Police chief who led response to school shooting sworn in to Uvalde council

Pedro ‘Pete’ Arredondo, who ordered officers to wait outside classroom where gunman killed 21, was elected before massacre

The Uvalde school district police chief, Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, who authorities say erroneously ordered officers to wait outside the Robb elementary classroom where a gunman killed 21 last week, has been sworn into the Texas community’s city council.

Arredondo, 61, won a seat on Uvalde’s city council on 7 May, 17 days before 19 students and two teachers were shot dead at Robb’s campus. A swearing-in ceremony for him and other elected members of the council had been set for Tuesday – the public event was cancelled “out of respect” for families burying slain loved ones in the town, though Arredondo and the others privately took their oaths of office, Uvalde’s mayor, Don McLaughlin, said in a statement.

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