And again... (Another US Shooting)

spaminator

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Uvalde schools' police chief Pete Arredondo resigns from city council
Relatives of the shooting victims had pleaded with city leaders to fire him

Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Acacia Coronado
Publishing date:Jul 02, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

UVALDE, Texas — The Uvalde school district’s police chief has stepped down from his position in the city council just weeks after being sworn in following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.


Chief Pete Arredondo said in a letter dated Friday that he has decided to step down for the good of the city and “to minimize further distractions.” He was elected to the council on May 7 and was sworn in on May 31, just a week after the massacre, in a closed-door ceremony.

“The mayor, the city council, and the city staff must continue to move forward to unite our community once again,” Arredondo said in his resignation, first reported by the Uvalde Leader-News.

Arredondo, who has been on administrative leave from his school district position since June 22, has declined repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press. His attorney, George Hyde, did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Saturday.


On June 21, the City Council voted unanimously to deny Arredondo a leave of absence from appearing at public meetings. Relatives of the shooting victims had pleaded with city leaders to fire him.

The Uvalde City Council released Arredondo’s resignation letter Saturday, after city officials received notification of his intent to step down via email, but did not comment further.

Representatives of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin have not responded to AP’s requests for comment.

Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a state Senate hearing last month that Arredondo — the on-site commander — made “terrible decisions” as the massacre unfolded on May 24 , and that the police response was an “abject failure.”


Three minutes after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the school, sufficient armed law enforcement were on scene to stop the gunman, McCraw testified. Yet police officers armed with rifles stood and waited in a school hallway for more than an hour while the gunman carried out the massacre. The classroom door could not be locked from the inside, but there is no indication officers tried to open the door while the gunman was inside, McCraw said.

McCraw has said parents begged police outside the school to move in and students inside the classroom repeatedly pleaded with 911 operators for help while more than a dozen officers waited in a hallway. Officers from other agencies urged Arredondo to let them move in because children were in danger.


“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.

Arredondo has tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he didn’t consider himself the commander in charge of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have his police and campus radios but that he used his cellphone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.

It’s still not clear why it took so long for police to enter the classroom, how they communicated with each other during the attack, and what their body cameras show.

Officials have declined to release more details, citing the investigation.

Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde and has spent much of his nearly 30-year career in law enforcement in the city.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Uvalde schools' police chief Pete Arredondo resigns from city council
Relatives of the shooting victims had pleaded with city leaders to fire him

Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Acacia Coronado
Publishing date:Jul 02, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

UVALDE, Texas — The Uvalde school district’s police chief has stepped down from his position in the city council just weeks after being sworn in following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.


Chief Pete Arredondo said in a letter dated Friday that he has decided to step down for the good of the city and “to minimize further distractions.” He was elected to the council on May 7 and was sworn in on May 31, just a week after the massacre, in a closed-door ceremony.

“The mayor, the city council, and the city staff must continue to move forward to unite our community once again,” Arredondo said in his resignation, first reported by the Uvalde Leader-News.

Arredondo, who has been on administrative leave from his school district position since June 22, has declined repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press. His attorney, George Hyde, did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Saturday.


On June 21, the City Council voted unanimously to deny Arredondo a leave of absence from appearing at public meetings. Relatives of the shooting victims had pleaded with city leaders to fire him.

The Uvalde City Council released Arredondo’s resignation letter Saturday, after city officials received notification of his intent to step down via email, but did not comment further.

Representatives of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin have not responded to AP’s requests for comment.

Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a state Senate hearing last month that Arredondo — the on-site commander — made “terrible decisions” as the massacre unfolded on May 24 , and that the police response was an “abject failure.”


Three minutes after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the school, sufficient armed law enforcement were on scene to stop the gunman, McCraw testified. Yet police officers armed with rifles stood and waited in a school hallway for more than an hour while the gunman carried out the massacre. The classroom door could not be locked from the inside, but there is no indication officers tried to open the door while the gunman was inside, McCraw said.

McCraw has said parents begged police outside the school to move in and students inside the classroom repeatedly pleaded with 911 operators for help while more than a dozen officers waited in a hallway. Officers from other agencies urged Arredondo to let them move in because children were in danger.


“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.

Arredondo has tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he didn’t consider himself the commander in charge of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have his police and campus radios but that he used his cellphone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.

It’s still not clear why it took so long for police to enter the classroom, how they communicated with each other during the attack, and what their body cameras show.

Officials have declined to release more details, citing the investigation.

Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde and has spent much of his nearly 30-year career in law enforcement in the city.
he should have been fired. :(
 
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pgs

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Once upon a time the thought was that you get what you pay for. Now, we pay politicians and bureaucraps huge salaries for dismal performance.
Back in the day the saying was we need to pay our elected representatives more to attract the best and brightest . How is that working ?
 
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taxslave

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Nov 25, 2008
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Back in the day the saying was we need to pay our elected representatives more to attract the best and brightest . How is that working ?
Sad fact is, the best and brightest don't want anything to do with our political system. Smart people are results driven. Bureaucraps are process driven. The outcome is irrelevant as long as the paperwork matches.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Sad fact is, the best and brightest don't want anything to do with our political system. Smart people are results driven. Bureaucraps are process driven. The outcome is irrelevant as long as the paperwork matches.
Define "best" and "brightest." Some people have a talent for math. Some have a talent for basketball. Some have a talent for writing.

And some have a talent for organization.
 

taxslave

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Nov 25, 2008
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Define "best" and "brightest." Some people have a talent for math. Some have a talent for basketball. Some have a talent for writing.

And some have a talent for organization.
It goes like this
A students are the engineers and inventors. Most of them, although being bright, lack interest in getting inventions to market.
B students are the business people. They take inventions and get them to market and generally keep the economy running.
C students work for the government.
Everyone else drives a truck.
 

Serryah

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Dec 3, 2008
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The more I hear about the video that got leaked, from what's in the video to the fact it was leaked without parents seeing it first, it just shows this entire situation was a goddamn gong show and proves the systemic failure of the current policing force in the US.