Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to Texas taking pictures to affix Metropolis Council

The police chief who reportedly made the call not to immediately ship officers into Robb Elementary School to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's City Council simply three weeks ago after working on a platform of communication and outreach to the neighborhood. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District, stopped at least 19 officers from breaking into the school as the gunman opened fire for not less than an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the youngsters were not below an lively menace, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Security, said Friday. 

“From the good thing about hindsight where I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the fitting choice. It was a flawed resolution. Period. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw stated at a information conference. “There were plenty of officers to do what needed to be finished, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed extra gear and extra officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

Based on McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no energetic threat, so as a substitute of sending officers in, he hung out finding keys that would let him into the varsity. Throughout this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered access to hold out the attack. Nineteen college students and two academics have been killed.

Arredondo was not current amongst regulation enforcement officers standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw didn't explicitly name him.

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

Because the group 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 on the United Impartial College District in Laredo, Texas, about 140 miles south of Uvalde, Arredondo returned to his hometown in April 2020, when he accepted the position of chief of police for the Uvalde faculty district, in line with the Uvalde Leader-News.

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 instructed the Leader-News that he was desperate to serve the community, saying he was committed to establishing a powerful working relationship with the three officers he would be main. 

“We need to be sure that we are available wherever we're needed,” Arredondo advised the newspaper.

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

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

“I’m very excited, I am ready to hit the ground running. I have plenty of concepts, and I undoubtedly 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 Information Digital, based mostly in Chicago.