In charge of police operations during the Uvalde killing, Pete Arredondo was criticized on all sides. On May 24, it had taken more than an hour to the police to enter the class and shoot the murderer.
Le Monde with AFP
The police chief of the Uvalde school district, operations manager when a shooter killed nineteen children and two teachers on May 24, was suspended, the district superintendent announced on Wednesday
The announcement comes in the aftermath of strong criticism from the Texas Public Security Director on the police response to the massacre, described as “absolute failure”. “Since the start of this horrible event, I argued that the district would have been waiting for the investigation to be completed before making decisions on the staff (…). Due to the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing on the date To which I will receive the results of the investigation, I made the decision to place the chief Arredondo on administrative leave, on the date of today, “said Superintendent Hal Harrell.
in a statement.
“The life of agents before that of children”
Tuesday, the director of the Texas Department of Public Security, Steven McCraw, had castigated the fact that Pete Arredondo had decided to “pass the lives of agents before that of children”. “We know one thing: there is irrefutable evidence that the response of the police to attack the Robb primary school was an absolute failure and goes against everything we have learned Course of the past two decades since the Columbine massacre “in a high school in 1999, he said.
The time put by the police, more than an hour, to enter the class and kill the 18 -year -old shooter is the subject of strong criticism since the killing, and Mr. McCraw had sunk the point during this television hearing. “The agents had weapons, not the children. The agents had bulletproof vests, not the children. The agents were trained, not the shooter,” he said.
The mayor of Uvalde also announced Tuesday that the Robb elementary school would be “demolished”. “You can never ask a child or a teacher to return to this school,” said Don McLoughlin.