‘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 faculty — at the same time as mother and father exterior begged police to hurry in and panicked children referred to as 911 from inside — has been positioned 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 well-liked local lawman after the director of state police stated that the commander at the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “unsuitable choice” final week not to breach a classroom at Robb Elementary Faculty sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and children weren’t in danger.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, mentioned at the Friday information convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen kids and two lecturers had been killed in the taking pictures.

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 Metropolis Council after being elected earlier this month, but Mayor Don McLaughlin mentioned in a statement Monday that the assembly wouldn’t occur. It wasn’t immediately clear whether or not the swearing-in would happen privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin said within the assertion. “There is nothing within the Metropolis Charter, 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 law enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the pinnacle police job on the faculty district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her youngsters to the same college where the capturing occurred. “He was a very good boy,” she stated.

“He dropped the ball perhaps because he did not have enough experience. Who is aware of? Persons are very offended,” Gonzalez mentioned.

Another lady within the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up began sobbing when asked about him. The girl, who didn’t want to give her title, stated one among her granddaughters was at the college throughout the capturing however wasn’t damage.

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

“You sign up to reply to those kinds of situations” Torres stated. “If you're 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 “ready to hit the bottom working.”

“I have plenty of ideas, and I undoubtedly have loads of drive,” he stated, adding he wanted to focus not only on town being fiscally accountable but in addition ensuring road repairs and beautification projects happen.

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

McCraw stated Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the school, city law enforcement officials entered by the same door. Over the course of greater than an hour, regulation enforcement from multiple companies arrived on the scene. Finally, officials mentioned, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical staff used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw said that students and teachers had repeatedly begged 911 operators for help whereas Arredondo told greater than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which matches against established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether or not extra lives were misplaced as a result of officers didn’t act quicker.

Two regulation enforcement officers have said that as the gunman fired at college students, legislation enforcement officers from different companies urged Arredondo to allow them to transfer in as a result of children have been in peril, The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to speak publicly concerning the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed back on officers’ claims, including remarks made over the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t told the truth concerning the massacre. McLaughlin mentioned in his Monday assertion that local law enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback in regards to the investigation’s specifics or misled anyone.

Arredondo started out his career in regulation enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Department. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border city located 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he worked at the Webb County Sheriff’s Office and then for an area faculty district, according to a 2020 article in 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 permitted his appointment to the spot.

In response to the Uvalde faculty district’s website, the police power led by Arredondo additionally has five other officers and a safety guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo the place Arredondo labored, told the San Antonio Categorical-News in a story revealed after the Uvalde shooting that when Arredondo worked in the Laredo district he was “easy to speak to” and was involved concerning the students.

“He was a superb officer down right here,” Garner informed the newspaper . “Down right here, we do a lot of coaching 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 news conferences over the following two days, however was not present at McCraw’s Friday information convention.

After that information convention, 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 home instructed a reporter for The Related Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

“The truth will come out,” stated the person earlier than closing the door.

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

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

He said one household informed him that a first responder advised them that their child, who was shot in the back, seemingly bled out. “So, completely, these mistakes could have led to the passing away of these children as properly,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Gutierrez stated while the issue of which law enforcement agency had or should have had operational management is a “significant” concern of his, he’s also “prompt” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to put it on the local (college district) cop.”

“At the end of the day, all people failed right here,” Gutierrez said.

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Associated Press author Stengle contributed from Dallas, and in addition 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