‘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 — whilst parents exterior begged police to rush in and panicked youngsters known as 911 from inside — has been positioned with the varsity district’s homegrown police chief.

It’s left residents within the small metropolis of Uvalde struggling to reconcile what they know of the popular native lawman after the director of state police mentioned that the commander at the scene — Pete Arredondo — made the “mistaken decision” final week not to breach a classroom at Robb Elementary Faculty sooner, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and kids weren’t at risk.

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, stated at the Friday news convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the shooting.

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from high school 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 stated in a press release Monday that the meeting wouldn’t occur. 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 in the statement. “There is nothing within the Metropolis Constitution, Election Code, or Texas Constitution that prohibits him from taking the oath of workplace.”

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent a lot of an almost 30-year profession in law enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the pinnacle police job at the college district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her kids to the same school where the taking pictures happened. “He was an excellent boy,” she mentioned.

“He dropped the ball possibly as a result of he did not have sufficient expertise. Who is aware of? Individuals are very offended,” Gonzalez stated.

One other woman within the neighborhood where Arredondo grew up began sobbing when asked about him. The lady, who didn’t want to give her identify, mentioned considered one of her granddaughters was at the school during the shooting but wasn’t hurt.

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

“You sign up to reply to those kinds of conditions” Torres mentioned. “If you're scared, then don’t be a police officer. Go flip burgers.”

After his election to the non-salaried spot on the Metropolis Council, Arredondo informed the Uvalde Chief-Information earlier this month that he was “able to hit the bottom running.”

“I have loads of concepts, and I positively have plenty of drive,” he stated, including he wished to focus not solely on the city being fiscally responsible but in addition ensuring avenue repairs and beautification tasks happen.

At a candidates’ forum before his election, Arredondo said: “I assume to me nothing is difficult. Every little thing has an answer. That resolution starts with communication. Communication is key.”

McCraw stated Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the varsity, metropolis cops entered via the identical door. Over the course of greater than an hour, legislation enforcement from a number of businesses arrived on the scene. Lastly, officers said, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical staff used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw stated that students and teachers had repeatedly begged 911 operators for assist while Arredondo advised more than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which fits towards established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions about whether or not more lives have been lost because officers didn’t act quicker.

Two legislation enforcement officers have mentioned that because the gunman fired at students, law enforcement officers from other businesses urged Arredondo to allow them to transfer in as a result of kids have been in danger, The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a result of they had not been authorized to speak publicly concerning the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officials’ claims, together with remarks remodeled the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t told the reality in regards to the bloodbath. McLaughlin stated in his Monday assertion that native law enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback concerning the investigation’s specifics or misled anybody.

Arredondo began out his profession in law enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Department. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border city located 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he labored on the Webb County Sheriff’s Office and then for a local college district, according to a 2020 article in the Uvalde Chief-Information on his return to his hometown to take the varsity district police chief job. The school district’s board of trustees authorized his appointment to the spot.

In line with the Uvalde school district’s website, the police force led by Arredondo additionally has 5 different officers and a safety guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo where Arredondo worked, told the San Antonio Express-Information in a story revealed after the Uvalde capturing that when Arredondo labored within the Laredo district he was “straightforward to talk to” and was concerned concerning the students.

“He was an excellent officer down here,” Garner instructed the newspaper . “Down right here, we do numerous coaching on active-shooter scenarios, and he was concerned in these.”

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two quick news conferences on the day of the capturing, appeared behind state officers talking at information conferences over the subsequent two days, however was not present at McCraw’s Friday information convention.

After that news convention, members of the media converged at Arredondo’s residence and police cruisers took up posts there. At one level, a person answering the door at Arredondo’s house instructed 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, said 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 numerous questions after “so many things went wrong.”

He mentioned one household informed him that a first responder informed them that their little one, who was shot within the back, seemingly bled out. “So, absolutely, these mistakes may have led to the passing away of these children as well,” Gutierrez stated.

Gutierrez said while the problem of which law enforcement agency had or ought to have had operational management is a “significant” concern of his, he’s also “recommended” to McCraw “that it’s not truthful to put it on the local (school district) cop.”

“At the finish of the day, all people failed right here,” Gutierrez said.

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Related Press writer Stengle contributed from Dallas, and likewise contributing have 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 school capturing in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings