Pete Arredondo, the previous faculty police chief criticized for lethal delays within the response to final week’s faculty bloodbath, was formally sworn in as a Metropolis Council member Tuesday, the workplace of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin introduced, whereas earlier within the day state legislation enforcement officers stated he has failed to answer their interview requests within the investigation of the college capturing.
The mayor had initially postponed the swearing-in ceremony out of respect for the victims’ households, in keeping with NBC Information, however as a substitute held it with out the general public ceremony. Arredondo was elected to the Uvalde Metropolis Council earlier this yr.
The Texas Division of Public Security stated that Arredondo has not responded to requests from Texas Rangers for a follow-up interview of their investigation of the delayed police response at Robb Elementary College on Could 24, in keeping with a number of studies.
A DPS spokesperson informed the Texas Tribune and ABC Information that Arredondo has not responded to the requests for 2 days.
“The chief of the Uvalde [Consolidated Independent School District] Police offered an preliminary interview however has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days in the past,” the DPS stated in an announcement to the Tribune.
The Uvalde Police Division and the Uvalde faculty district police are nonetheless cooperating with the state investigation, in keeping with the assertion.
Whereas Arredondo hasn’t responded to latest interview requests, officers from the police division and the college police power have been interviewed by the state police since Friday, in keeping with New York Instances reporter J. David Goodman, who spoke to a DPS spokesperson.
“There have been interviews with each departments since Friday,” the spokesperson informed the Instances.
The studies of Arredondo’s absence got here days after Public Security Director Steven McCraw held a information convention on Friday and admitted that responding officers made a “unsuitable choice” after they delayed coming into the fourth-grade classroom to cease the 18-year-old gunman, who killed 19 college students and two academics inside the college.
McCraw additionally informed reporters on Friday that the scene commander main the response to the capturing selected to attend as a result of they wrongly believed the gunman was barricaded behind a locked door and was not a danger to the kids.
Within the hour he was locked in with the scholars, the gunman opened hearth on the classroom.
“With the good thing about hindsight, the place I’m sitting now, after all it was not the correct choice, it was the unsuitable choice, there was no excuse for that,” McCraw stated.
The scene commander was later recognized as Arredondo.
Because the investigation into the police response continues, Uvalde legislation enforcement officers have provided various explanations for what transpired in the course of the response to the capturing by law enforcement officials and different legislation enforcement officers.
Although McCraw stated that officers on the scene of the capturing believed the gunman not posed a danger, DPS spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez informed CNN on Friday that officers have been reluctant to confront the gunman as a result of “they may’ve been shot.” Olivarez additionally stated that they have been ready for a tactical group from the U.S. Border Patrol to confront the shooter.
Moreover, preliminary studies that a instructor had propped open an exterior door on the faculty, which the gunman entered, have been proved false.
Investigators introduced Tuesday that they've decided a instructor eliminated the rock and closed the propped-open exterior door as soon as she realized there was a shooter arriving on the faculty. Nonetheless, the door didn’t lock, as Travis Considine, chief communications officer for the Texas Division of Public Security, informed The Related Press.
“She got here again out whereas on her cellphone, she heard somebody yell, ‘He has a gun!’, she noticed him bounce the fence and that he had a gun, so she ran again inside,” eradicating the rock when she did, Considine informed AP.
“We did confirm she closed the door. The door didn't lock,” Considine added. “We all know that a lot, and now investigators are trying into why it didn't lock.”
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