The school district police chief who served as the on-site commander during last week’s deadly shooting in Uvalde, Texas, said Wednesday that he speaks daily with investigators, contradicting claims by state law enforcement that has stopped cooperating.
In a brief interview, Uvalde Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo told CNN that he speaks regularly with Texas Department of Homeland Security investigators.
“I’ve been talking to them on the phone every day,” Arredondo said. The boss has been the focus of anger in the community and beyond for allegations that he delayed sending officers to school on May 24, believing the gunman was barricaded inside adjoining classrooms and that the children were no longer at risk.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the attack on Robb Elementary School, the deadliest shooting at the school in nearly a decade. Funeral services began this week and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona attended services Wednesday for Professor Irma Garcia, who died in the attack, and her husband, Joe Garcia, who died. of a heart attack two days later.
The district announced Wednesday that students and staff would not return to the campus, although plans were still being finalized for less than 600 students to attend class in the fall.
Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said Wednesday that his office is working with state and federal agencies to solicit more than $ 45 million in federal funding for the school.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, its School Emergency Response to Violence, known as the SERV Project, “funds short-term education-related services” to help schools “recover from ‘a violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been altered’. . ”
Gutierrez said he has no plans to demolish Robb Elementary, but that funds raised through the program by other schools have traditionally been used to rebuild.
State officials said 19 police officers waited more than an hour outside the classroom where Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire, despite repeated requests from children who called 911 for help.
Travis Considine, director of communications for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday that Arredondo had not responded to DPS requests for two days, while other officers from the city’s police departments and schools in Uvalde they continue to sit down for interviews and make statements.
Arredondo has not responded to several requests for comment from The Associated Press. Considine told AP Wednesday that Arredondo had not responded to the Texas Rangers’ requests for follow-up interviews until Tuesday. The Texas Rangers, the Department of Public Safety’s investigative arm that focuses on major crimes, had no immediate response to Arredondo’s insistence that he was in regular contact with DPS.
The Texas Combined Law Enforcement Association, which represents police officers, has urged its members to cooperate with “all government investigations” into the shooting and police response, and has endorsed a federal Department of Justice investigation.
The confusing and sometimes contradictory information released during the week since the deadly shooting continued on Tuesday with the revelation that the outside door used by the gunman was not left open by a teacher, police said earlier.
They have now determined that the teacher, who has not been identified, opened the door with a stone, but then removed the rock and closed the door when she realized there was a shooter on campus, Considine said. But, Considine said, the door that was designed to lock when closed would not close.
“We checked that the door closed. The door did not close. We know a lot and now investigators are investigating why it was not locked,” Considine said.
Considine said the teacher initially opened the door, but ran back to pick up her phone and call 911 when Ramos crashed her truck on campus.
“He came back while he was on the phone, he heard someone shout, ‘He has a gun!’ did. said Considine.
Since the shooting, law enforcement and state officials have struggled to present an accurate timeline and details of the event and how police responded, sometimes providing conflicting information or withdrawing some statements hours later. State police have said some stories were preliminary and may change as more witnesses are interviewed.
On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott called on key lawmakers to convene a legislative committee to review and make recommendations on “school safety, mental health, social media, police training, gun safety and more.”
Texas’ next legislative session is scheduled for January 2023, though some lawmakers have urged Abbott to convene a special session in response to the shooting.
After previous mass shootings at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, Santa Fe High School and a Walmart in El Paso, Abbott convened “roundtable” discussions, sometimes with survivors and families of the victims.
Following the 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School, lawmakers in 2019 approved $ 100 million for schools to improve campus security with metal detectors, vehicle barriers, shooter alarm systems and more. security measures. They also allowed more teachers to carry weapons on campus and be trained in the response of campus shooters.
But Abbott and state lawmakers resisted calls for stricter gun ownership measures. In 2021, Abbott signed a measure allowing people 21 and older to carry guns without a license or training.
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Learn more about school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting
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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg in Dallas and Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.