Uvalde schools' police chief resigns from City Council

The Uvalde school district's police chief has stepped down from his position in the City Council just weeks after being sworn in.

On Friday, Pete Arredondo told the Uvalde Leader-News that he was stepping down for the good of the city. He was sworn in as a District 3 councilman on May 31, a week after the massacre.

I regret to inform those who voted for me that I am stepping down from the city council for District 3. The mayor, the city council, and the city staff need to keep their focus on the task at hand. I think this is the best decision for Uvalde.

Arredondo, who has been on administrative leave from his school district position, has refused to speak to The Associated Press. George Hyde did not respond to email requests for comment.

Arredondo was denied a leave of absence from appearing at public meetings. The shooting victims' relatives begged the city to fire him.

The representatives of the Uvalde mayor did not respond to questions on Saturday.

The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety told a state Senate hearing that the police response was an "abject failure" as the massacre unfolded on May 24.

Three minutes after the teenager entered the school, enough law enforcement were on the scene to stop the shooter. Police officers armed with rifles stood and waited in a school hallway for more than an hour while the shooter massacred 26 people. There is no indication that officers tried to open the door while the man was inside.

Students inside the classroom begged for help while more than a dozen officers waited in a hallway, as parents begged police to move in. The officers from other agencies wanted Arredondo to let them in.

The on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children stopped a hallway of dedicated officers from entering the room.

Arredondo told the Texas Tribune that he assumed someone else was in charge of the law enforcement response and that he didn't consider himself the commander in charge of operations. He didn't have his police and campus radios but he did have his cellphone and used it to call for things.

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 are still not known.

The investigation is the reason why officials are not releasing more details.

A native of Uvalde, Arredondo spent most of his career in the city as a police officer.