A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said the department is running into an issue with its investigation into last week’s elementary school shooting: the Uvalde school police chief is not responding. DPS has said Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) Police Chief Pete Arredondo was the commander of the school shooting scene while it happened.
“Uvalde and Uvalde CISD departments have been cooperating with investigators,” DPS Chief Communications Officer Travis Considine said Tuesday, according to this tweet from Austin TV reporter Tony Plohetski. “The chief of the CISD did an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a followup interview that was made two days ago.”
As of early Wednesday morning, Arredondo had also not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Last week, DPS Director Steve McCraw said Arredondo made the “wrong decision” when assessing the shooting situation. This led to a lengthy delay in the police response.
“The on-scene commander considered a barricaded subject and that was time and there were no more children at risk,” McCraw said Friday. “Based upon the information we have the word children in that classroom that were at risk and it was, in fact, still an active shooter situation and not a barricaded subject.”
As Arredondo appeared to be avoiding requests from DPS and media outlets Tuesday, he was sworn into the Uvalde city council privately. He won the seat last month, 17 days before the shooting happened.
“Out of respect for the families who buried their children today, and who are planning to bury their children in the next few days, no ceremony was held,” Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said Tuesday, according to San Antonio TV station KENS 5. “Our parents deserve answers and I trust the Texas Department of Public Safety/Texas Rangers will leave no stone unturned.”
While the Uvalde school police chief is not responding to investigation requests, DPS did release more details on the unlocked door the shooter used to enter the school. DPS initially said a teacher had propped the door.
According to Considine, the teacher used a rock to prop the door open, but then removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus. Despite this, the door did not lock.
“We did verify she closed the door. The door did not lock.” Considine said. “We know that much and now investigators are looking into why it did not lock.”