Peter Arredondo is the Uvalde School District Police Chief in Texas who initially made the decision not to send law enforcement officers inside the Robb Elementary School classroom where shooter Salvador Ramos was shooting children and teachers.
The director of Texas Department of Public Safety Col. Steven McCraw held a press conference on Friday, May 27, 2022, but he didn’t reveal the name of the officer who made a big mistake or wrong decision to not engage the 18-year-old shooter sooner.
Source revealed the name of the Uvalde School District police chief to be Pedro ‘Pete’ Arredondo. He also held a news conference on May 24.
Uvalde School District Police Chief Peter Arredondo Decided Not To Send Officers Inside Robb Elementary School
According to McCraw, the police chief Peter Arrendondo made the decision because of his thought process at the time. He had thought that it was a barricaded subject situation so the gunman would hesitate to make a wrong decision. But it turned out that the gunman did what he had come to do.
Meanwhile, children and teachers were stuck inside Robb Elementary School classrooms. Repeated calls were made from classrooms 111 and 112 in Uvalde, Texas, while pleading for help. 2022 Uvalde mass shooting turned out to be the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.
“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitt ing now, of course it was not the right decision,” McCraw said of the supervisor’s call not to confront the shooter. “It was the wrong decision. Period. There’s no excuse for that.”
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McCraw didn’t comment where Arredondo was present on the scene during the shooting when he was asked. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered a full accounting of what happened during the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde. However, he declined to have a say if the school’s district police chief should be fired.
“As far as his employment status is concerned, that’s something that is beyond my control and I have no knowledge about,” said Abbott. “Every act of all of those officials will be known and identified and explained to the public.”
Since the brief press statements on the day of school tragedy, Arrendondo hasn’t made any other statement yet. The Reporter Times attempted to reach the Peter Arrendondo, but got no response.
On the Uvalde school district website, Arrendondo is referred to as the current head of police. Moreover, he was also introduced as the chief of police at news conference that was held on Tuesday following the Robb Elementary shooting.
Arredondo made only a few statements and refused to take any questions from those present. He spoke of the gunman being deceased and provided no other details.
Arrendondo is in the service for three decades. He was recently elected to a seat on Uvalde’s city council. In 2020, he was made the head of the department by a board of trustees for the school district. The district’s superintendent Hal Harrell said that they are confident of their selection as Arrendondo is an experienced, knowledgeable man and has been involved in the community.
After being appointed as the Uvalde police chief, Peter Arrendondo seemed happy to return to work in his hometown. At the time, he emphasized education and training at the police department saying that police can never have enough training.
Previously, Arredondo has served as a captain at a school district police department in Laredo, Texas. He had been at multiple roles during his service in the police department.