A Texas law enforcement official is guilty of delaying law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Uwalde, and recently completed active training courses in shooting before the fatal incident, records show. As new information emerges, community members continue to question the response of officials to the shooting, which killed 21 people – 19 of them children – and injured more than a dozen others.
On December 17, 2021, Chief Pete Aredondo of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) completed an eight-hour law enforcement training on active shooting situations at Southwest Texas Junior College, according to a personal status report provided to CBS News by the Texas Law Enforcement Commission. .
Aredondo, who has been working in the school district since 2020, completed eight hours of the same course on August 25, 2020 and a 16-hour course “Terrorist Response Tactics – Active Shooter” on June 10, 2019, the records show.
As of 2018, the Texas Administrative Code requires peacekeepers in the school district and school resource officers to complete an active shooter training program approved by the state law enforcement commission. The training includes a training program for emergency workers, according to the Texas School Safety Center.
Despite Aredondo’s training, some have criticized his approach to dealing with the recent mass shooting in Uwalde.
Under Aredondo’s leadership, about 20 police officers stood in the hallway waiting at Rob Elementary School for more than 45 minutes before officers clashed with an armed man in a classroom while students and teachers repeatedly asked for help, officials said last week.
According to Texas Public Safety Director Stephen McCrow, Aredondo believed the gunman was barricaded in a classroom during the attack and that the children were not at risk.
“Of course it wasn’t the right decision,” McCrow said Friday. “It was the wrong decision.”
Aredondo was due to be sworn in as a council member on Tuesday, but Uwalde Mayor Don McLaughlin rescheduled a special city council meeting Monday after the shooting, according to CBS News affiliate KHOU 11. Despite criticism from police chief, McLaughlin said the record did not show violations that would prevent him from taking the oath of office, KHOU reported 11.
The United States Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into police reactions to the shooting at a school in Uwalde.
School shooting in Uwald, Texas
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Tori B. Powell is an extraordinary news reporter for CBS News. Contact her at tori.powell@viacomcbs.com
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