Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to Texas capturing to affix City Council

The police chief who reportedly made the decision not to immediately send officers into Robb Elementary Faculty to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's City Council just three weeks in the past after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the community. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased School District, stopped a minimum of 19 officers from breaking into the varsity because the gunman opened hearth for at the very least an hour.

Arredondo believed that the shooter had barricaded himself and that the youngsters weren't underneath an active menace, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Division of Public Security, said Friday. 

“From the good thing about hindsight the place I’m sitting now, in fact, it was not the appropriate determination. It was a unsuitable resolution. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw said at a information conference. “There were plenty of officers to do what needed to be completed, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed extra gear and extra officers to do a tactical breach at the moment."

In line with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no active menace, so as an alternative of sending officers in, he frolicked discovering keys that will let him into the varsity. During this time, however, the shooter had unencumbered entry to carry out the assault. Nineteen college students and two lecturers had been killed.

Arredondo was not present among law enforcement officials standing with McCraw on Friday, and McCraw didn't explicitly title him.

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

Because the neighborhood calls for solutions and items together a shaky and conflicting timeline of events, scrutiny has turned to Arredondo, who was born and raised in Uvalde. 

After working because the police captain on the United Unbiased College District in Laredo, Texas, about 140 miles south of Uvalde, Arredondo returned to his hometown in April 2020, when he accepted the position of chief of police for the Uvalde college district, based on the Uvalde Chief-Information.

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

Arredondo instructed the Leader-News that he was desperate to serve the neighborhood, saying he was dedicated to establishing a strong working relationship with the three officers he could be leading. 

“We wish to be sure that we can be found wherever we are needed,” Arredondo advised the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his local likability led to a profitable bid for a City Council seat this month. He beat out three different candidates, garnering nearly 70 percent of the vote in 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 stated. 

“I’m very excited, I'm able to hit the bottom running. I've plenty of ideas, and I positively have plenty of drive,” Arredondo informed the outlet this month.

Arredondo is scheduled to be sworn onto the council on Tuesday, precisely one week after the Uvalde shooting.

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