‘Very angry’: Uvalde locals grapple with faculty chief’s function

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman at a Texas elementary faculty — at the same time as parents exterior begged police to hurry in and panicked youngsters referred to as 911 from inside — has been positioned with the college district’s homegrown police chief.

It’s left residents in the small metropolis 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 “improper resolution” last week to not breach a classroom at Robb Elementary College sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and youngsters weren’t at risk.

Steven McCraw, the top of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at the Friday information convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen youngsters and two academics had been killed within 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, but Mayor Don McLaughlin mentioned in a press release Monday that the assembly wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t instantly clear whether the swearing-in would occur privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin stated within the statement. “There is nothing within the Metropolis Constitution, Election Code, or Texas Structure that prohibits him from taking the oath of workplace.”

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent much of a nearly 30-year profession in law enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the top police job on the college district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her kids to the identical faculty where the capturing happened. “He was a superb boy,” she stated.

“He dropped the ball possibly as a result of he did not have sufficient experience. Who is aware of? People are very indignant,” Gonzalez mentioned.

One other girl within the neighborhood where Arredondo grew up began sobbing when requested about him. The girl, who didn’t wish to give her name, said one among her granddaughters was on the school throughout the capturing however wasn’t damage.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Military veteran who was visibly upset with stories coming out in regards to the response, said he knew Arredondo from high school.

“You sign up to respond to those sorts of situations” Torres stated. “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've plenty of ideas, and I definitely have plenty of drive,” he mentioned, adding he wanted to focus not solely on town being fiscally responsible but also ensuring road repairs and beautification tasks happen.

At a candidates’ discussion board before his election, Arredondo mentioned: “I guess to me nothing is difficult. Every part has a solution. That solution starts with communication. Communication is vital.”

McCraw mentioned Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the school, city law enforcement officials entered by way of the same door. Over the course of more than an hour, regulation enforcement from a number of companies arrived on the scene. Lastly, officers mentioned, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical crew used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw stated that students and academics had repeatedly begged 911 operators for help whereas Arredondo told greater than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which works in opposition to established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions about whether or not extra lives have been misplaced as a result of officers didn’t act faster.

Two legislation enforcement officials have stated that because the gunman fired at college students, legislation enforcement officers from different businesses urged Arredondo to allow them to move in as a result of children have been in peril, The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a result of that they had not been licensed to talk publicly in regards to the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officials’ claims, including remarks made over the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t informed the reality in regards to the massacre. McLaughlin said in his Monday statement that local legislation enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback about the investigation’s specifics or misled anybody.

Arredondo began out his career in law enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Department. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border metropolis positioned 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he labored on the Webb County Sheriff’s Office after which for a neighborhood faculty district, according to a 2020 article in the Uvalde Chief-Information on his return to his hometown to take the college district police chief job. The varsity district’s board of trustees approved his appointment to the spot.

In keeping with the Uvalde faculty district’s web site, the police pressure 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 labored, advised the San Antonio Categorical-Information in a narrative published after the Uvalde shooting that when Arredondo worked within the Laredo district he was “easy to speak to” and was involved about the students.

“He was a superb officer down right here,” Garner told the newspaper . “Down right here, we do a lot of training on active-shooter situations, and he was involved in those.”

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two quick information conferences on the day of the shooting, appeared behind state officers talking at information conferences over the next two days, however was not current at McCraw’s Friday news conference.

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

“The truth will come out,” said the person earlier than closing the door.

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

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

He stated one family instructed him that a first responder advised them that their baby, who was shot within the back, possible bled out. “So, absolutely, these mistakes could have led to the passing away of those children as properly,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said whereas the issue of which regulation enforcement agency had or should have had operational control is a “significant” concern of his, he’s additionally “recommended” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to place it on the native (school district) cop.”

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

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Associated Press author Stengle contributed from Dallas, and in addition contributing had been 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 capturing in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings