Chief let kids die: probe
Top Texas cop faults school honcho
The Uvalde school police chief put the safety of his cops “before the lives of children” during the botched response to the Robb Elementary massacre, Texas’ top law officer said at a hearing on the shooting Tuesday.
“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told a Texas Senate committee about Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo.
“Mistakes were made and it should have never happened that way and we can’t allow that to ever happen . . . this set our profession back a decade.”
Three minutes after the shoot- ing started, nine officers who were ready to go into the classroom could have stopped the gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, McCraw said.
“You’re the incident commander,” said McCraw. “Obviously, not enough training was done in this situation — plain and simple because of bad decisions, terrible decisions were made by the on-scene commander.”
Doors were unlocked
The head of DPS left no question that Arredondo was the incident commander — something the chief has disputed.
McCraw recalled how multiple officers asked why they hadn’t breached the door and how at one point Arredondo said “I just need a key; tell them to f--king wait. No one comes in.”
McCraw also confirmed reports that the door to the classroom was not locked — and said Arredondo never asked if it was.
“There was always some reason why we didn’t go in, and of course, as a result, it was 1 hour, 14 minutes and 8 seconds. In an active shooter environment, that’s intolerable,” the DPS director said.
Arredondo tried to speak to the shooter in both English and Spanish, but the shooter never replied, according to McCraw.
“You don’t wait for a SWAT team,” said McCraw. “If you got one officer that’s enough. You don’t have to wait for 11, or 12, or 15 or 30. One’s enough. If you’re there on the scene, you have an obligation to go and immediately engage the shooter, and really, stop the killing. That’s preached, practiced and required in the state of Texas.”
The new information infuriated Texas state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who unleashed his anger on Arredondo.
“There is no training that could have overcome this person’s inability to command,” said Bettencourt. “Person should have never even been in the job . . . and there’s so many opportunities that are lost, it’s almost like a psychosis set in.”
Arredondo was set to testify to the hearing later in the evening Tuesday.