‘Very angry’: 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 mother and father exterior begged police to hurry in and panicked children known as 911 from inside — has been placed with the college district’s homegrown police chief.

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

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Department of Public Security, stated at the Friday information conference that after following the gunman into the building, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen children and two academics were 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, however Mayor Don McLaughlin stated in an announcement Monday that the meeting wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t instantly clear whether the swearing-in would happen privately or at a later date.

“Pete Arredondo was duly elected to the City Council,” McLaughlin stated within the assertion. “There may be nothing within the City Constitution, Election Code, or Texas Constitution that prohibits him from taking the oath of office.”

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent a lot of an almost 30-year profession in legislation enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the head police job on the school district.

When Arredondo was a boy, Maria Gonzalez used to drive him and her children to the identical college the place the taking pictures occurred. “He was a great boy,” she said.

“He dropped the ball perhaps because he did not have sufficient expertise. Who is aware of? Persons are very indignant,” Gonzalez mentioned.

Another girl within the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up began sobbing when requested about him. The lady, who didn’t need to give her identify, mentioned one in every of her granddaughters was at the college through the taking pictures however wasn’t hurt.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Army veteran who was visibly upset with reports popping out concerning the response, stated he knew Arredondo from highschool.

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

After his election to the non-salaried spot on the City Council, Arredondo instructed the Uvalde Chief-Information earlier this month that he was “able to hit the ground working.”

“I have plenty of concepts, and I positively have loads of drive,” he said, adding he wished to focus not solely on the city being fiscally responsible but additionally making sure road repairs and beautification tasks happen.

At a candidates’ discussion board earlier than his election, Arredondo mentioned: “I assume to me nothing is difficult. All the things has an answer. That resolution starts with communication. Communication is essential.”

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

McCraw said that college students and lecturers had repeatedly begged 911 operators for help while Arredondo told greater than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. That directive — which works in opposition to established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions about whether more lives were misplaced because officers didn’t act sooner.

Two law enforcement officials have stated that because the gunman fired at students, law enforcement officers from different agencies urged Arredondo to allow them to transfer in as a result of youngsters were at risk, The officers spoke on situation of anonymity because they'd not been authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

McLaughlin, the Uvalde mayor, pushed back on officers’ claims, including remarks revamped the weekend by Texas’ lieutenant governor, that they weren’t informed the truth about the bloodbath. McLaughlin said in his Monday assertion that local law enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback in regards to the investigation’s specifics or misled anybody.

Arredondo began out his profession in legislation enforcement working for the Uvalde Police Division. After spending 16 years there, he went to Laredo, a border city situated 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, where he worked at the Webb County Sheriff’s Office and then for an area school 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 college district’s board of trustees permitted his appointment to the spot.

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

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo where Arredondo worked, informed the San Antonio Specific-News in a narrative revealed after the Uvalde shooting that when Arredondo worked within the Laredo district he was “easy to talk to” and was involved in regards to the college students.

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

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two short information conferences on the day of the capturing, appeared behind state officers talking at news conferences over the following two days, but was not present at McCraw’s Friday news conference.

After that news conference, members of the media converged at Arredondo’s dwelling and police cruisers took up posts there. At one point, a man answering the door at Arredondo’s home told a reporter for The Related Press that Arredondo was “indisposed.”

“The reality will come out,” mentioned the person before closing the door.

On Tuesday, Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security, stated Arredondo had not responded to DPS interview requests for 2 days, Considine stated.

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district consists of Uvalde, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he’s asking a variety of questions after “so many things went flawed.”

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

Gutierrez said while the problem of which law enforcement agency had or should have had operational control is a “vital” concern of his, he’s additionally “urged” to McCraw “that it’s not honest to put it on the local (college district) cop.”

“On the finish of the day, everyone failed right here,” Gutierrez mentioned.

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