Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to Texas shooting to join City Council

The police chief who reportedly made the decision to not instantly ship officers into Robb Elementary Faculty to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's City Council just three weeks ago after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the neighborhood. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased Faculty District, stopped at the least 19 officers from breaking into the varsity as the gunman opened fireplace for a minimum of an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the youngsters weren't beneath an energetic threat, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Security, said Friday. 

“From the good thing about hindsight the place I’m sitting now, in fact, it was not the precise determination. It was a mistaken resolution. Period. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw mentioned at a information convention. “There were loads of officers to do what needed to be finished, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed more gear and more officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

Based on McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no active threat, so as a substitute of sending officers in, he hung out discovering keys that may let him into the school. During this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered entry to hold out the assault. Nineteen students and two academics were killed.

Arredondo was not current among regulation enforcement officials standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw didn't explicitly identify him.

Arredondo didn't immediately return a request for comment by NBC Information.

Because the group calls for solutions and items together a shaky and conflicting timeline of events, scrutiny has turned to Arredondo, who was born and raised in Uvalde. 

After working because the police captain at the United Unbiased Faculty District in Laredo, Texas, about 140 miles south of Uvalde, Arredondo returned to his hometown in April 2020, when he accepted the place of chief of police for the Uvalde faculty district, in response to the Uvalde Leader-News.

The former chief, Leo Flores, resigned after being arrested on fees of unlawfully carrying a gun in a bar and threatening an officer, the newspaper reported. 

Arredondo informed the Leader-Information that he was desirous to serve the community, saying he was dedicated to establishing a strong working relationship with the three officers he could be main. 

“We want to ensure we are available wherever we're needed,” Arredondo advised the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his local likability led to a profitable bid for a Metropolis Council seat this month. He beat out three other candidates, garnering nearly 70 p.c of the vote in the May 7 election, reported the Uvalde Chief-Information. 

The chief campaigned, largely door-to-door, on communication and outreach “to those in want,” the newspaper mentioned. 

“I’m very excited, I am ready to hit the ground working. I've loads of ideas, and I positively have plenty of drive,” Arredondo told the outlet this month.

Arredondo is scheduled to be sworn onto the council on Tuesday, exactly one week after the Uvalde shooting.

Safia Samee Ali is a reporter for NBC News Digital, primarily based in Chicago.