Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde School District Police Chief, also told the Texas Tribune that he deliberately left police and campus radios behind before entering Robb Elementary School. An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers behind a locked classroom door that the principal said was reinforced with steel and could not be kicked inside. Poor radio communication is among the concerns raised about how police handled the May 24 shooting and why they did not deal with the gunman for more than an hour, even when anxious parents outside the school urged police. to go inside. Separately, the New York Times reported Thursday that documents show police were waiting for protective equipment as they were late to enter campus, even when they realized some of the victims needed medical attention. Arredondo told the Tribune that he used his cell phone from the school hallway to request tactical equipment, a sniper rifle and keys to enter the classroom. He said he was kept out of the door for 40 minutes to avoid being shot and tried dozens of keys that were brought to him, but, one by one, failed. “Every time I tried a key, I just prayed,” he told the Tribune. In the more than two weeks since the shooting, Arredondo’s actions have come under intense scrutiny by both government officials and experts trained in mass shooting. Steven McCroe, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the school’s police chief, whom he described as the incident commander, had made the “wrong decision” not to order police officers to break down quickly to deal with the incident. the armed. But Arredondo, who told the Tribune that he believed the radio transfer would slow him down as he entered school and that he knew radios were not working in some school buildings, said he never considered himself the scene manager and did not gave no instructions. that the police should not attempt to break into the building. “I did not give orders,” Arredondo said. “I called for help and asked for an extraction tool to open the door.” Arredondo has not responded to repeated interviews and questions from the Associated Press. Arredondo’s account and the files obtained by the Times were published on Thursday, as law enforcement and government officials try to provide a precise timeline and details. They have also made frequent corrections to their previous statements and no information about the police response has been officially made public by investigators since the days following the attack. According to documents obtained by the Times, a man who investigators believe is Arredondo could be heard in the body camera footage talking about how much time was spent. “People will ask why we are so late,” the man said, according to a camera photo of the officers’ body obtained by the newspaper. “We try to save the rest of our lives.” Sixty police officers had gathered at the scene until four police officers entered, according to the report. The two classrooms where the shootings took place included 33 children and three teachers. Not all of the victims were found dead when police finally entered: a teacher died in an ambulance and three children died at nearby hospitals, according to Times records, which included a check on law enforcement documents and videos collected. as part of the research. The family of Xavier Lopez, 10, said the boy had been shot in the back and lost a lot of blood while waiting for medical help. “He could have been saved,” Leonard Sandoval, the boy’s grandfather, told the newspaper. “The police did not enter for more than an hour. He was bleeding. “ The Times’ files provided further details, including that the gunman, Salvador Ramos, had a “hell” trigger device designed to allow an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to be fired more like an automatic weapon, but did not appear to have use it during the attack. Ramos had spent more than $ 6,000 assembling an arsenal of weapons that included two AR-15 rifles, accessories and hundreds of cartridges, according to the documents. The Times reported that some of the officers who first arrived at the school had long guns and that Arredondo learned the gunman’s identity while inside the school and tried to communicate with him through the closed classroom doors. Eva Mireles, one of the teachers killed, called her husband, a Uvalde school district police officer, during the attack. Documents obtained by the Times show that Ruben Ruiz informed the correspondents on stage that his wife was still alive in one of the classrooms. “He says he was shot,” Ruiz was heard saying to other officers as he arrived at the school at 11:48 a.m., according to a copy of the Times’s body camera. By 12:46 p.m., Arredondo appeared to be approving the officers’ entry into the room, the Times reported. “If you are all ready to do it, do it,” he said, according to the minutes. About a week after the shooting, Public Security officials said Arredondo was no longer cooperating with the agency and had not responded to interview requests from the Texas Rangers, the agency’s research unit. Arredondo’s lawyer, George E. Hyde, told the Tribune about Thursday’s story that Arredondo could not be interviewed the day the Rangers requested because he was covering shifts for his officers. Hyde said Arredondo is willing to work with the Rangers investigation, but would like to see a transcript of his previous comments. “It’s fair to ask before you have to discuss it again, because as time goes on, all the information you hear is difficult to keep straight,” Hyde said.
