Embed from Getty Images

Peter Arredondo is the police chief of Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District. He is one of the men responsible for the 78-minute delay in taking out a mass murderer in Robb Elementary in Uvalde. Arredondo was the incident commander on the scene at last week’s horrific slaughter. He was the one who ordered officers to remain outside the school after the shooter had barricaded himself in a classroom. Arredondo gave an initial interview in the state investigation into the massacre, but since that one interview, Arredondo has not answered any calls or participated in any follow-up interviews. On Tuesday, he was sworn in as a newly elected member of the Uvalde City Council. Now it looks like Arredondo’s refusal to participate in the state investigation is probably a wider order to the Uvalde police force. They’ve now stopped “cooperating” with the state investigation.

The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the massacre at Robb Elementary School and the state’s review of the law enforcement response, multiple law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

The Uvalde police chief and a spokesperson for the Uvalde Independent School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.

According to sources, the decision to stop cooperating occurred soon after the director of DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference Friday during which he said the delayed police entry into the classroom was “the wrong decision” and contrary to protocol.

Reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said, “The Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde CISD Police have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago.”

[From ABC News]

My guess is that Peter Arredondo and Uvalde cops realized that the state investigation is mostly an exercise in bureaucratic ass-covering and that Uvalde PD was going to end up wearing the entire mess. And… that’s exactly what they deserve. Of course there are larger problems with access to guns and the sh-tty state response to the massacre but at a fundamental level, the Uvalde PD completely f–ked up. They were grotesquely incompetent and, I believe, guilty of criminal manslaughter for the way they left children to be slaughtered. Now, the whole “the local cops are not going to cooperate with the state investigation” just makes everyone look corrupt. Which they are, so good job, you guys. ACAB.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.