Pete Arredondo, the embattled chief of Texas Police, has resigned his seat on the Uvalde City Council just a month after he was sworn into the position.
The Uvalde Leader-News reported Arredondo’s resignation plans on Saturday afternoon.
After receiving the news from the local newspaper, Uvalde leaders announced that they had received the official resignation letter.
Arredondo wrote that “After careful consideration, it was in the best interests of the community to resign as a member the City Council for District 3, to minimize any further distractions.” “The Mayor, City Council and City Staff must continue to work together to unify our community once more.”
His resignation is announced after Arredondo was the focal figure in a series tactical mistakes. This included the decision to not confront an 18-year old gunman in response to the Robb Elementary School massacre that killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24.
NBC News reached out to Arredondo’s lawyer, but has yet to hear back.
Arredondo was elected as District 3 representative in the Uvalde City Council in May 2007. He was officially sworn in one week after the school shooting.
About a week ago, he was placed on administrative leave by the Uvalde Consolidated International School District.
Hal Harrell, Uvalde’s school superintendent, stated in a statement that he was still waiting for the investigations into the mass shootings.
He said, “Today I am still not privy to details about the investigations being carried out by different agencies.” “Because there is still no clarity and the uncertain timing of when I will get the results of the investigations, Chief Arredondo has been placed on administrative leave.”
Harrell stated that Lt. Mike Hernandez assumed the duties of chief.
According to state authorities, Arredondo was the incident commander in the school massacre. Arredondo said that he didn’t consider himself the officer in command.
Officials claim that Arredondo mistreated the gunman as an active shooter and instead treated him as a suspect in a barricade. Federal agents arrived in the room and shot the gunman after more than an hour.
The police response is being investigated by both federal and state agencies.
On the campus, officers from federal, state, and city law enforcement agencies were also present. The gunman was eventually killed by a SWAT-like team made up of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
On June 21, Col. Steve McCraw, Texas Department of Public Safety, described police actions during a hearing before a Senate committee.
He stated that “We know this, there is compelling evidence that Robb Elementary’s law enforcement response was an abject failure” and was in direct contradiction to all we have learned over the past two decades.
McCraw stated that the classroom where the shooter was hiding was not locked during the hearing. After the shooting, it was widely reported that police prevented the shooter from entering the classrooms. They were searching for keys to unlock the doors.
McCraw and a published timeline show that it took approximately one hour, 14 minutes, and 8 seconds for police to enter the building and kill the gunman.
He said that the only thing that stopped a corridor of dedicated officers from Rooms 111 and 112 were the officers’ commanders who chose to put the lives of the children above the lives of the officers. The officers are armed. The children did not have any weapons. Officers wore body armor. None of the children had any. Officers had received training. The subject did not have any training.”
McCraw and the timeline indicate that McCraw was referring to McCraw’s timeline, which shows that at least one of the ballistic shields and law enforcement officers arrived in the school around 19 minutes after the gunman entered the classrooms.
Since the Uvalde campus bloodshed, Arredondo has largely avoided media attention. He told The Texas Tribune that he never hesitated to place himself at risk.
Arredondo was appointed chief of police for the school district in 2020. He also stated to The Tribune that he considers himself a front-line responseer, and not someone managing the larger response.
He told The Tribune that he didn’t issue any orders. “I called for help and requested an extraction tool to open my door.”
According to The Tribune Arredondo decided he couldn’t enter the classroom with the gunman in it and dialled police dispatch from his phone to request a tactical unit, some snipers, and an extrication tool.
George Hyde, Arredondo’s lawyer, said to The Tribune that it wasn’t because someone said “stand down”. It was “Right now, it’s impossible to get in until we have the tools. We’re going do everything we can to save lives. It was to evacuate students, parents, and teachers from the rooms.
Arredondo was elected to Uvalde City Council May 7th. He was sworn into office May 31st, a week following the shooting. The shooting prevented a council meeting from taking place that day.
He was not present at the special emergency meeting of the council that took place a week later on June 7.
Arredondo did not also attend the June 21 meeting at which the council unanimously denied his request for a leave to miss future council meetings.
