‘Very indignant’: 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 college — whilst dad and mom outdoors begged police to rush in and panicked kids called 911 from inside — has been placed with the varsity district’s homegrown police chief.

It’s left residents in the small metropolis of Uvalde struggling to reconcile what they know of the favored native lawman after the director of state police mentioned that the commander at the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “incorrect decision” final week not to breach a classroom at Robb Elementary College sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and youngsters weren’t in danger.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Security, stated on the Friday news conference that after following the gunman into the building, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen kids and two teachers had been killed in the shooting.

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from high school 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 statement Monday that the meeting wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not the swearing-in would occur privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin mentioned in the assertion. “There's nothing in the City Constitution, Election Code, or Texas Structure that prohibits him from taking the oath of office.”

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent much of an almost 30-year profession in regulation enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the pinnacle police job at the school district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her youngsters to the identical faculty where the capturing happened. “He was a great boy,” she mentioned.

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

Another lady within the neighborhood where Arredondo grew up began sobbing when asked about him. The lady, who didn’t want to give her name, said one of her granddaughters was at the school during the shooting but wasn’t hurt.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Army veteran who was visibly upset with experiences popping out about the response, mentioned he knew Arredondo from high school.

“You sign up to reply to these sorts of situations” Torres mentioned. “If you're 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 running.”

“I have loads of concepts, and I undoubtedly have plenty of drive,” he stated, adding he wanted to focus not only on the town being fiscally responsible but additionally ensuring street repairs and beautification initiatives occur.

At a candidates’ forum before his election, Arredondo said: “I guess to me nothing is sophisticated. Every thing has an answer. That answer starts with communication. Communication is key.”

McCraw stated Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the varsity, metropolis police officers entered by the identical door. Over the course of more than an hour, legislation enforcement from multiple businesses arrived on the scene. Lastly, officers stated, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical staff used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw said that college students and academics had repeatedly begged 911 operators for assist while Arredondo advised greater than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which goes in opposition to established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions about whether more lives have been lost as a result of officers didn’t act quicker.

Two regulation enforcement officials have stated that as the gunman fired at college students, law enforcement officers from other businesses urged Arredondo to let them move in because children had been in peril, The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because that they had not been approved to speak publicly about the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officers’ claims, including remarks revamped the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t advised the truth in regards to the massacre. McLaughlin stated in his Monday statement that local law enforcement hadn’t made any public comments about the investigation’s specifics or misled anybody.

Arredondo began out his profession in regulation 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 at the Webb County Sheriff’s Office and then for an area faculty district, according to a 2020 article within the Uvalde Leader-Information on his return to his hometown to take the varsity district police chief job. The school district’s board of trustees accredited his appointment to the spot.

In accordance with the Uvalde school district’s web site, the police power led by Arredondo additionally has five different officers and a security guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo where Arredondo labored, told the San Antonio Express-Information in a story revealed after the Uvalde shooting that when Arredondo worked within the Laredo district he was “simple to speak to” and was concerned about the students.

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

Arredondo, who spoke only briefly at two quick information conferences on the day of the taking pictures, appeared behind state officers talking at information conferences over the next two days, however was not current at McCraw’s Friday information convention.

After that information conference, members of the media converged at Arredondo’s residence and police cruisers took up posts there. At one level, 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,” mentioned the man before closing the door.

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

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district contains Uvalde, mentioned on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he’s asking loads of questions after “so many things went improper.”

He mentioned one family informed him that a first responder told them that their child, who was shot in the back, likely bled out. “So, absolutely, these errors might have led to the passing away of these children as well,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said whereas the problem of which legislation enforcement company had or should have had operational management is a “vital” concern of his, he’s also “instructed” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to put it on the local (faculty district) cop.”

“At the finish of the day, everyone failed right here,” Gutierrez mentioned.

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

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