Pete Arredondo oversaw protecting the students and teachers at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022. Instead, 19 children and two adults were killed by a gunman on his watch.
On Wednesday night, the former Uvalde School District police chief and his attorney sat with CNN for an exclusive interview.
This was his first interview since he was indicted on multiple counts of child endangerment in connection with his response to the shooting.
Back in June, Arredondo and former school district police officer Adrian Gonzales became the first law enforcement officials criminally charged in connection with the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
Arredondo and those who responded to Robb Elementary waited 77 minutes to confront the gunman.
During the interview, Arredondo said he strongly disagrees with the perception of how the Uvalde CISD handled the mass shooting. He covered his tracks, saying the ordinary person does not know what being in that situation is like.
Arredondo believes he’s been scapegoated for the shooting since the very beginning of the investigation.
Arredondo refused to look at a video from the shooting. He also maintained that he and his law enforcement team did their best, given the situation.
When asked why law enforcement didn’t neutralize the shooter earlier, Arredondo said that body-cam footage shows there wasn’t any hesitation.
He claims that he and other officials quickly entered the area where the shooter was located and began firing till they had to retreat.
Given that Arredondo was the incident commander on the day of the shooting, he said that a person in that position of power is not supposed to be in the hot zone of a mass shooting.
Arredondo’s court case will likely be a lengthy legal battle. When asked if he and his lawyer would request a change of venue for the upcoming trial, the two said they are inclined to keep it in Uvalde so the public can hear what Arredondo has to say.