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

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman at a Texas elementary school — whilst dad and mom outside begged police to rush in and panicked kids referred to as 911 from inside — has been positioned 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 popular local lawman after the director of state police stated that the commander on the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “flawed choice” last week not to breach a classroom at Robb Elementary School sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and kids weren’t in danger.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Security, said on the Friday news convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen kids and two teachers have been killed in the taking pictures.

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

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the Metropolis Council,” McLaughlin mentioned in the statement. “There is nothing within the City Charter, Election Code, or Texas Constitution that prohibits him from taking the oath of office.”

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent a lot of an almost 30-year profession in law enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the head police job on the faculty district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her kids to the identical college where the shooting occurred. “He was boy,” she mentioned.

“He dropped the ball possibly as a result of he did not have sufficient expertise. Who is aware of? Individuals are very indignant,” Gonzalez stated.

Another lady in the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up began sobbing when asked about him. The lady, who didn’t need to give her name, said one among her granddaughters was at the college through the capturing but wasn’t hurt.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Military veteran who was visibly upset with stories coming out concerning the response, stated he knew Arredondo from high school.

“You sign up to answer those sorts of conditions” 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 City Council, Arredondo advised the Uvalde Leader-News earlier this month that he was “ready to hit the ground operating.”

“I have loads of ideas, and I undoubtedly have plenty of drive,” he stated, including he wanted to focus not only on the town being fiscally responsible but additionally making sure road repairs and beautification projects happen.

At a candidates’ forum before his election, Arredondo stated: “I assume to me nothing is complicated. The whole lot has a solution. That resolution starts with communication. Communication is vital.”

McCraw said Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the varsity, city law enforcement officials entered by the identical door. Over the course of more than an hour, legislation enforcement from multiple companies arrived on the scene. Finally, officers stated, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical crew used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw mentioned that students and academics had repeatedly begged 911 operators for help whereas Arredondo told more than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which works in opposition to established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether or not more lives were misplaced as a result of officers didn’t act faster.

Two law enforcement officers have mentioned that because the gunman fired at college students, law enforcement officers from different businesses urged Arredondo to allow them to move in as a result of kids have been in danger, The officers spoke on situation of anonymity because they'd not been licensed to talk publicly about the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officers’ claims, including remarks made over the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t told the reality concerning the massacre. McLaughlin mentioned in his Monday statement that native legislation enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback about the investigation’s specifics or misled anyone.

Arredondo began out his profession in legislation enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Department. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border metropolis positioned 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, where he labored on the Webb County Sheriff’s Workplace after which for an area school district, in response to a 2020 article within the Uvalde Chief-Information on his return to his hometown to take the school district police chief job. The school district’s board of trustees accepted his appointment to the spot.

In accordance with the Uvalde college district’s website, the police drive led by Arredondo also has five other officers and a safety guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo where Arredondo labored, informed the San Antonio Express-Information in a story revealed after the Uvalde shooting that when Arredondo labored in the Laredo district he was “simple to talk to” and was involved concerning the college students.

“He was an excellent officer down here,” Garner informed the newspaper . “Down right here, we do quite a lot of training on active-shooter scenarios, and he was concerned in these.”

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two quick information conferences on the day of the taking pictures, appeared behind state officials speaking at information conferences over the subsequent two days, however was not current at McCraw’s Friday information conference.

After that news conference, members of the media converged at Arredondo’s residence and police cruisers took up posts there. At one level, a person answering the door at Arredondo’s house told a reporter for The Related Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

“The truth will come out,” mentioned the man before closing the door.

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

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

He stated one household informed him that a first responder told them that their child, who was shot within the back, doubtless bled out. “So, absolutely, these mistakes might have led to the passing away of those children as properly,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez mentioned while the problem of which law enforcement company had or ought to have had operational management is a “significant” concern of his, he’s also “suggested” to McCraw “that it’s not truthful to put it on the native (college district) cop.”

“On the end of the day, all people failed here,” Gutierrez stated.

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Associated Press author Stengle contributed from Dallas, and likewise contributing had 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 capturing in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings