The police chief of the Uvalde school district has resigned from his seat on the City Council just weeks after being sworn in amid 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 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 sworn in on May 31, just a week after the massacre, in a closed-door ceremony. “The mayor, city council and city staff must continue to move forward to bring our community together once again,” Arredondo said in his resignation, which was 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 bar Arredondo on 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 resign via email, but did not comment further. Representatives for Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin have not responded to AP requests for comment. Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a Senate hearing last month that Arredondo — the field commander — made “terrible decisions” as the May 24 massacre unfolded and that the police response was a “big failure”. Three minutes after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the school, several armed law enforcement officers were on the scene to stop the gunman, McCraw testified. However, police armed with rifles stood and waited in the 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 that officers tried to open the door while the gunman was inside, McCraw said. McCraw said parents begged police outside the school to come in, and students inside the classroom repeatedly called 911 operators for help while more than a dozen officers waited in a hallway. Officers from other agencies urged Arredondo to let them move because children were at risk. “The only thing that stopped a corridor of dedicated officers from entering rooms 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to put the lives of the officers before the lives of the children,” McCraw said. Arredondo tried to defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he did not consider himself the head of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have the police and campus radios, but used his cell phone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and classroom keys. It is still unclear 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 declined to provide further details, citing the investigation. Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde and has spent much of his nearly 30-year law enforcement career in the city.
