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'I know this is horrible': Ex-Uvalde police chief admits leaving children trapped with gunman on purpose

Pedro Arredondo was seen chuckling as he defended his decision to evacuate the rest of the school rather than those left behind with mass shooter Salvador Ramos

UVALDE, TEXAS: Ex-Texas police chief Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, who was held accountable for the horrifying response to the school shooting in Uvalde, has admitted to making the willful choice to abandon the students and teachers trapped with the shooter despite hearing gunfire.

Arredondo, who was ultimately fired in August 2022 as the chief police officer for the Uvalde schools after the massacre at Robb Elementary left 19 students and 2 teachers dead, made the shocking admission in his hour-long interview, which was reported by CNN. He was seen chuckling and making jokes as he defended his decision to evacuate the rest of the school rather than those left behind with mass shooter Salvador Ramos, 18. Arredondo said, "I know there's probably victims in there, and with the shots I heard, I know there's probably going to be somebody who's going to be deceased." But he said that he believed that the "preservation of life" of those who were not in "immediate threat" was the "priority."

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Arredondo said, "Once I realized that was going on, my first thought is that we need to vacate" the remainder of the school, informing en route officers that "we're taking [other] kids out first." He said, "I know this is horrible," and continued to claim that it was what "our training tells us to do," evidently going against the actual advice.

Arredondo stated, "We have him contained, there's probably going to be some deceased in there—but we don't need any more from out here." CNN reported that the school cop had at least three previous instances of active-shooter training, including just months before the massacre.

The course's instruction manual for cops states, "First responders to the active shooter scene will usually be required to place themselves in harm’s way and display uncommon acts of courage to save the innocent." 

Ramos, who had purchased his weaponry after turning 18 days earlier, was ultimately confronted by authorities after 77 minutes had passed. 

Long before the whole horrors of the delay became apparent, the head cop said, "We're going to get scrutinized, I'm expecting that. We're getting scrutinized for why we didn't go in there."

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and FBI were the only organizations Arredondo spoke with in the recently disclosed interview.

Arredondo eventually stopped contributing after being charged with coordinating the catastrophic response. The response was criticized as an "abject failure" by DPS director Col Steven McCraw. "The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering Room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children," McCraw stated.

Following Arrendo's interview, several people expressed their opinions online, with one person writing, "What an epic fail. I cannot even listen to all his rambling or taking phone calls in an interview." Another person wrote, "I cannot even imagine being one of those kid's parents and reading this. This man should be prosecuted THAT'S THE JOB! What a coward."

Another person wrote, "Uvaldi was the final straw for me. I see this attitude every time I see a police uniform, now. The priority of most officers is protecting their paychecks, each other, and their rep, not citizens. Not even children."

"Watched 34 of the 57 mins and had to turn it off. This man's responses, his jovial demeanor, his refusal to answer questions in detail, is infuriating. I can't believe what I just watched. A normal human being would be devastated. And he actually tried to remain police chief," one more person added.

This article contains remarks made on the internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.