‘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 — even as dad and mom outside begged police to hurry in and panicked children called 911 from inside — has been placed with the school district’s homegrown police chief.

It’s left residents within the small city of Uvalde struggling to reconcile what they know of the popular local lawman after the director of state police said that the commander on the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “flawed decision” last week not to breach a classroom at Robb Elementary School sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and youngsters weren’t in danger.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Security, mentioned at the Friday information convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen children and two academics have been killed in the capturing.

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from highschool 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 instantly clear whether or not the swearing-in would occur privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin stated in the statement. “There may be 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 much of a virtually 30-year profession in regulation enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the pinnacle police job on the college district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her kids to the identical college where the taking pictures happened. “He was a very good boy,” she said.

“He dropped the ball maybe as a result of he didn't have enough expertise. Who is aware of? People are very indignant,” Gonzalez stated.

One other woman within the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up began sobbing when asked about him. The lady, who didn’t need to give her identify, said one of her granddaughters was at the school in the course of the capturing however wasn’t damage.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Military veteran who was visibly upset with reviews popping out about the response, mentioned he knew Arredondo from highschool.

“You enroll to respond to those sorts of situations” Torres mentioned. “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 Chief-Information earlier this month that he was “able to hit the ground working.”

“I've loads of ideas, and I undoubtedly have loads of drive,” he stated, including he wished to focus not solely on town being fiscally responsible but also ensuring street repairs and beautification projects happen.

At a candidates’ discussion board earlier than his election, Arredondo mentioned: “I assume to me nothing is difficult. Every thing has a solution. That solution begins with communication. Communication is vital.”

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

McCraw said that students and academics had repeatedly begged 911 operators for assist whereas Arredondo advised greater than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. That directive — which fits towards established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether or not extra lives have been lost because officers didn’t act quicker.

Two law enforcement officials have stated that as the gunman fired at college students, regulation enforcement officers from other companies urged Arredondo to allow them to transfer in as a result of youngsters have been in danger, The officials spoke on situation of anonymity because they'd not been approved to talk publicly in regards to 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 advised the reality in regards to the massacre. McLaughlin said in his Monday statement that local regulation enforcement hadn’t made any public comments in regards to the investigation’s specifics or misled anybody.

Arredondo started out his career in regulation enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Division. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border metropolis positioned 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, where he labored at the Webb County Sheriff’s Office and then for an area faculty district, in response to a 2020 article in the Uvalde Chief-News on his return to his hometown to take the varsity district police chief job. The varsity district’s board of trustees permitted his appointment to the spot.

In keeping with the Uvalde college district’s website, the police drive led by Arredondo additionally has 5 other officers and a security guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo the place Arredondo worked, instructed the San Antonio Specific-News in a narrative revealed after the Uvalde capturing that when Arredondo worked within the Laredo district he was “easy to speak to” and was concerned in regards to the students.

“He was an excellent officer down here,” Garner instructed the newspaper . “Down right here, we do loads of coaching on active-shooter situations, 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 officers talking at information conferences over the subsequent two days, however was not current at McCraw’s Friday information conference.

After that news convention, members of the media converged at Arredondo’s residence and police cruisers took up posts there. At one point, a man answering the door at Arredondo’s house informed a reporter for The Associated Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

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

On Tuesday, Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, mentioned Arredondo had not responded to DPS interview requests for 2 days, Considine said.

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

He said one household advised him that a first responder advised them that their child, who was shot within the again, seemingly bled out. “So, completely, these errors might have led to the passing away of those kids as effectively,” Gutierrez stated.

Gutierrez mentioned whereas the problem of which legislation enforcement agency had or should have had operational control is a “significant” concern of his, he’s also “suggested” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to place it on the native (school district) cop.”

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

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Associated Press author Stengle contributed from Dallas, and likewise 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 varsity taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings