Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo broke his silence over last month’s mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School, telling the Texas Tribune that he “didn’t know he was in charge” and that he “ditched his police radios on purpose seconds after arriving” at the school:
The Uvalde CISD Police Chief says he didn't know he was in charge and ditched his police radios on purpose seconds after arriving at Robb Elementary.https://t.co/cgntABLW0w
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
Um, he should have kept his mouth shut maybe?
After two weeks of silence punctuated by allegations of non-cooperation, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo offered his account of the events inside Robb Elementary on May 24. pic.twitter.com/X2gjpIy6zY
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
You might ask why he would drop his radios outside the school. . .
Arredondo told the Texas Tribune's @James_Barragan and @zachdespart that he dropped his police and campus radios outside the school seconds after arriving at the northeast entrance of Robb Elementary.
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
. . .well, he did that because the “whiplike antenna” on one radio interfered with his ability to run and the other kept falling off his belt . . . or something:
Arredondo said that one of the radios had a "whiplike antenna" that would hit his side as he ran.
Another he claimed was likely to fall off his tactical belt.
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
Do you know what might be handy after running into the school and then standing around for 77 minutes not knowing who is in charge? TWO F***ING RADIOS, THAT’S WHAT:
The chief pinned the blame for the 77-minute span between his arrival at the school and the elimination of Ramos primarily on officers' inability to find the correct key to the door of the classroom in which the shooter had locked himself.
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
He also blamed the delay on the key rings he was given. Again, a radio or two might have come in handy here:
Over the course of the attack, he says he was given two different key rings to try.
"Each time I tried a key I was just praying," Arredondo said.
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
But we’re still waiting for confirmation of this version of events, as bad as it makes himself out to be:
However, few elements of Arredondo's version of events at Robb Elementary that day have been confirmed by other officers and personnel in the hallway with him.
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
We suspect it gets much, much worse for him:
The Tribune's report includes claims from the police chief that he had no idea he was in charge of the police response inside the school.https://t.co/fMITOV39p1
— Chron (@chron) June 10, 2022
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Related:
Uvalde Police Department ‘no longer cooperating’ with state investigation into the school shooting
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