Uvalde police chief who delayed officer response to Texas shooting to join Metropolis Council

The police chief who reportedly made the call not to instantly ship officers into Robb Elementary Faculty to confront a gunman was elected to Uvalde's City Council simply three weeks in the past after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the neighborhood. 

Peter Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent College District, stopped at the least 19 officers from breaking into the varsity as the gunman opened fireplace for at the least an hour.

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

“From the advantage of hindsight the place I’m sitting now, after all, it was not the correct decision. It was a fallacious determination. Interval. There was no excuse for that,” McCraw stated at a information conference. “There were loads of officers to do what wanted to be carried out, with one exception, is that the incident commander inside believed he needed extra tools and extra officers to do a tactical breach at the moment."

In keeping with McCraw, Arredondo believed there was no lively threat, so as a substitute of sending officers in, he spent time finding keys that might let him into the varsity. Throughout this time, nonetheless, the shooter had unencumbered entry to hold out the assault. Nineteen students and two academics had been killed.

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

Arredondo did not immediately return a request for remark by NBC News.

Because the community demands solutions and items collectively a shaky and conflicting timeline of occasions, scrutiny has turned to Arredondo, who was born and raised in Uvalde. 

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

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

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

“We want to be sure that we can be found wherever we are wanted,” Arredondo told the newspaper.

As Arredondo’s tenure hit two years, his native likability led to a successful bid for a City Council seat this month. He beat out three other candidates, garnering almost 70 p.c of the vote in the May 7 election, reported the Uvalde Leader-News. 

The chief campaigned, largely door-to-door, on communication and outreach “to these in want,” the newspaper stated. 

“I’m very excited, I am ready to hit the bottom running. I've loads of concepts, and I positively have loads of drive,” Arredondo told the outlet this month.

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

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