Pete Arredondo, the chief of police for the school district in Uvalde, Texas, resigned from the Uvalde City Council on Friday amid ongoing outrage over police’s slow response to a shooting at Robb Elementary School in May.
In a letter to the city, Mr. Arredondo said after much consideration it is “in the best interest of the community to step down from the City Council for District 3 to minimize further distractions.”
He added that the mayor, city council and city officials “must continue to reunite our community.”
His resignation was first reported by The Uvalde Leader-News.
Mr Arredondo was elected to city council shortly before a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24. On June 22, the Uvalde School Police announced that they had placed Mr Arredondo on administrative leave after the state summit. The law enforcement chief called the police response “an abject failure.”
Mr Arredondo was one of the first officers to arrive at the school after the shooting. According to state police director Steven McCraw, he was also the incident commander for the response. Although officers from various agencies entered the school minutes after a gunman opened fire in two connected classrooms, they waited more than an hour before confronting and killing him.
Mr Arredondo defended his decision-making that day, saying in an interview with The Texas Tribune that he did not believe he was in charge of the response. The shooting and police response are the subject of several investigations, including one by the United States Department of Justice.
After Mr. Arredondo was sworn in as a councilor, he no longer appeared at council meetings.
“I think it was the right thing for him to do,” Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin said in a text message about Mr Arredondo’s decision to resign. “We didn’t know about it until we saw it on the newspaper’s site.”
On June 21, the councilors met to discuss Mr Arredondo’s leave of absence. One by one, the residents of Uvalde stood before the council, calling on Mr. Arredondo to resign.
First on stage was Jazmin Cazares, 17, who lost her sister and cousin in the shooting.
“After choosing to wait an hour for reinforcements, instead of ordering officers to take down the gunman, he has proven he can’t do his job,” Ms Cazares said. “How am I supposed to stop grieving, especially knowing he did nothing to protect my sister, my cousin, her friends, and her teachers?” After more residents spoke, the Uvalde City Council voted to reject Mr Arredondo’s leave.
A week later, a community still reeling with grief welcomed the news of Mr Arredondo’s resignation.
Martin Herrera, who lost a grandson and helped a surviving granddaughter recover from the horrors of the day, called the resignation a step in the right direction. Mr Herrera said Mr Arredondo also had to leave his post as head of the school police immediately. But Mr Herrera said he also wanted to see others screw up the reaction and its aftermath.
Leonard Sandoval, whose grandson Xavier Lopez was killed in the shooting, said Mr. Arredondo “should have resigned much earlier”.
Hugo Cervantes, one of the residents who rushed to Robb primary school after hearing shots fired, said Mr. Arredondo seemed to be nothing more than a new development that delayed justice for the families. He recalled begging armed officers to enter the school and being told “everything was all right,” although people could still hear gunshots.
“The truth is they could have saved a lot of children and they didn’t,” said Mr. Cervantes. “This is all too little, too late.”
J.David Goodman reporting contributed.