‘Very indignant’: Uvalde locals grapple with school chief’s role

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman at a Texas elementary school — whilst dad and mom outside begged police to rush in and panicked children referred to as 911 from inside — has been placed with the varsity district’s homegrown police chief.

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

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Division of Public Safety, said at the Friday news convention that after following the gunman into the constructing, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen kids and two lecturers had been killed in the taking pictures.

Arredondo, who grew up in Uvalde and graduated from high school here, was set to be sworn in Tuesday to his new spot on the Metropolis Council after being elected earlier this month, however Mayor Don McLaughlin said in a press release Monday that the assembly wouldn’t occur. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the swearing-in would happen privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin said in the assertion. “There's nothing in the Metropolis Constitution, Election Code, or Texas Structure that prohibits him from taking the oath of office.”

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

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her kids to the same college the place the shooting occurred. “He was a very good boy,” she mentioned.

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

Another lady in the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up began sobbing when requested about him. The girl, who didn’t need to give her title, stated one among her granddaughters was on the school through the shooting but wasn’t hurt.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Army veteran who was visibly upset with studies coming out concerning the response, said he knew Arredondo from highschool.

“You enroll to answer those sorts of conditions” Torres stated. “If you are scared, then don’t be a police officer. Go flip burgers.”

After his election to the non-salaried spot on the Metropolis Council, Arredondo advised the Uvalde Leader-Information earlier this month that he was “able to hit the ground operating.”

“I've plenty of concepts, and I definitely have plenty of drive,” he stated, adding he wanted to focus not only on the town being fiscally responsible but additionally ensuring street repairs and beautification initiatives occur.

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

McCraw mentioned Friday that minutes after the gunman entered the varsity, metropolis police officers entered through the same door. Over the course of greater than an hour, legislation enforcement from a number of companies arrived on the scene. Lastly, officers said, a U.S. Border Patrol tactical group used a janitor’s key to unlock the classroom door and kill the gunman.

McCraw mentioned that students and academics had repeatedly begged 911 operators for assist while Arredondo instructed more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. That directive — which matches in opposition to established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether or not more lives were misplaced as a result of officers didn’t act quicker.

Two legislation enforcement officers have mentioned that as the gunman fired at students, regulation enforcement officers from different agencies urged Arredondo to allow them to move in as a result of kids were in danger, The officials spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they'd not been authorized to speak publicly concerning the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed again on officials’ claims, together with remarks revamped the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t informed the truth about the bloodbath. McLaughlin mentioned in his Monday statement that native regulation enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback concerning the investigation’s specifics or misled anyone.

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 located 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he labored on the Webb County Sheriff’s Workplace and then for a local faculty district, in response to a 2020 article in the Uvalde Leader-News on his return to his hometown to take the school district police chief job. The school district’s board of trustees approved his appointment to the spot.

In keeping with the Uvalde school district’s website, the police power led by Arredondo additionally has five other officers and a safety guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo the place Arredondo labored, told the San Antonio Specific-Information in a story printed after the Uvalde capturing that when Arredondo labored within the Laredo district he was “simple to speak to” and was involved about the college students.

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

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two quick information conferences on the day of the capturing, appeared behind state officials speaking at information conferences over the subsequent two days, but was not current at McCraw’s Friday news convention.

After that information convention, 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 home instructed a reporter for The Associated Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

“The reality will come out,” mentioned the man earlier than closing the door.

On Tuesday, Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, stated Arredondo had not responded to DPS interview requests for two 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 stated one household informed him that a first responder informed them that their little one, who was shot in the again, doubtless bled out. “So, absolutely, these errors might have led to the passing away of those youngsters as nicely,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Gutierrez stated while the difficulty of which regulation enforcement agency had or ought to have had operational control is a “important” concern of his, he’s additionally “advised” to McCraw “that it’s not truthful to put it on the local (college district) cop.”

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

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Related 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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Extra on the varsity capturing in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings