After hundreds of police stood by as a gunman killed 19 children and two adults in an elementary school classroom in Uvalde, Texas, schools police chief Pedro "Pete" Arredondo told investigators that he prioritized the lives of those outside the room over those inside it: "There's probably going to be some deceased in there, but we don't need any more from out here"
His decision to treat the gunman as a barricaded subject and not confront him effectively left all the students and teachers in Classrooms 111 and 112 for dead. It was one of many times he did not follow the training and protocol for an active shooter.
Arredondo stuck with that choice for over an hour, even when he thought he heard the gunman reloading and after it was confirmed children were trapped – injured and alive as well as dead – with the shooter.
CNN tried to reach Arredondo for this story. His attorney George Hyde said he was not authorized to respond to media requests. "I have informed him of your request and it will be up to him from there," Hyde wrote in an email.
If one cop had died to save a dozen kids, this man would have thought it a tragedy.
37% the town's general budget reportedly goes to its cops, and they still needed help to do nothing at all.
