Uvalde College Police Chief Pete Arredondo, third from left, stands throughout a information convention exterior of the Robb Elementary faculty in Uvalde, Texas Thursday, Might 26, 2022. Dario Lopez-Mills, Related Press
After rising criticism in regards to the gradual police response to a mass taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas, final month, an area police chief broke his silence on Thursday to defend the actions of legislation enforcement on the scene.
What’s occurring: Pete Arredondo, police chief for Uvalde Consolidated Impartial College District, gave his first in depth public feedback on Thursday, saying he didn't take into account himself to be the commanding officer on the scene of the bloodbath, in line with The Guardian.
- Arredondo spoke to The Texas Tribune, saying he spent greater than an hour within the hallway of the college, attempting dozens of keys to get by means of a locked door and into the classroom the place the gunman was.
- “The one factor that was essential to me right now was to avoid wasting as many academics and kids as doable,” he mentioned.
- Arredondo mentioned he wasn’t informed about a number of 911 calls that got here from throughout the classroom through the 77 minutes earlier than the gunman was killed, in line with The Texas Tribune. He mentioned he didn’t carry his radios with him as a result of he needed each palms free to carry his gun if he encountered a gunman.
Police response in Uvalde: Particulars in regards to the timeline at Robb Elementary College have been gradual to floor, and native legislation enforcement has confronted criticism about its response to the lively shooter.
- In separate reporting on Thursday, The New York Instances reviewed video footage and paperwork exhibiting that “closely armed officers” waited for greater than an hour to confront the gunman, even after supervisors had been informed that some trapped contained in the classroom had been alive and wanted medical consideration.
- In line with the Instances, paperwork present that Arredondo and others had been conscious that some individuals had been nonetheless alive inside the lecture rooms, together with one faculty district officer who spoke by cellphone along with his spouse, a instructor inside who had been shot.
- Though a few of the officers had been armed with lengthy weapons, they waited for extra protecting tools to decrease the danger of confronting the gunman — who was armed with an AR platform rifle he purchased the week prior for his 18th birthday. The rifle was modified with a “hellfire” set off gadget to permit it to be fired like an automated weapon.
- Members of the family of a few of the victims have mentioned their family members might have survived if police had breached the classroom door earlier, together with the household of Xavier Lopez, 10, who was shot within the again and died after being rushed to a hospital.
- “He might have been saved,” his grandfather Leonard Sandoval mentioned, in line with The New York Instances. “The police didn't go in for greater than an hour. He bled out.”