<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654108002534,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000179-379a-dbb2-a7fd-bfda8bfc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654108002534,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000179-379a-dbb2-a7fd-bfda8bfc0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54089484", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1023159"} }); ","_id":"00000181-2085-d297-a5e3-3f850ecf0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe official facing backlash over a slow law enforcement response during the Uvalde shooting said he has been in contact with police, a reversal from comments earlier this week that he hadn’t responded to requests for a follow-up interview.
Pete Arredondo, the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, has been in contact with the Texas Department of Public Safety “every day,” he told CNN on Wednesday. However, DPS officials said on Tuesday that Arredondo “did an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview that was made two days ago.”
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“We’re going to be respectful to the family,” Arredondo said. “We’re going to do that eventually. Whenever this is done and the families quit grieving, then we’ll do that obviously.”
Arrendondo declined to comment further.
His comments mark the first time the chief has made public remarks since the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School occurred last week, with Arredondo identified as the official who coordinated the response to the shooting. Reports of law enforcement being told not to engage during critical minutes of the assault and videos of desperate parents begging police standing outside the school to go and do something have fueled calls for accountability.
The prior decision to stop cooperating with DPS happened after the department’s director, Steven McCraw, held a news conference on Friday and said the delayed police entry into the classroom where the gunman was barricaded was “the wrong decision” and contrary to protocol, sources told ABC News.
Arredondo completed an active-shooter training course as recently as last December, public records show. Investigations into the shooting and police response continue, with the Justice Department announcing a critical incident review on Sunday.
Information presented by Texas officials has changed drastically over the past week as the investigations continue, though it now appears it took up to an hour Tuesday before federal agents took matters into their own hands and killed the shooter in defiance of orders not to proceed.
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Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the attack, and several more were wounded. The gunman has been identified as an 18-year-old who officials say legally purchased two AR-style rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Uvalde, a town of roughly 16,000 people, is situated between San Antonio and Del Rio, just dozens of miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border.
