‘Very offended’: Uvalde locals grapple with school chief’s position

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman at a Texas elementary school — at the same time as parents exterior begged police to rush in and panicked children called 911 from inside — has been placed with the college district’s homegrown police chief.

It’s left residents in the small metropolis of Uvalde struggling to reconcile what they know of the well-liked local lawman after the director of state police mentioned that the commander on the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “mistaken resolution” final week to not breach a classroom at Robb Elementary Faculty sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and kids weren’t in danger.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, stated on the Friday news conference that after following the gunman into the building, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen children and two lecturers have been killed within the capturing.

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from highschool here, was set to be sworn in Tuesday to his new spot on the Metropolis Council after being elected earlier this month, however Mayor Don McLaughlin stated in a statement Monday that the meeting wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t instantly clear whether the swearing-in would happen privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin stated within the statement. “There's nothing within the City Charter, Election Code, or Texas Constitution that prohibits him from taking the oath of workplace.”

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent much of a nearly 30-year profession in legislation enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the head police job at the college district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her children to the same school the place the taking pictures happened. “He was a great boy,” she mentioned.

“He dropped the ball perhaps as a result of he didn't have enough expertise. Who knows? People are very angry,” Gonzalez stated.

One other woman in the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up started sobbing when requested about him. The woman, who didn’t need to give her name, mentioned one among her granddaughters was on the school during the capturing however wasn’t hurt.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Military veteran who was visibly upset with studies coming out in regards to the response, stated he knew Arredondo from highschool.

“You sign up to answer these sorts of situations” Torres stated. “In case you are scared, then don’t be a police officer. Go flip burgers.”

After his election to the non-salaried spot on the Metropolis Council, Arredondo advised the Uvalde Leader-News earlier this month that he was “able to hit the ground operating.”

“I have plenty of concepts, and I definitely have loads of drive,” he stated, including he wanted to focus not solely on town being fiscally responsible but in addition making sure street repairs and beautification projects occur.

At a candidates’ discussion board earlier than his election, Arredondo stated: “I guess to me nothing is difficult. Every part has a solution. That answer starts with communication. Communication is vital.”

McCraw stated Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the varsity, metropolis cops entered through the identical door. Over the course of more than an hour, regulation enforcement from multiple companies arrived on the scene. Lastly, officials stated, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical group used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw stated that students and academics had repeatedly begged 911 operators for help while Arredondo informed greater than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which goes towards established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether or not extra lives had been misplaced because officers didn’t act quicker.

Two legislation enforcement officers have said that as the gunman fired at students, regulation enforcement officers from different agencies urged Arredondo to allow them to transfer in as a result of kids have been in danger, The officers spoke on condition of anonymity as a result of they'd not been licensed to speak publicly concerning the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officials’ claims, together with remarks made over the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t advised the truth in regards to the bloodbath. McLaughlin said in his Monday statement that local law enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback in regards to the investigation’s specifics or misled anybody.

Arredondo started out his career in legislation enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Division. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border metropolis located 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he labored on the Webb County Sheriff’s Office and then for a neighborhood college district, based on a 2020 article in the Uvalde Leader-Information on his return to his hometown to take the college district police chief job. The college district’s board of trustees permitted his appointment to the spot.

In keeping with the Uvalde school district’s website, the police power led by Arredondo also has five different officers and a security guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo where Arredondo labored, instructed the San Antonio Categorical-News in a narrative printed after the Uvalde capturing that when Arredondo labored within the Laredo district he was “straightforward to speak to” and was involved about the students.

“He was an excellent officer down right here,” Garner advised the newspaper . “Down here, we do numerous training on active-shooter eventualities, and he was involved in these.”

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two brief news conferences on the day of the shooting, appeared behind state officials talking at news conferences over the subsequent two days, however was not present at McCraw’s Friday news conference.

After that information conference, members of the media converged at Arredondo’s home and police cruisers took up posts there. At one point, a man answering the door at Arredondo’s house instructed a reporter for The Related Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

“The reality will come out,” said the man before closing the door.

On Tuesday, Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security, stated Arredondo had not responded to DPS interview requests for 2 days, Considine mentioned.

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, mentioned on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he’s asking a whole lot of questions after “so many issues went fallacious.”

He mentioned one household told him that a first responder instructed them that their baby, who was shot within the again, doubtless bled out. “So, completely, these errors might have led to the passing away of those youngsters as well,” Gutierrez stated.

Gutierrez stated whereas the problem of which regulation enforcement agency had or should have had operational control is a “significant” concern of his, he’s also “steered” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to place it on the local (school district) cop.”

“At the end of the day, everybody failed here,” Gutierrez mentioned.

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Related Press writer Stengle contributed from Dallas, and likewise contributing have been Curt Anderson in Miami, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Mike Balsamo in Washington and Elliott Spagat in Uvalde.

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More on the school taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings