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

The police chief who reportedly made the call not to immediately send officers into Robb Elementary School to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's Metropolis Council simply three weeks in the past after working on a platform of communication and outreach to the neighborhood. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased College District, stopped not less than 19 officers from breaking into the varsity as the gunman opened fireplace for no less than an hour.

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

“From the good thing about hindsight the place I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the appropriate resolution. It was a flawed resolution. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw said at a information convention. “There have been loads of officers to do what wanted to be performed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he wanted more gear and more officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

In accordance with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no active menace, so instead of sending officers in, he frolicked finding keys that might let him into the school. During this time, nonetheless, the shooter had unencumbered entry to carry out the attack. Nineteen college students and two academics had been killed.

Arredondo was not present amongst regulation enforcement officers standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw didn't explicitly title him.

Arredondo didn't instantly return a request for comment by NBC News.

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

After working because the police captain on 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 school district, in response to the Uvalde Chief-Information.

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

Arredondo instructed the Chief-Information that he was desperate to serve the community, saying he was committed to establishing a powerful working relationship with the three officers he can be leading. 

“We need to be sure we can be found wherever we're wanted,” Arredondo informed the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his local likability led to a successful bid for a Metropolis Council seat this month. He beat out three different candidates, garnering practically 70 percent of the vote within the Might 7 election, reported the Uvalde Leader-Information. 

The chief campaigned, largely door-to-door, on communication and outreach “to those in need,” the newspaper said. 

“I’m very excited, I am able to hit the ground working. I have loads of ideas, and I definitely have loads of drive,” Arredondo advised the outlet this month.

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

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