The Uvalde school shooting thrust them into the national spotlight. Where are they now?
Two years ago Friday, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The shooting is the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
As the community mourned the losses, information about the flawed police response trickled to the public.
After arriving on the scene, officers waited 77 minutes before entering the classroom and neutralizing the shooter. Following years of investigation, hearings, reports and lawsuits, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Uvalde County District Attorney’s Office have continued to withhold records that include investigation into the response, video footage from the hallway and more.
These are the stories of some of those involved in the shooting’s aftermath, where they have been, and where they are now.
Pete Arredondo
Pete Arredondo, former police chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, was fired by the school board three months after the shooting. Arredondo oversaw a police response that was widely scrutinized by both parents and officials, including the U.S. Department of Justice.
More than an hour passed from the time law enforcement entered the school and the time the gunman was killed, as Arredondo instructed his officers to evacuate after entering so he could negotiate with the gunman, according to the Justice Department report.
Arredondo was fired with a general discharge, or a discharge that is due to a disciplinary investigation or performance problem, according to Texas 2036, a nonpartisan policy organization. Arredondo appealed the decision and had his honorable discharge restored — only for a judge to rule his general discharge reinstated and close the case.
Since his firing, Arredondo has remained absent from the public eye and has not publicly announced another job, though records indicate he still owns a residence in Uvalde County. His name entered into headlines at the beginning of this year after the Justice Department report alleged Arredondo failed to take control of the scene.
Col. Steve McCraw
More than 90 DPS officers responded to Robb Elementary on the day of the shooting, but a Justice Department report said DPS “demonstrated no urgency” in apprehending the shooter. DPS Director Col. Steve McCraw told CNN in September of 2022 that if the department was found to be culpable in a lack of response, he would “be the first to resign” and would release all records related to the shooting. He has done neither since the Justice Department’s report was released.
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell has said she requested the records not to be released to protect the grand jury proceedings, an objection McCraw cited when defending his refusal. This is despite the March ruling from a district judge in favor of releasing the records.
The grand jury investigation is still underway, and McCraw testified before the jury in late February. Even after the district judge’s ruling, litigation is ongoing, and an additional hearing will be held in September.
Christina Mitchell
Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell convened a grand jury at the beginning of this year to investigate the widely scrutinized police response to the shooting, and to recommend possible criminal charges against law enforcement officers. Arguing to protect the integrity of the grand jury proceedings, Mitchell has requested that DPS not release records, despite the judge ruling otherwise.
Mitchell also drew criticism from former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who called for her resignation and accused her of covering up records related to the shooting requested by the city. McLaughlin’s comments were prior to the separate lawsuit filed by the news outlets. Mitchell remains district attorney and is running for reelection unopposed this November.
Don McLaughlin
Former Mayor Don McLaughlin served as mayor from 2014 to 2023 before resigning to run in the ongoing race for the Texas House of Representatives. House District 80, which includes Uvalde, has been represented by State Rep. Tracy King (D-Uvalde) since 1994. King has not faced a general election opponent in several years, but his retirement has created a competitive race for the seat.
McLaughlin received national attention in the wake of the Uvalde shooting, including appearing on Good Morning America where he declared that the root cause of gun violence is mental health issues, not the guns themselves. He also criticized both nominees for governor in 2022, endorsing Gov. Greg Abbott’s primary challenger Don Huffines, and calling former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) a “sick son of a bitch” at a press conference with Abbott following the shooting.
But McLaughlin’s campaign for Texas House is not centered around the issue of guns. Instead, the candidate has cited concerns that Uvalde and South Texas are “overlooked by politicians in Austin,” according to the campaign website. McLaughlin secured the GOP nomination for HD80 with 58 percent of the vote, and will face one of two Democrats who are in a primary runoff — Rosie Cuellar, the Webb County Tax Assessor-Collector and sister of South Texas Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar, or construction company owner Cecilia Castellano.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, gained traction politically after running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, intending to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz, a Houston Republican, in the general election. Gutierrez made the Uvalde shooting central to his Senate campaign, sometimes surrounded at his rallies by Uvalde parents who lost their children in the shooting.
Despite losing the primary to Rep. Colin Allred by 42 points, Gutierrez carried Uvalde County over Allred by 54 points. He has remained steadfast in his support for the Uvalde families and the fight for stricter gun laws. On March 10, Gutierrez shared a video to X, formerly Twitter, saying he will work with “the congressman,” presumably Allred, and on Monday he formally endorsed his one-time primary opponent. Gutierrez has shared posts to X recently telling the stories of each Uvalde victim in the days leading up to the anniversary of the shooting.
He has not announced any additional plans to run for public office but remains in the Texas Senate, where he spoke out last session against laws passed by Republicans, which he said did not do enough to ensure the safety of students. The bills, House Bills 3 and 13, required every school campus to have an armed security officer and for every school to create active shooter safety plans, respectively. HB 3 was signed into law and took effect last September. Gutierrez still believes Texas should pass a ban on assault weapons, but previous attempts have been unsuccessful in the GOP-controlled legislature.
Kimberly Mata-Rubio
Kimberly Mata-Rubio was motivated to enter local politics in Uvalde following the loss of her 10-year-old daughter Lexi in the shooting. Mata-Rubio ran for mayor to succeed the retiring McLaughlin, but was defeated by former Mayor Cody Smith, 65 percent to 32 percent. She ran as an advocate for stricter gun laws, criticizing state and national leadership for failing to address the issue and pass meaningful legislation. Mata-Rubio had support from national Democrats, and fundraised through ActBlue, the Democratic National Committee’s fundraising platform.
After her loss in the mayoral race, Mata-Rubio congratulated Smith but said she will “never stop fighting” for Lexi, and that this race was only the beginning.
Just a few months into Smith’s term however, he abruptly resigned from his seat April 1 for undisclosed health reasons. Mayor Pro-Tem Everardo Zamora will serve as interim mayor until the November election — Uvalde’s third mayoral election in five years, despite the position having four year terms. Mata-Rubio has not announced plans to run again.
Brett Cross
Like Mata-Rubio, Brett Cross also took up advocacy following the death of his son Uziyah “Uzi” Garcia in the shooting. He has organized several sit-ins in front of the Uvalde Police Department, and previously at the Uvalde CISD Police Department before it was shut down. In February, he posted a video to X of an automated call that lawmakers in Congress have received. The call uses artificial intelligence to recreate Uzi’s voice and asks, “what is it going to take for you to make sure violence like this stops happening?”
In February, Cross was arrested at a county commissioner meeting and charged with “disrupting a meeting” when he used expletives at the county judge. Separate from his advocacy, he was charged with assault-family violence, alleged by his wife, though he avoided prosecution through a pretrial diversion program. His wife denied the allegations against Cross on social media.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Two years after the Uvalde shooting, where are the key figures now?
