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

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

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent Faculty District, stopped at the least 19 officers from breaking into the college as the gunman opened fire for at the very least an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the youngsters were not beneath an energetic threat, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, mentioned Friday. 

“From the good thing about hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course, it was not the suitable determination. It was a unsuitable determination. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw said at a news conference. “There have been loads of officers to do what needed to be completed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he wanted more gear and more officers to do a tactical breach at the moment."

In accordance with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no active threat, so as an alternative of sending officers in, he spent time discovering keys that would let him into the school. Throughout this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered entry to hold out the assault. Nineteen college students and two academics had been killed.

Arredondo was not present amongst legislation enforcement officers standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw did not explicitly name him.

Arredondo did not immediately return a request for remark by NBC Information.

Because the group calls for answers and items collectively a shaky and conflicting timeline of events, scrutiny has turned to Arredondo, who was born and raised in Uvalde. 

After working because the police captain at the United Independent Faculty 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 college district, in accordance with the Uvalde Chief-News.

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

Arredondo instructed the Chief-News that he was wanting to serve the group, saying he was dedicated to establishing a powerful working relationship with the three officers he can be main. 

“We want to ensure we are available wherever we're wanted,” Arredondo told the newspaper.

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

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

“I’m very excited, I am ready to hit the bottom operating. I've loads of concepts, and I definitely have plenty of drive,” Arredondo informed the outlet this month.

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

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