‘Very angry’: Uvalde locals grapple with college chief’s position

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

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

Steven McCraw, the pinnacle of the Texas Division of Public Security, said on the Friday news conference that after following the gunman into the building, officers waited over an hour to breach the classroom. Nineteen kids and two teachers had been killed within the capturing.

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, but Mayor Don McLaughlin mentioned in a press release Monday that the meeting wouldn’t occur. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the swearing-in would occur privately or at a later date.

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

The 50-year-old Arredondo has spent much of a virtually 30-year career in law enforcement in Uvalde, returning in 2020 to take the pinnacle police job on the college district.

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

“He dropped the ball maybe because he didn't have enough experience. Who is aware of? Persons are very indignant,” Gonzalez said.

Another girl in the neighborhood the place Arredondo grew up started sobbing when asked about him. The girl, who didn’t want to give her title, mentioned considered one of her granddaughters was on the faculty in the course of the shooting but wasn’t harm.

Juan Torres, a U.S. Military veteran who was visibly upset with experiences coming out in regards to the response, mentioned he knew Arredondo from high school.

“You join to answer these kinds of conditions” Torres mentioned. “In case 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 informed the Uvalde Chief-Information earlier this month that he was “able to hit the bottom running.”

“I've loads of concepts, and I undoubtedly have loads of drive,” he mentioned, including he needed to focus not solely on the town being fiscally responsible but additionally making sure road repairs and beautification initiatives occur.

At a candidates’ forum earlier than his election, Arredondo stated: “I guess to me nothing is complicated. Everything has an answer. That answer begins with communication. Communication is essential.”

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

McCraw said that college students and teachers had repeatedly begged 911 operators for help while Arredondo informed greater than a dozen officers to attend in a hallway. That directive — which works in opposition to established active-shooter protocols — prompted questions on whether extra lives had been misplaced because officers didn’t act sooner.

Two legislation enforcement officials have mentioned that as the gunman fired at college students, legislation enforcement officers from other businesses urged Arredondo to allow them to move in because youngsters had been at risk, The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a result of they had not been licensed to talk publicly in regards to 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 informed the truth concerning the bloodbath. McLaughlin mentioned in his Monday statement that local law enforcement hadn’t made any public feedback in regards to 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 city located 130 miles (209 kilometers) miles to the south, the place he labored at the Webb County Sheriff’s Workplace after which for a neighborhood faculty district, in response to a 2020 article in the Uvalde Chief-News on his return to his hometown to take the varsity district police chief job. The varsity district’s board of trustees accepted his appointment to the spot.

In response to the Uvalde school district’s web site, the police drive led by Arredondo also has 5 different officers and a safety guard.

Ray Garner, the police chief of the district in Laredo the place Arredondo worked, instructed the San Antonio Specific-News in a narrative printed after the Uvalde taking pictures that when Arredondo labored within the Laredo district he was “simple to talk to” and was concerned about the students.

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

Arredondo, who spoke solely briefly at two quick news conferences on the day of the taking pictures, appeared behind state officers speaking at news conferences over the next two days, however was not current at McCraw’s Friday information conference.

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

“The truth will come out,” stated the man before closing the door.

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

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, stated on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he’s asking plenty of questions after “so many issues went wrong.”

He said one household informed him that a first responder instructed them that their youngster, who was shot in the back, probably bled out. “So, absolutely, these mistakes might have led to the passing away of these kids as properly,” Gutierrez mentioned.

Gutierrez stated while the difficulty of which legislation enforcement company had or ought to have had operational control is a “significant” concern of his, he’s also “advised” to McCraw “that it’s not fair to place it on the local (college district) cop.”

“On the finish of the day, everybody failed here,” Gutierrez stated.

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