Arredondo “assumed that another officer or official had taken control of the larger response,” the Tribune wrote. “He took on the role of front-line correspondent.” The Tribune said it had gathered the leader’s comments in a telephone interview and in statements made through his lawyer, George E. Hyde. He adds to a bunch of different explanations given by officials about the police response to the school, where authorities say an 18-year-old killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in two adjoining classrooms and remained there for more than an hour until a Border Patrol tactical response team entered and shot and killed him. During those more than 70 minutes, some children were still alive and called 911 for help. A student told CNN she was stained with her friend’s blood and played dead. The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Colonel Steven McCrow, said on May 27 that the school’s chief of police – Arendodo – was in charge of the incident. that the commander believed the scene was a “subject block state” and not an active sniper state. and that the leader believed that “there was time to retrieve the keys and wait for a tactical team with the equipment to go ahead and break down the door and deal with the matter.” “Of course it was not the right decision,” McCraw said last month about what he said was the supervisor’s call not to confront the shooter. “It was a wrong decision. Period. There is no excuse for that.” Also Thursday, the New York Times reported that while law enforcement officials decided how to break the two orders, they knew the injured victims were still trapped inside the shooter. The Times reported a recording from a law enforcement body’s camera contained in investigative documents and videos from law enforcement authorities examined by the Times. Arredondo has not released any public information or official statement since the day of the attack and declined to answer substantive questions posed by CNN last week, saying he would not release any information as long as the victims’ funerals continue.
Arredondo’s lawyer, Hyde, sent a message to CNN that he and his client are not giving further interviews at this time. “My client needs some time, as this has been very difficult for him. At this point we will not be giving interviews right away,” Hyde told CNN. Numerous investigations and legislative reviews have begun since the attack, including the Texas Investigative Committee, but details of the massacre are still slow to emerge.

What the schedule reports reveal

According to CNN’s analysis of the timeline, three Uvalde police officers entered the school at 11:35 a.m., minutes after the perpetrator broke into the building. Arredondo also told the Tribune that he arrived at the school around 11:35 a.m. Arredondo told the Tribune that he left his two radios outside the school because he wanted his hands free to hold his gun. He thought he would be slowed down due to a faulty clip and an antenna that could hit him while he was running, the Tribune reported. As soon as the leader and a group of Uvalde officers approached the doors of the adjacent classes where the perpetrator had entered, they found that the doors were locked, Arredondo told the Tribune. The gunman then fired through the classroom through the door and wall of the classroom, grazing some of Uvalde police officers and sticking to the wall next to the hallway where there were other classrooms, according to the report.
Because the classroom door was reinforced with a steel bar, police were unable to kick the door, Arredondo told the Tribune. The chief said he called police and asked for a SWAT team, snipers and tools to open the door. It is not clear when Arredondo made this request or ordered officers to begin evacuating students, but CNN previously reported that at about 11:44 a.m., police were requesting additional resources and evacuating students and teachers. As of 12:03 p.m., 19 police officers were in the school hallway, officials said. At that time, a schoolgirl trapped in one of the besieged classrooms called 911 to identify herself and the class she was in. He called two more times several minutes later, telling dispatchers that eight to nine students were still alive, according to authorities. Arredondo told the Tribune that he did not know the 911 calls because he did not have his radios and says that no one transmitted them to him. “People will ask why we are so late,” said a law enforcement official at the scene of the shooting, according to a Times report, citing a recording from law enforcement cameras. “We are trying to save the rest of our lives,” the transcript said, according to the Times. The Times reports that around 12:30 p.m., Arredondo said, “We’re ready to break in, but this door is locked,” citing a copy. At one point, the Tribune reports, a janitor gave six keys that could not be opened and another keychain with 30 keys was later brought to the chief, but these too were unsuccessful. It is not clear when Arredondo received the keys. At 12:50 p.m., a tactical group broke into class using a key from a janitor and shot dead the gunman, CNN reported. Three days after the shooting, McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Arredondo had decided not to disturb the order, calling it a “wrong decision” not to involve the shooter immediately. McCraw did not name Arredondo directly, but said he was the school district police chief who made the call.
The DPS said on May 31 that Arredondo had not responded to a request for follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers, who are investigating the massacre. The next day, Arredondo told CNN: “I’re in touch with the DPS every day.”
Arredondo’s lawyer told the Tribune that the leader had participated in multiple interviews and subsequent calls with the DPS in the days following the shooting and had also briefed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other government officials. After the DPS said it had made the wrong decision, Arredondo “no longer participated in the investigation to avoid media interference,” Hyde said. In a statement to the Times, Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said: “Investigations by the Texas Rangers and the FBI are ongoing and we look forward to sharing the full results with the victims’ families and the public. who deserve the full truth about what happened that tragic day. “ CNN contacted DPS and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for comment. CNN also commented on the National Incident Management System, which guides all levels of government on how to respond to mass emergencies.

The Research Committee is looking for answers

On Thursday, the Texas House Research Committee held its first hearing on the Robb Elementary shooting investigation.
The commission may release its preliminary findings before the full inquiry is completed, Republican State Representative Dustin Barrow, chair of the commission, said in his opening remarks. The preliminary report is expected to be completed by the end of the month, a source close to the commission told CNN.
Burroughs, along with two other members of the committee – Democratic State MP Joe Moody and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman – heard private testimony from senior Texas Department of Public Safety officials Thursday, including of the DPS, Col. Steven McCrow, according to a list of witnesses provided by the committee. Both Moody’s and Burrows declined to share details about Thursday’s closed-door meeting. Asked how he felt about the data, Moody told CNN: “Like any other parent in this situation, I’m sad. I’m scared. I’m shocked.” The committee will meet again next week to review more information and conduct more interviews, Barrows said. Government and local agencies are also investigating the massacre and the response of law enforcement agencies, although residents and officials have been frustrated by the apparent lack of transparency and cooperation.
“It is clear that the state and local officials are not cooperating with each other right now,” Texas Democrat Joaquin Castro told CNN on Saturday, noting that he had asked the FBI to take the lead in the investigation. The US Department of Justice will also conduct a federal review of the law enforcement response at the request of Mayor Uvalde Don McLaughlin, the agency announced last week. CNN’s Rosa Flores, Rosalina Nieves, Holly Yan, Omar Jimenez, Andy Rose, Shimon Prokupecz, Rebekah Riess and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.