Police admit mistakes in handling Texas mass shootings

Colonel Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, did not mention the official by name during a press conference on May 27, but said he had made the “wrong decision” not to engage in combat. gunman sooner.

The Uvalde School District Sheriff is Pedro “Pete” Arredondo.

Children inside classrooms 111 and 112 of Robb Primary School in Uvalde kept calling 911 and begging for help, Mr McCraw said.

“In my view, of course it wasn’t the right decision,” McCraw said of the decision not to confront the gunman. “It was a wrong decision. There’s no excuse for that.”

When asked by reporters if Arredondo was at the scene of the shooting, McCraw declined to comment.

On May 27, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was looking into the full extent of what happened in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, but he said a decision had not yet been made on whether police whether the school district superintendent is fired.

“It was something out of my control and I didn’t know about it,” Abbott said. “Every behavior of all those officials will be clearly explained to the public.”

Arredondo has not spoken publicly about the shooting since two brief press statements on the day of the tragedy.

CNN attempted to contact Arredondo at his home on May 27, but had no response.

According to the Uvalde school district’s website, Arredondo was identified as the police chief, who was also introduced as police chief at press conferences on May 24, following the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

At press conferences, Arredondo declared the gunman dead, though he offered little else about the massacre.

Arredondo has nearly three decades of law enforcement experience, according to the school district, and was recently elected to a seat on Uvalde’s city council.

The school district’s board of trustees approved Arredondo as sheriff in 2020. The superintendent, Hal Harrell, said in a Facebook post at the time that the board was “very impressed with the experience. Arredondo’s experience and knowledge”.

Arredondo told Uvalde Leader-News after his appointment that he was happy to return to work in his hometown.

In March 2022, Arredondo posted on Facebook that his department was holding “Active Shooting Training” at Uvalde High School in an effort to prepare for “any situation that may arise”. “.

Arredondo previously served as a captain at the school district police department in Laredo, Texas, and held various roles at the Uvalde Police Department.