More about school shootings in Uvalde, Texas:
title: “Uvalde School Police Chief Defends Texas Shot Response " ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-27” author: “Seth Bowman”
Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde School District Police Chief, also told the Texas Tribune that he deliberately left police and campus radios behind before entering Robb Elementary School. An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers behind a locked classroom door that the principal said was reinforced with steel and could not be kicked inside. Poor radio communication is among the concerns raised about how police handled the May 24 shooting and why they did not deal with the gunman for more than an hour, even when anxious parents outside the school urged police. to go inside. Separately, the New York Times reported Thursday that documents show police were waiting for protective equipment as they were late to enter campus, even when they realized some of the victims needed medical attention. Arredondo told the Tribune that he used his cell phone from the school hallway to request tactical equipment, a sniper rifle and keys to enter the classroom. He said he was kept out of the door for 40 minutes to avoid being shot and tried dozens of keys that were brought to him, but, one by one, failed. “Every time I tried a key, I just prayed,” he told the Tribune. In the more than two weeks since the shooting, Arredondo’s actions have come under intense scrutiny by both government officials and experts trained in mass shooting. Steven McCroe, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the school’s police chief, whom he described as the incident commander, had made the “wrong decision” not to order police officers to break down quickly to deal with the incident. the armed. But Arredondo, who told the Tribune that he believed the radio transfer would slow him down as he entered school and that he knew radios were not working in some school buildings, said he never considered himself the scene manager and did not gave no instructions. that the police should not attempt to break into the building. “I did not give orders,” Arredondo said. “I called for help and asked for an extraction tool to open the door.” Arredondo has not responded to repeated interviews and questions from the Associated Press. Arredondo’s account and the files obtained by the Times were published on Thursday, as law enforcement and government officials try to provide a precise timeline and details. They have also made frequent corrections to their previous statements and no information about the police response has been officially made public by investigators since the days following the attack. According to documents obtained by the Times, a man who investigators believe is Arredondo could be heard in the body camera footage talking about how much time was spent. “People will ask why we are so late,” the man said, according to a camera photo of the officers’ body obtained by the newspaper. “We try to save the rest of our lives.” Sixty police officers had gathered at the scene until four police officers entered, according to the report. The two classrooms where the shootings took place included 33 children and three teachers. Not all of the victims were found dead when police finally entered: a teacher died in an ambulance and three children died at nearby hospitals, according to Times records, which included a check on law enforcement documents and videos collected. as part of the research. The family of Xavier Lopez, 10, said the boy had been shot in the back and lost a lot of blood while waiting for medical help. “He could have been saved,” Leonard Sandoval, the boy’s grandfather, told the newspaper. “The police did not enter for more than an hour. He was bleeding. “ The Times’ files provided further details, including that the gunman, Salvador Ramos, had a “hell” trigger device designed to allow an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to be fired more like an automatic weapon, but did not appear to have use it during the attack. Ramos had spent more than $ 6,000 assembling an arsenal of weapons that included two AR-15 rifles, accessories and hundreds of cartridges, according to the documents. The Times reported that some of the officers who first arrived at the school had long guns and that Arredondo learned the gunman’s identity while inside the school and tried to communicate with him through the closed classroom doors. Eva Mireles, one of the teachers killed, called her husband, a Uvalde school district police officer, during the attack. Documents obtained by the Times show that Ruben Ruiz informed the correspondents on stage that his wife was still alive in one of the classrooms. “He says he was shot,” Ruiz was heard saying to other officers as he arrived at the school at 11:48 a.m., according to a copy of the Times’s body camera. By 12:46 p.m., Arredondo appeared to be approving the officers’ entry into the room, the Times reported. “If you are all ready to do it, do it,” he said, according to the minutes. About a week after the shooting, Public Security officials said Arredondo was no longer cooperating with the agency and had not responded to interview requests from the Texas Rangers, the agency’s research unit. Arredondo’s lawyer, George E. Hyde, told the Tribune about Thursday’s story that Arredondo could not be interviewed the day the Rangers requested because he was covering shifts for his officers. Hyde said Arredondo is willing to work with the Rangers investigation, but would like to see a transcript of his previous comments. “It’s fair to ask before you have to discuss it again, because as time goes on, all the information you hear is difficult to keep straight,” Hyde said.