A lack of organization is at the heart of the failed response to the Robb Elementary shooting.
A Texas House Committee report states Pete Arredondo, Uvalde CISD Police Chief, did not take responsibility as incident commander.
The report lays out at least one officers’ effort to take command but concludes there was a lackadaisical approach by law enforcement at the scene.
Elected officials say there was multiple systemic failures — there was little effort to address them at the time.
On Sunday, the Texas House Committee was asked if someone should’ve taken command of the scene that day after Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo did not assume that role.
“We do not specify which officers should’ve taken command in here because that would be a little of our opinion as to who should’ve,” Representative Dustin Burrows, a Republican from Lubbock, head of the special Texas House Committee investigating the shooting says the report was strictly about the facts of what happened leading up to and during the Robb Elementary shooting.
“There were officers who were in that building who knew or should’ve known more needed to be done. There are also officers who should’ve seen some of the chaos and at least at a minimum, if they didn’t take over or assume command, they should begin asking questions,” Rep. Burrows said.
According to the report, acting Uvalde Police Chief Lt. Mariano Pargas tried to start a command post at the funeral home near Robb Elementary, but it goes onto read it did not result in establishing an effective command post.
State Sen. Gutierrez responded about the report: “It acknowledged everyone was at fault, the police chief, the ISD chief, the sheriff, and DPS, right? The federal government, they were all there and they all did nothing.”
He says he is asking for more answers.
In a letter sent Tuesday, Gutierrez is asking Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to ask the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice to oversee Texas DPS’ investigation of its own inaction and failures during the shooting.
We reached out to Lt. Governor Patrick’s office for a response and we have not heard back. We also tried reaching out to other lawmakers, including Congressman Tony Gonzales about these findings in the report.