting
The gunman stormed into the school on May 24, 2022, and killed his victims in two classrooms.
More than 370 officers responded but waited more than 70 minutes to confront the shooter, even as he could be heard firing an AR-15-style rifle.
Terrified students inside the classrooms called 911 as agonized parents begged for intervention by officers, some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway. A tactical team of officers eventually went into the classroom and killed the shooter.
Scathing state and federal investigative reports on the police response have catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems.
The charges
The indictment against Arredondo, who was the on-site commander at the shooting, accused the chief of delaying the police response despite hearing shots fired and being notified that injured children were in the classrooms and a teacher had been shot.
Arredondo called for a SWAT team, ordered the initial responding officers to leave the building and attempted to negotiate with the 18-year-old gunman, the indictment said. The grand jury said it considered his actions criminal negligence.
Gonzales was accused of abandoning his training and not confronting the shooter, even after hearing gunshots as he stood in a hallway.
All the charges are state jail felonies that carry up to two years in jail if convicted.
Arredondo said in a 2022 interview with the Texas Tribune that he tried to “eliminate any threats, and protect the students and staff.” Gonzalez’s lawyer on Friday called the charges “unprecedented in the state of Texas” and said the officer believes he did not break any laws or school district policy.
The first U.S. law enforcement officer ever tried for allegedly failing to act during an on-campus shooting was a campus sheriff’s deputy in Florida who didn’t go into the classroom building and confront the perpetrator of the 2018 Parkland massacre. The deputy, who was fired, was acquitted of felony neglect last year. A lawsuit by the victims’ families and survivors is pending.
The lawsuits
The families are pursing accountability from authorities in other state and federal courts. Several have filed multiple civil lawsuits.
Two days before the two-year anniversary of the shooting, the families of 19 victims filed a $500 million lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who were part of the botched response. The lawsuit accuses the troopers of not following their active shooter training and not confronting the shooter. The highest ranking Department of Public Safety official named as a defendant is South Texas Regional Director Victor Escalon.
The same families also reached a $2 million settlement with the city under which city leaders promised higher standards for hiring and training local police.
On May 24, a group of families sued Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, and the maker of the video game Call of Duty over claims the companies bear responsibility for the weapons used by the teenage gunman.
They also filed another lawsuit against gun maker Daniel Defense, which made the AR-style rifle used by the gunman.
Austin, TX
Austin Police Department updates procedures after controversial deportation
AUSTIN, Texas — An update to the Austin Police Department’s (APD) procedures outlines that officers are not required to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when a person is found to have an ICE administrative warrant if they have no other arrestable charge.
The update follows a controversial deportation from January, when a woman’s disturbance call to APD led to her detainment, alongside her 5-year-old child, who is a U.S. citizen.
The incident led to questions from the community regarding the way APD is supposed to interact with ICE.
In a March 4 memo, APD Police Chief Lisa Davis said that the directives provided by ICE administrative warrants could be confusing in their wording.
According to Davis, officers have not historically regularly encountered administrative warrants while using the National Crime Information Center database, which is used to conduct identity checks. However, in 2025, federal agencies began entering a large volume of administrative warrants into the system.
According to the memo, administrative warrants are formatted in a way that looks similar to criminal warrants in the system.
The APD General Orders have been updated to clearly define the difference between criminal warrants and ICE administrative warrants, as well as specific instructions for how ICE administrative warrants should be handled moving forward.
“APD recognizes the sensitivity of this issue, not only within our city but across the nation. These policies were updated to provide clarity to our officers, ensure compliance with state law, and maintain officer discretion guided by supervisory oversight and operational consideration,” Davis said in the memo.
The updated procedures instruct officers to contact their supervisor when a person is found to have only an ICE administrative warrant, but no other arrestable criminal charge. From there, the officer or their supervisor may contact ICE, but is not required to.
“Austin Police and City of Austin leadership share a paramount goal for Austin to be a safe city for everyone who lives, works, or visits here,” Davis said in the memo. “We particularly want to ensure that anyone who witnesses or is the victim of a crime feels secure in contacting the police for help.”
According to the memo, the entire APD staff will be required to complete new training regarding these updates.
“In concert with the policy updates, APD is launching a public webpage to help people understand their rights and provide links to resources available from the City of Austin and community organizations, such as Know Your Rights training,” Davis said in the memo. “The webpage will also include information on the option of using APD Victim Services as an alternative to calling 9-1-1, when appropriate, and links to all general orders and policies related to immigration.”
Austin, TX
Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year
Austin, TX
Will the rest of Austin allergies seasons be as bad as cedar this year?
Austin had a particularly itchy and drippy cedar fever season to start the year. Many winter days, from late December into February, had high or very high ashe juniper (aka cedar) pollen counts.
Central Texas has a year-round allergy season with mold popping up at any time. For the more traditional spring and fall allergy seasons, forecasters at AccuWeather are predicting some of the allergens across the country will be worse this year than average.
Texas, though, is a different story.
For grass allergies, which happen now through September, AccuWeather estimates Austin will have an average season. However, just west of the Interstate 35 corridor in the Hill Country to almost El Paso, that season is expected to be worse than normal.
“Texas may experience above-average grass pollen for a few weeks,” AccuWeather’s allergy report said, “though the season could be shorter-lived compared to northern areas.”
It all depends on the weather
How much rain we get in the next six months and the perennial Texas heat will all affect the growing season for grasses and weeds, as well as the amount of pollen trees produce. The Farmers’ Almanac and the Old Farmers Almanac are both predicting a wetter and warmer spring.
Rain helps plants grow, which can increase pollen production over time. However, rainfall during allergy season can also bring temporary relief by washing pollen out of the air. That’s what we’re expecting this weekend, with our first meaningful rain chance in nearly three weeks. Tree and weed pollen levels might briefly drop, but mold could spike because it thrives in damp, humid weather.
If spring continues with excessive heat like we saw in February, it could limit the growth of some plants and trees. Extreme heat can reduce how much they grow, and how much pollen they produce. On the other hand, if we get a healthy balance of rain and only slightly above-normal temperatures — not extreme heat — pollen counts could climb. That’s especially true as we head into April, typically our windiest month of the year, which helps spread pollen more easily.
How can you treat allergies in Austin?
If you are feeling the effects of allergies, here are some things you can do to lessen them:
- Start taking allergy medication at least two weeks before your allergen’s season is supposed to start. Keep taking your allergy medication throughout your allergen’s season, even on low-pollen days.
- Vary your allergy medication. You can take a nasal spray, an eye drop and an oral antihistamine at the same time to treat the different symptoms. If one kind of allergy medication isn’t working, consult your doctor about whether you should add a second one or switch out the medication.
- Take a shower before going to bed.
- Take off outside clothes or shoes when you get into the house.
- Do a daily nasal wash such as a neti pot or saline spray.
- Consider seeing an allergist to get drops or shots to lessen your reaction to the allergen.
Consider these household tips to improve your chances of keeping allergens away:
- Change the filters in your house regularly during cedar fever season.
- Vacuum and sweep regularly.
- Change your sheets, especially your pillow regularly.
- Keep doors and windows closed.
- Clean out the vents in your home.
- Have your home tested for indoor allergens such as mold.
- Wash and brush the animals in your house to lessen the amount of allergens in the air.
- Wear a mask outside or inside while you are trying to lessen the pollen or mold indoors.
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