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

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman at a Texas elementary college — at the same time as dad and mom outdoors begged police to hurry in and panicked youngsters known as 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 well-liked native lawman after the director of state police said that the commander on the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “improper resolution” last week to not breach a classroom at Robb Elementary School sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and children weren’t at risk.

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

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from highschool right here, was set to be sworn in Tuesday to his new spot on the Metropolis Council after being elected earlier this month, however Mayor Don McLaughlin said in an announcement Monday that the assembly 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 Metropolis Council,” McLaughlin stated within the assertion. “There's nothing in the Metropolis Constitution, 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 career in regulation enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the pinnacle police job on the school district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her youngsters to the identical college the place the shooting happened. “He was a very good boy,” she mentioned.

“He dropped the ball maybe because he did not have sufficient expertise. Who is aware of? Persons are very indignant,” Gonzalez mentioned.

Another girl in the neighborhood where Arredondo grew up started sobbing when asked about him. The lady, who didn’t want to give her identify, stated one among her granddaughters was on the faculty in the course of the capturing however wasn’t harm.

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

“You sign up to reply to these sorts of conditions” Torres said. “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 informed the Uvalde Leader-News earlier this month that he was “ready to hit the ground running.”

“I have loads of concepts, and I definitely have plenty of drive,” he mentioned, adding he wished to focus not solely on the city being fiscally accountable but in addition making sure avenue repairs and beautification initiatives occur.

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

McCraw stated Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the varsity, metropolis police officers entered by the same door. Over the course of more than an hour, law enforcement from a number of agencies arrived on the scene. Lastly, officers said, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical team 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 assist while Arredondo advised greater than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which matches towards established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether or not more lives have been lost as a result of officers didn’t act faster.

Two regulation enforcement officials have said that as the gunman fired at college students, law enforcement officers from different businesses urged Arredondo to let them transfer in because youngsters have been at risk, The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to speak publicly concerning the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officers’ claims, together with remarks revamped the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t advised the truth about the bloodbath. McLaughlin said in his Monday statement that native legislation enforcement hadn’t made any public comments concerning the investigation’s specifics or misled anyone.

Arredondo started out his profession in law enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Division. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border city located 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, where he worked at the Webb County Sheriff’s Workplace and then for an area college district, based on a 2020 article in the Uvalde Chief-News on his return to his hometown to take the school district police chief job. The varsity district’s board of trustees authorised his appointment to the spot.

In line with the Uvalde school district’s website, the police power led by Arredondo also has 5 different officers and a security guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo where Arredondo labored, instructed the San Antonio Express-News in a narrative revealed after the Uvalde taking pictures that when Arredondo labored within the Laredo district he was “straightforward to talk to” and was involved concerning the college students.

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

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two brief information conferences on the day of the shooting, appeared behind state officials speaking at news conferences over the subsequent two days, but was not present at McCraw’s Friday news convention.

After that information conference, 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 informed 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 Safety, stated Arredondo had not responded to DPS interview requests for two days, Considine said.

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

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

Gutierrez said whereas the difficulty of which law enforcement agency had or should have had operational management is a “important” concern of his, he’s additionally “suggested” to McCraw “that it’s not honest to place it on the local (school district) cop.”

“On the end of the day, everyone failed right here,” Gutierrez stated.

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