Uvalde, Texas, school police chief resigns from city council amid backlash over shooting response
The Uvalde, Texas, college district’s police chief has stepped down from his place within the Metropolis Council simply weeks after being sworn in following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass capturing at Robb Elementary College that left 19 college students and two academics lifeless.
Pete Arredondo mentioned in a letter dated Friday that he has determined to step down for the great of the town and “to reduce additional distractions.” He was elected to the council on Could 7 and was sworn in on Could 31, only a week after the bloodbath, in a closed-door ceremony.
“The mayor, the town council, and the town workers should proceed to maneuver ahead to unite our group as soon as once more,” Arredondo mentioned in his resignation, first reported by the Uvalde Chief-Information.
Arredondo, who has been on administrative go away from his college district place since June 22, has declined repeated requests for remark from The Related Press. His legal professional, George Hyde, didn’t instantly reply to emailed requests for remark Saturday.
On June 21, the Metropolis Council voted unanimously to disclaim Arredondo a go away of absence from showing at public conferences. Kinfolk of the capturing victims had pleaded with metropolis leaders to fireplace him.
The Uvalde Metropolis Council launched Arredondo’s resignation letter Saturday, after metropolis officers acquired notification of his intent to step down by way of e-mail, however didn’t remark additional.
Representatives of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin haven’t responded to AP’s requests for remark.
Police response known as an ‘abject failure’
Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Division of Public Security, informed a state Senate listening to final month that Arredondo — the on-site commander — made “horrible selections” because the bloodbath unfolded on Could 24 , and that the police response was an “abject failure.”
Three minutes after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the college, ample armed regulation enforcement have been on scene to cease the gunman, McCraw testified. But cops armed with rifles stood and waited in a faculty hallway for greater than an hour whereas the gunman carried out the bloodbath. The classroom door couldn’t be locked from the within, however there isn’t a indication officers tried to open the door whereas the gunman was inside, McCraw mentioned.
McCraw has mentioned mother and father begged police outdoors the college to maneuver in and college students contained in the classroom repeatedly pleaded with 911 operators for assist whereas greater than a dozen officers waited in a hallway. Officers from different businesses urged Arredondo to allow them to transfer in as a result of kids have been at risk.
“The one factor stopping a hallway of devoted officers from coming into room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who determined to position the lives of officers earlier than the lives of youngsters,” McCraw mentioned.
Arredondo has tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he did not contemplate himself the commander answerable for operations and that he assumed another person had taken management of the regulation enforcement response. He mentioned he did not have his police and campus radios however that he used his cellphone to name for tactical gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.
It is nonetheless not clear why it took so lengthy for police to enter the classroom, how they communicated with one another throughout the assault, and what their physique cameras present.
Officers have declined to launch extra particulars, citing the investigation.
Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde and has spent a lot of his practically 30-year profession in regulation enforcement within the metropolis.
