Colonel Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Steven McGrath did not name the officer at a news conference Friday but said he had made the “wrong decision” not to involve the gunman too soon.
Pavlo “Pete” Arredonto is the head of the Wolde School District Police.
“It was decided that this was a prohibited subject situation,” McGrath said of the incident commander’s “thought process” at the time.
At the same time, children between 111 and 112 in Rob Elementary School classrooms in Wolverhampton repeatedly called 911 for help, he said. They were in the midst of a school shooting after the 2012 Sandy Hooke assassination.
“Now as a result of where I am sitting, of course it’s not the right decision,” McGrath said of the supervisor’s call not to confront the shooter. “This is a wrong decision. Time. There is no excuse for that.”
Under pressure from reporters as to whether Aradonto was on the scene during the filming, McGrath declined to comment.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that he wants a full account of what happened during the shooting at Rob Elementary School in Wolverhampton, but has nothing to do with whether to fire the school district police chief.
“As far as his job status is concerned, it’s something beyond my control and I do not know about it,” Abbott said. “Every action of those officers will be known, identified and explained to the public.”
Aradonto did not speak publicly about the shooting after two very brief news reports on the day of the tragedy.
CNN tried to reach Arredondo at his home on Friday, but there was no response.
Aradonto was identified as police chief on the Wolde School district website and was introduced as police chief at news conferences on Tuesday, just hours after the shooting at Rob Elementary.
At press conferences, Arredondo said the gunman was dead, but provided little other information about the massacre, cited an “active investigation” and did not take any questions from those gathered.
According to the Arredondo School District, he has nearly three decades of law enforcement experience and was recently elected to a seat on the Uvalde City Council.
The Board of Trustees for the School District recognized Aradonto as Head of Department in 2020. District Superintendent Hall Harrell at the time said in a Facebook post that the group “was confident in our choice and was impressed by his experience, knowledge and community.” Involvement. “
Arrondo Wolde told the Leader-News that after his appointment, he was happy to return to work in his hometown and wanted to focus on education and training in the police force. “We can’t get enough training,” he told the newspaper.
In March, Arredonto posted on Facebook that its department was conducting “active shooter training” at Wolde High School, which is trying to prepare local law enforcement to respond “under any circumstances.” A flyer for the event he posted was mentioned in the headlines, which included priorities for school-based law enforcement and “stopping murder.”
Arrotondo previously served as captain of the School District Police Department in Laredo, Texas, and in several roles in the Woldeaui Police Department.
CNN’s Andy Rose contributed to this story.
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