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

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman at a Texas elementary college — even 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 within the small metropolis of Uvalde struggling to reconcile what they know of the popular native lawman after the director of state police stated that the commander at the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “unsuitable determination” final week to not breach a classroom at Robb Elementary Faculty sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and youngsters weren’t at risk.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, said at the Friday information convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen youngsters and two teachers had been killed within the shooting.

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from high school right 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 assembly wouldn’t occur. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the swearing-in would happen privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin stated in the statement. “There may be 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 a lot of an almost 30-year career in legislation 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 children to the identical faculty the place the taking pictures happened. “He was a great boy,” she mentioned.

“He dropped the ball possibly because he didn't have sufficient experience. Who knows? Persons are very offended,” Gonzalez mentioned.

One other lady within the neighborhood where Arredondo grew up began sobbing when asked about him. The lady, who didn’t need to give her title, stated certainly one of her granddaughters was on the school in the course of the capturing however wasn’t damage.

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

“You join to reply to these sorts of conditions” Torres mentioned. “If 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 instructed the Uvalde Chief-News earlier this month that he was “able to hit the bottom operating.”

“I have loads of concepts, and I definitely have loads of drive,” he stated, including he needed to focus not solely on the city being fiscally responsible but additionally making sure street repairs and beautification tasks happen.

At a candidates’ discussion board before his election, Arredondo mentioned: “I assume to me nothing is complicated. Every little thing has an answer. That resolution starts with communication. Communication is vital.”

McCraw mentioned Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the school, metropolis cops entered by the identical door. Over the course of greater than an hour, regulation enforcement from multiple businesses arrived on the scene. Lastly, officials said, 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 lecturers had repeatedly begged 911 operators for assist whereas Arredondo informed 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 or not more lives had been lost as a result of officers didn’t act sooner.

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

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officials’ claims, together with remarks remodeled the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t instructed the reality about the bloodbath. McLaughlin stated in his Monday assertion that local law enforcement hadn’t made any public comments in regards to the investigation’s specifics or misled anyone.

Arredondo began out his career in regulation enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Division. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border metropolis situated 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he worked on the Webb County Sheriff’s Office after which for a neighborhood college district, based on a 2020 article within the Uvalde Leader-Information on his return to his hometown to take the college district police chief job. The school district’s board of trustees accredited his appointment to the spot.

In keeping with the Uvalde college district’s website, the police force led by Arredondo additionally has 5 different officers and a security guard.

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

“He was a wonderful officer down right here,” Garner instructed the newspaper . “Down here, we do a variety of coaching on active-shooter scenarios, and he was involved in those.”

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two quick news conferences on the day of the taking pictures, appeared behind state officers talking at information conferences over the subsequent two days, but was not present at McCraw’s Friday information conference.

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 home instructed a reporter for The Related Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

“The reality will come out,” stated the person earlier than 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 two days, Considine said.

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 variety of questions after “so many issues went mistaken.”

He stated one family advised him that a first responder instructed them that their youngster, who was shot within the back, seemingly bled out. “So, completely, these errors may have led to the passing away of these children as effectively,” Gutierrez stated.

Gutierrez said whereas the issue of which regulation enforcement agency had or should have had operational control is a “important” concern of his, he’s additionally “prompt” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to place it on the local (faculty district) cop.”

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

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