School police chief skips meeting in Uvalde
UVALDE, Texas — The school district police chief criticized for waiting too long before ordering law enforcement to confront and kill the gunman during a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school did not appear at a City Council meeting in Uvalde on Tuesday, despite being newly elected to the panel.
Mayor Don McLaughlin said he was unable to explain why district police Chief Pete Arredondo wasn’t at the brief meeting. Two weeks ago, 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Law enforcement and state officials have struggled to present an accurate timeline and details, and have stopped releasing information about the police response.
McLaughlin told reporters at the meeting that he was frustrated with the lack of information.
“We want facts and answers, just like everybody else,” the mayor said.
Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said Arredondo, in charge of the multi-agency response on May 24, made the “wrong decision” to not order officers to breach the classroom more quickly.
The gunman, 18-yearold Salvador Ramos, spent roughly 80 minutes inside the school, and more than an hour passed from when the first officers followed him into the building and when he was killed, according to an official timeline.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has begun referring questions about the investigation to the Uvalde-area district attorney, Christina Mitchell Busbee. She hasn’t responded to repeated interview requests and questions from AP.
McLaughlin said he has asked officials for a briefing but “we’re not getting it.”