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

The police chief who reportedly made the decision not to immediately send officers into Robb Elementary College 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 Independent College 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 youngsters weren't beneath an active menace, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Division of Public Safety, mentioned Friday. 

“From the advantage of hindsight the place I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the right determination. It was a fallacious choice. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw stated at a information convention. “There were plenty of officers to do what wanted to be executed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed more equipment and more officers to do a tactical breach at the moment."

According to McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no active threat, so as a substitute of sending officers in, he frolicked finding keys that might let him into the school. During this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered entry to carry out the attack. Nineteen students and two teachers had been killed.

Arredondo was not present among regulation enforcement officials standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw did not explicitly title him.

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

As the community calls for solutions and items together 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 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 faculty district, in response to the Uvalde Chief-Information.

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

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

“We need to be certain we are available wherever we are needed,” 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 almost 70 p.c of the vote within the Might 7 election, reported the Uvalde Chief-News. 

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

“I’m very excited, I am able to hit the ground 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 shooting.

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