Pete Arredondo.Photo: Austin American-Statesman-USA Today Network/Sipa USA
The embattled former police chief of Uvalde schools said his priority was saving children and staff in other parts ofRobb Elementary Schoolafter agunman enteredand opened fire in May 2022, killing19 students and two teachers.
“Once I realized that was going on, my first thought is that we need to vacate,” Arredondo told Texas Department of Safety investigators in an interview following the mass shooting. “We have him contained – and I know this is horrible and I know it’s [what] our training tells us to do but — we have him contained, there’s probably going to be some deceased in there, but we don’t need any more from out here.”
Arredondo’s decision did not follow active shooter protocols, which direct first responders to “isolate, distract and neutralize” an attacker. The guidelines tell officers that they “will usually be required to place themselves in harm’s way and display uncommon acts of courage to save the innocent,” reported CNN.
MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty
The former police chief was one of the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary and did not have his police or school radios upon entering the building. Instead, he used a landline to call 911 and ask for backup after assessing the environment, where bullet casings littered the hallways.
“It’s an emergency right now,” Arredondo told the dispatcher. “I’m inside the building with this man. He has an AR-15. He shot a whole bunch of times … He’s in one room. I need a lot of firepower, I need this building surrounded, surrounded with as many AR-15s as possible.”
Arredondo only had a handgun in his possession but officers with more powerful firearms were at the other end of the hallway, per CNN.
Uvalde families grieve for their loved ones.Brandon Bell/Getty
According to theSan Antonio Express-News, surveillance footage seemingly indicated thatneither Arredondo nor any other officereverattemptedto open the doors where the gunman held two classrooms full of children hostage — and that one of the doors may have been unlocked the whole time.
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Arredondo has previouslydefended his actions. In June 2022 he toldThe Texas Tribunethat he did not consider himself to be the commanding officer on the scene that day.
In phone interviews and statements provided to theTribunethrough his lawyer, Arredondo said that he never told any officers to stand down from breaching the building and that no one told him about the 911 calls that came from inside the classrooms during the 77 minutes before the gunman was shot.
Matthew McConaughey at Robb Elementary School.CNN
One of Arredondo’s subordinate officers disputed Arredondo’s claim that he did not realize that he was in charge, however.
“We were looking to him for guidance,” said the officer, whospoke to PEOPLE immediately after the incidentand again days later. “We wanted him to tell us what to do. He was the chief. He knew the school building better than anyone. So he knew we were all looking to him for decisions. I was literally five feet away from him as we asked what we should do.”
On June 22, Arredondo wasplaced on leave.In August, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District voted to terminate his position as police chief.
Parents were heard screaming “Coward!” at the emotionally charged meeting where he was fired.
source: people.com
