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

The police chief who reportedly made the call to not instantly send officers into Robb Elementary School to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's City Council just three weeks ago after operating on a platform of communication and outreach to the group. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District, stopped no less than 19 officers from breaking into the college because the gunman opened fire for at the least an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the children were not under an energetic menace, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Division of Public Safety, mentioned Friday. 

“From the advantage of hindsight where I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the proper determination. It was a unsuitable choice. Period. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw mentioned at a information convention. “There were loads of officers to do what needed to be completed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he wanted extra tools and more officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

According to McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no energetic threat, so as an alternative of sending officers in, he spent time discovering keys that may let him into the school. Throughout this time, nonetheless, the shooter had unencumbered access to carry out the attack. Nineteen students and two academics have been killed.

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

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

As the neighborhood calls for answers and pieces together a shaky and conflicting timeline of events, 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 faculty district, in line with the Uvalde Chief-Information.

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

Arredondo told the Chief-Information that he was eager to serve the group, saying he was dedicated to establishing a strong working relationship with the three officers he would be main. 

“We want to be sure that we are available wherever we're wanted,” Arredondo instructed the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his local likability led to a successful bid for a City Council seat this month. He beat out three other candidates, garnering nearly 70 % of the vote in the Could 7 election, reported the Uvalde Leader-News. 

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

“I’m very excited, I'm ready to hit the ground running. I've loads of concepts, and I positively have loads 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 taking pictures.

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