The Uvalde school district police chief has been sworn in as a member of the city council — but he continues to dodge state authorities investigating the law enforcement response into the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, which left 21 people dead.
Pedro “Pete” Arredondo was welcomed onto the Uvalde City Council without fanfare on Tuesday, exactly one week after the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the Sandy Hook Massacre in 2012.
“Out of respect for the families who buried their children today, and who are planning to bury their children in the next few days, no ceremony was held,” Mayor Don McLaughlin said in a statement.
Suspected gunman Salvador Ramos burst into Robb Elementary School around lunchtime the afternoon of May 24, and then barricaded himself inside a classroom, where he remained for nearly an hour. Just outside the door, responding officers milled about in the hallway, entering the room only after locating the key that unlocks it.
The shooter managed to kill two teachers and 19 students before he was ultimately shot by a U.S. border patrol agent.
Arredondo, the police chief of Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, has come under fire in recent days for his decision-making amid the massacre at the Uvalde primary school. It’s been said he was the incident commander who opted against immediately confronting the gunman, though he has not been officially named by officials.
Texas Department of Public Safety director Col. Steven McCraw said the chief wrongfully believed the attack “had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject,” and that there was no longer a threat to students. He thought there was time to formulate a plan, even as terrified children called 911 from inside the building.
On Tuesday, DPS officials revealed Arredondo has not responded to requests for a second interview with the Texas Rangers, who are investigating the massacre.
“Our parents deserve answers and I trust the Texas Deparment of Safety/Texas Rangers will leave no stone unturned,” McClaughlin said. “Our emotions are raw and our hearts broken.”
The Justice Department has also announced and investigation into the law enforcement response to the shooting at the request of the mayor.
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