Uvalde school police chief joins city council, claims he’s cooperating with state probe

Decision reportedly made after state police official criticised police for ‘wrong decision’ over storming classroom

Uvalde school police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo has joined the Uvalde City Council, growing his influence in the town a week after 19 students and two faculty members were killed at Robb Elementary School in a mass shooting and amid unconfirmed reports that his department has stopped cooperating with a state investigation into the police response to that attack.

Mr Arredondo was sworn in on Tuesday. The council chose to forgo a ceremony marking Mr Arredondo’s joining out of respect for the families having funerals this week for their loved ones lost in the shooting.

He has denied the allegations that he is not cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety, claiming he is in contact with them “daily.”

However, a report from ABC News suggests the Uvalde police department and Independent School District police force have stopped cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into last Tuesday’s massacre.

Officials at both agencies decided to pull their assistance last week after Texas DPS Director, Colonel Steven McCraw, said that officers made “the wrong decision” in waiting outside the classroom rather than immediately storming it, says ABC News.

Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed the situation, reports the news organisation.

Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style assault rifle to murder 21 people inside an adjoining classroom, while police waited in a corridor outside before eventually forcing entry and killing him.

Col McCraw admitted on Friday that law enforcement officers took more than one hour to breach the classroom as children called 911 begging for help.

Follow the latest updates on the Uvalde mass shooting

He said the incident commander on site, Mr Arredondo of the school district’s own police force, determined that the situation was no longer an active shooting and “no more children were at risk”.

“Obviously, based upon the information we have, there were children in that classroom that were at risk, and it was, in fact, still an active shooter situation,” McCraw said.

Now Texas DPS says that while Chief Arredondo provided them with an initial interview, a request for a follow-up remains unanswered.

“Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde CISD Police have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago,” Texas DPS told The Independent.

Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for Uvalde, which will allow state and local agencies to deploy resources to the grieving town, including mental health services and other aid.

“The community of Uvalde has been left devastated by last week’s senseless act of violence at Robb Elementary School and should not have to encounter any difficulty in receiving the support needed to heal,” Governor Abbott said in a statement. “All of Texas stands with Uvalde, and we are prepared to provide support through all available means.”

The Independent has reached out to Uvalde ISD for comment.