Uvalde police chief will testify behind closed doors to Texas lawmakers as he continues to avoid public appearances

• Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo will appear in front of legislators in the Texas House of Representatives Tuesday.
• The hearing will take place behind closed doors.

The embattled police chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District will testify in front of legislators in the Texas House of Representatives Tuesday, but members of the public aren't invited to tune in.

A witness list shared with Insider by the office of Texas Rep. Dustin Burrows, the chair of the House's investigative committee on the Robb Elementary shooting, showed Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo would appear in front of the committee on June 21. Houston police SWAT Sargent Thomas Calabro will also go in front of the committee, but both officers' testimonies are closed to the public.

Arredondo found himself at the center of widespread criticism for the police response during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary that left 19 kids and two adults dead. His behind-closed-doors testimony is the latest piece of information officials are keeping from the public as public records requests go answered due to the "dead suspect loophole."

A spokesperson for Burrows didn't provide a comment on the private hearings but pointed to the chairman's previous comments about how the committee is operating.

During the committee's last hearing on Friday, Burrows said the committee believes keeping the testimonies private will allow them to hear different perspectives on how the shooting unfolded, allowing them to sift through different accounts before presenting what they believe to be true to the public.

"I'm not telling you this is the perfect way to go about doing it by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the way that we know we feel works, and we believe in it, and it's only to try to get to the bottom of it," Burrows said during the Friday hearing.