Uvalde school district insurance paying ousted police chief’s shooting-related legal fees

Insurance for the Uvalde, Texas, school district is paying for the legal fees that its former police chief is incurring from lawsuits over his conduct during the shooting at Robb Elementary School last year.

Gary Patterson, the interim superintendent for the school district, told The Hill that the district is not providing additional funds for former chief Pete Arredondo’s legal fees, but its insurance is covering it. He said insurance money has also been given to Mandy Gutierrez, who was serving as principal during the shooting.

Patterson said the school district has a general liability policy for catastrophes, as do other districts.

“Our particular coverage offers protection for all employees,” he said. “If any employee is named in a suit, or meets the criteria for liability coverage, they can apply to our third party carrier.”

He added that Arredondo was able to apply for coverage since he was an employee at the time of the incident and has not been arrested or charged with any crime.

Patterson told ABC News that he could not say how much the legal fees cost so far.

Arredondo and Gutierrez have been the subject of multiple lawsuits since the shooting on May 24, 2022. An 18-year-old armed with an AR-15-style rifle opened fire at the elementary school, killing 19 students and two teachers before he himself was killed by police.

The police response to the shooting was panned over their delay in confronting the gunman. More than an hour passed between when officers arrived on scene and they ultimately shot the gunman.

Arredondo, who was the officer in charge of the response, was fired from his position in August over the delayed response. He has said that he believed the situation progressed from an active shooter to a barricaded suspect, causing the delay in confronting the shooter.

Patterson said Arredondo being fired from his position does not make a difference in terms of his ability to receive insurance coverage.

Gutierrez was placed on administrative leave in July shortly before being reassigned to serve as assistant director of special education for the school district.

The San Antonio Express-News first reported on the district’s insurance paying for their legal fees.

ABC reported that a local district attorney is planning to have a grand jury review the events of the shooting to decide if any criminal charges against anyone would be warranted.

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