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

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

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District, stopped not less than 19 officers from breaking into the college because the gunman opened fire for a minimum of an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the kids weren't underneath an lively risk, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, stated Friday. 

“From the benefit of hindsight the place I’m sitting now, in fact, it was not the fitting resolution. It was a mistaken determination. Period. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw mentioned at a information convention. “There have been plenty of officers to do what wanted to be performed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed extra equipment and extra officers to do a tactical breach at that time."

In keeping with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no energetic threat, so instead of sending officers in, he spent time finding keys that would let him into the varsity. During this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered access to carry out the attack. Nineteen students and two lecturers had been killed.

Arredondo was not current among regulation enforcement officers standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw didn't explicitly identify him.

Arredondo didn't immediately return a request for remark by NBC Information.

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

After working as the police captain at the United Independent School 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, based on the Uvalde Leader-News.

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

Arredondo informed the Leader-Information that he was eager to serve the community, saying he was committed to establishing a robust working relationship with the three officers he can be leading. 

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

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his native likability led to a profitable bid for a Metropolis Council seat this month. He beat out three other candidates, garnering nearly 70 percent of the vote in the May 7 election, reported the Uvalde Chief-News. 

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

“I’m very excited, I am able to hit the bottom running. I have plenty of concepts, and I definitely have plenty of drive,” Arredondo instructed the outlet this month.

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

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