Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to Texas taking pictures to affix City Council

The police chief who reportedly made the call to not immediately send officers into Robb Elementary School to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's Metropolis Council simply three weeks ago after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the neighborhood. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, stopped at the least 19 officers from breaking into the school as the gunman opened fireplace for at the very least an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the children weren't under an energetic risk, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Friday. 

“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the precise choice. It was a incorrect choice. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw stated at a news conference. “There have been loads of officers to do what wanted to be finished, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed more equipment and extra officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

In accordance with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no lively threat, so instead of sending officers in, he spent time discovering keys that may let him into the school. Throughout this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered access to hold out the attack. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed.

Arredondo was not current amongst law enforcement officials standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw did not explicitly identify him.

Arredondo did not immediately return a request for remark by NBC Information.

Because the neighborhood calls for solutions and items collectively a shaky and conflicting timeline of events, scrutiny has turned to Arredondo, who was born and raised in Uvalde. 

After working as the police captain on the United Independent School District in Laredo, Texas, about 140 miles south of Uvalde, Arredondo returned to his hometown in April 2020, when he accepted the position of chief of police for the Uvalde faculty district, in response to the Uvalde Chief-News.

The former chief, Leo Flores, resigned after being arrested on charges of unlawfully carrying a gun in a bar and threatening an officer, the newspaper reported. 

Arredondo advised the Leader-Information that he was desperate to serve the community, saying he was dedicated to establishing a robust working relationship with the three officers he would be leading. 

“We wish to be certain we can be found wherever we're wanted,” Arredondo told the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his native likability led to a profitable bid for a Metropolis Council seat this month. He beat out three different candidates, garnering almost 70 percent of the vote in the Might 7 election, reported the Uvalde Chief-Information. 

The chief campaigned, largely door-to-door, on communication and outreach “to these in want,” the newspaper mentioned. 

“I’m very excited, I am able to hit the bottom running. I've plenty of concepts, and I positively have loads of drive,” Arredondo told the outlet this month.

Arredondo is scheduled to be sworn onto the council on Tuesday, exactly one week after the Uvalde capturing.

Safia Samee Ali is a reporter for NBC Information Digital, based mostly in Chicago.