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Uvalde police chief faces scrutiny as 'man in hiding' following reports he had officers wait an hour before confronting shooter at Robb Elementary School

Jun 4, 2022, 20:19 IST
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Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo.CTV News
  • Uvalde residents said the school district's police chief should be fired after his response to shooting.
  • The Texas Tribune reported that Pete Arredondo has been out of the public eye since the shooting.
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Pete Arredondo — the police chief who made the call to have officers wait more than an hour before engaging with the shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas — has police stationed outside his home and has largely disappeared from the public eye, The Texas Tribune reported.

Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, has been described as a "man in hiding" since the incident, according to the Tribune. His disappearance comes following reports that police did not immediately confront the 18-year-old gunman during the attack that left 19 children and two adults dead.

Arredondo reportedly thought the gunman was barricaded inside a classroom alone, and told officers outside the school not to engage. One police officer said there was "almost a mutiny" outside the school as officers were told not to enter.

Parents have said that police did not respond when they urged them to enter the school and some said they tried to push through law enforcement to rescue their kids. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety Director, has since called the delay the "wrong decision."

In the days that followed, the department has faced sharp scrutiny for its response, as lawmakers and community members rally together in search of answers and accountability for the tragedy.

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The Tribune reported that Arredondo told a television crew that staked out his office that he wouldn't explain his actions until after the funerals for the victims.

City officials have also reportedly helped keep Arrendondo hidden from the public, and swore him into his new role on the City Council in secret. The Tribune added that state police complained that Arredondo has not cooperated with a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation into the shooting, an accusation he denied.

Residents told the Tribune that accountability starts with firing Arredondo and overhauling his department.

"They were cowards," Salvador Hurtado said. "There was one man with a gun, and they waited and waited. … I read the signs on the police cars that say 'protect and serve.' Where was the protection?"

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