Multiple sources are now saying that the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) has stopped cooperating with investigators looking into the recent mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
As we’ve been reporting, last week, an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in the southwest Texas town. In the days since, law enforcement officials in Uvalde have increasingly come under scrutiny for their apparent slow response to the shooting, and their alleged unwillingness to breach the classroom and confront the shooter.
Related: Uvalde Shooter Frequently Threatened Women & School Shootings Before Massacre
Now, according to several media reports, multiple police sources have indicated that Pete Arredondo, the chief of police for Uvalde’s CISD (pictured above, left), has apparently stopped cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety‘s probe into the tragic event.
On Tuesday, DailyMail.com spoke to Travis Considine, a spokesperson for the Texas DPS, who bluntly told the outlet that Arredondo has “not responded” to the department’s requests to interview him about his response to the shooting:
“Uvalde and Uvalde CISD departments have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the CISD did an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview that was made two days ago.”
However, that may not be the whole story.
Per the outlet, “fifteen minutes later,” Considine appeared to contradict his prior follow-up interview comment when he told the Dallas News that it was “absolutely wrong” to say either Uvalde law enforcement office had been uncooperative with Texas DPS’ investigation into the shooting:
“Uvalde PD and Uvalde [CISD] are cooperating. Plenty of their personnel have done interviews and given statements to investigators, so it’s absolutely wrong to characterize both those departments as not being cooperative.”
Furthermore, Considine apparently “did not explain” to the media why he’d previously said Arredondo was ignoring the state organization’s interview request.
It’s not just the Daily Mail report at issue, either; according to ABC News, “multiple law enforcement sources” told them on Tuesday that neither neither Uvalde’s city police department nor the school district’s police force are cooperating with the state’s investigation into the massacre. That’s not good…
Related: Uvalde Shooter’s Cousin Says He Asked About The Elementary School Prior To Massacre
Per the ABC News report, the two Uvalde law enforcement arms decided to stop cooperating late last Friday after the director of the Texas DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference announcing that the police’s decision to delay entry into the classroom while the shooting was taking place was “the wrong decision” and went against protocol. In addition to the Texas DPS investigation into the shooting and its aftermath, on Sunday, the U.S. Department of Justice also announced that they had launched an inquiry into the apparently unacceptable police response at Robb Elementary School.
Arredondo specifically is being criticized for reportedly waiting to enter the classroom where the gunman had barricaded himself to commit the atrocity. Per media reports, he had been the on-scene incident commander at the massacre site, and apparently ordered officers to wait “roughly an hour” before entering the room to engage with the shooter. An agent with the U.S. Border Patrol, an arm of the federal agency Customs and Border Protection, reportedly arrived on scene and “decided unilaterally to storm the building and shoot the gunman dead” despite Arredondo’s prior order to wait, per Daily Mail and others.
Simultaneously, on Tuesday, Arredondo was reportedly sworn in as a member of the Uvalde City Council after winning a prior local election for the position earlier this year.
Here is more on that unexpected swearing-in ceremony and the investigation into his apparent refusal to cooperate with Texas DPS investigators, via KENS 5 News (below):
Both the state and federal investigations are expected to continue from here — with Arredondo’s assistance or not.
[Image via KENS 5 News/YouTube]
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