Report: Texas School Police Chief Had No Radio Early in Shooting

By Dan Carson

Source San Antonio Express-News

A new report published Friday by The New York Times has unearthed more damning details regarding the slow police response to May 24's mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

Pieced together from dozens of interviews with law enforcement officials, students who survived the shooting, parents of victims and policing experts, the Times article forges a new, troubling timeline of law enforcement's actions over the course of the more than hour-long attack—the events of which have been revised numerous times since initial police reports were proved inaccurate.

The Times' sources allege that the incident commander leading the police response at Robb Elementary did not have a police radio in the early stages of the shooting, which saw 18-year-old Uvalde resident Salvador Ramos shoot and killed 19 students and two teachers.

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The report also states that the tactical group that ultimately killed Ramos was a collection of frustrated officers, some with tactical training, who ignored orders to not breach the classroom before entering and killing the suspect.

According to experts interviewed by the Times, early decisions and communication errors made by Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo set the table for the calamitous delay between the arrival of first responders and the shooters' death more than an hour later.

Issues began two minutes into the attack when Arredondo arrived in the hall outside the classroom where Ramos was located and began giving orders without a police radio. According to the Times report, Arredondo and responding officers approached the classroom door and began taking fire, with two supervisors from the local police department receiving grazing bullet wounds. At this point, Arredondo ordered officers to fall back and used his cell phone to call a police landline, stating officers had "contained" the shooter and were retreating to a defensive position to await backup.

Arredondo's framing of the attack as a contained, barricaded-subject situation likely contributed to the long interval between officers arriving at Robb Elementary and their entry into the classroom. The Times reports that at one point, more than a half-hour into the attack, students in the classroom were calling 9-1-1 operators asking for help. In one instance, gunfire could be heard in the background, though it's unclear whether Arredondo had a police radio at this point or if he was receiving information from dispatchers handling calls from within the classroom.

Another revelation from the Times report alleges that the "tactical team" that ultimately shot and killed Ramos had not arrived at the school an hour after the shooting began, as first indicated by police. Rather, the group that took down the shooter was an "ad hoc" amalgamation of frustrated officers from different departments who had grown tired of waiting in the hall outside the classroom as the attack unfolded. Its members included specially trained Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and a sheriff's deputy, according to the Times. When the group approached the door to the classroom, one member received a stand-down order in his earpiece: "Do not breach."

The group ignored the command and, using a janitor's key, entered the room and engaged Ramos, shooting and killing the 18-year-old gunman.

Arredondo did not respond to the Times' calls for comment. Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is presiding over an investigation into the police response to the shooting, told reporters last Friday that the police chief was no longer cooperating with the department—a claim Arredono denies.

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