Correction: Uvalde School Police Chief Not Responding In Probe

San Antonio TX

31 May, 2022

5:25 PM

Description

CORRECTION: Patch previously reported the Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police were not cooperating with a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation. That is incorrect and has been corrected in the story. UVALDE, TX — Pete Arredondo, police chief for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, has not responded to Texas Department of Public Safety requests for a follow-up interview in an investigation into police response to last week's shooting at Robb Elementary School, a spokesperson from the agency confirmed to Patch. ABC News first reported the Uvalde Police Department and school district police are no longer cooperating with the investigation, citing law enforcement sources. The Texas Rangers have not received a response from Arredondo in two days for a follow-up from his initial statement, but Uvalde and school district police are cooperating with the investigation, agency press secretary Ericka Miller said. Officers from both the Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde school police have spoken with investigators, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine told the Dallas Morning News. "It's absolutely wrong" that either department is being uncooperative, he added. Arredondo was recently elected to Uvalde City Council and was scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday, though that has been pushed back as the town attends to the victims' funerals. Arredondo, a well-liked member of the community, has faced criticism from town residents in recent days after Steven McCraw, director of the Department of Public Safety, said he made the "wrong decision" when he told officers in the school to wait in the hallway instead of confronting the shooter. The May 24 shooting killed 19 students and two teachers.