Uvalde, Texas city council holds emergency meeting without inviting school police chief Arredondo

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The police chief responsible for the heavily-criticized law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas school shooting reportedly no-showed an emergency city council meeting Tuesday, just days after being sworn in as a new member. 

Uvalde City Council listed Pete Arredondo as among the councilmembers on the meeting agenda, which was about "reissuing the Mayor's Declaration of Local State of Disaster due to Emergency." 

But media who assembled in the room Tuesday are reporting that Arredondo – the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District – never appeared. 

One reporter cited Mayor Don McLaughlin as saying Arredondo wasn’t invited to the meeting, while another said McLaughlin revealed Tuesday that he hasn’t spoken to the police chief in more than a week. 

Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, third from left, stands during a news conference outside of the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas Thursday, May 26, 2022.  (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

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Arredondo was formally sworn in as a new city council member on May 31. 

"Uvalde City Council members were sworn in today as per the City Charter. Out of respect for the families who buried their children today, and who are planning to bury their children in the next few days, no ceremony was held," McLaughlin said at the time. 

A political sign for Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde School District police chief, who is scheduled to be sworn in with the Uvalde City Council is seen in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 29, 2022.  (REUTERS/Veronica G. Cardenas)

Arredondo became the chief of police for the Uvalde school district in 2020 and was elected to the city council in early May. 

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He assumed the role of incident commander when a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School on May 24, killing 19 children and two adults. 

People visit a memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday, June 2, to pay their respects to the victims killed the school shooting. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

The suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was inside the school for over an hour as 19 officers staged in a hallway, because Arredondo thought "that there was no more threat to the children and that the subject was barricaded and that they had time to organize," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw has said. 

Fox News’ Paul Best contributed to this report.