Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to Texas taking pictures to hitch City Council

The police chief who reportedly made the decision to not instantly ship officers into Robb Elementary School to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's Metropolis Council simply three weeks in the past after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the community. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District, stopped a minimum of 19 officers from breaking into the school as the gunman opened fire for no less than an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the children weren't underneath an lively threat, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Friday. 

“From the good thing about hindsight where I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the proper determination. It was a flawed resolution. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw said at a information convention. “There were plenty of officers to do what wanted to be performed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed more tools and more officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

In line with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no energetic threat, so instead of sending officers in, he spent time discovering keys that may let him into the varsity. Throughout this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered entry to carry out the attack. Nineteen college students and two academics had been killed.

Arredondo was not present among law enforcement officials standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw didn't explicitly title him.

Arredondo did not instantly return a request for comment by NBC News.

As the community demands answers and pieces together a shaky and conflicting timeline of occasions, scrutiny has turned to Arredondo, who was born and raised in Uvalde. 

After working as the police captain at the United Impartial School 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 school district, according to the Uvalde Leader-News.

The previous 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 Chief-Information that he was eager to serve the group, saying he was committed to establishing a robust working relationship with the three officers he could be leading. 

“We want to be sure that we can be found wherever we're needed,” Arredondo informed the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his native likability led to a successful bid for a Metropolis Council seat this month. He beat out three other candidates, garnering almost 70 % of the vote in the Might 7 election, reported the Uvalde Chief-Information. 

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

“I’m very excited, I am able to hit the bottom working. I have plenty of ideas, and I undoubtedly have plenty of drive,” Arredondo instructed the outlet this month.

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

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