TX - Uvalde; Robb Elementary, 19 children and 3 adults killed, shooter dead, 24 MAY 2022 #2

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This is a good article about the challenges of detecting red flags from social media posts -

Shooter warning signs get lost in sea of social media posts

The foreboding posts, however, are often lost in an endless grid of Instagram photos that feature semi-automatic rifles, handguns and ammunition. There’s even a popular hashtag devoted to encouraging Instagram users to upload daily photos of guns with more than 2 million posts attached to it.

For law enforcement and social media companies, spotting a gun post from a potential mass shooter is like sifting through quicksand, Schweit said. That’s why she tells people not to ignore those type of posts, especially from children or young adults. Report it, she advises, to a school counselor, the police or even the FBI tip line.
 
The more I read, the less sense this inaction makes: this was not Peter Arredondo's first rodeo!

Before taking his current position, he had a similar position in Laredo where he was the police captain at the United Independent School District in Laredo, Texas, (about 140 miles south of Uvalde), and returned to his hometown in April 2020, when he accepted the position of chief of police for the Uvalde school district, according to the Uvalde Leader-News.

And Arredondo previously worked for the Uvalde Police for 16 years.

According to the Uvalde Leader News, Arredondo’s first job in law enforcement was working as a 911 dispatcher for the Uvalde Police Department.

“I made sure to mention them in my interview,” said Arredondo during a recent telephone conversation.

“I worked patrol, worked as detective, …and received assignment as assistant chief, ” said Arredondo, to the newspaper, which added that he also worked at the Webb County Sheriff’s OFfice.

“It’s nice to come back home,” said Arredondo to the newspaper.


Only weeks ago, he was elected to the City Council:

According to NBC News, only weeks ago, Arredondo was elected to the City Council “after running on a platform of communication and outreach to the community.”

According to the Uvalde Leader News, Arredondo “garnered 126 votes, or 69.23 percent.”

That article said he was the school district’s police chief since 2020.

“I’m very excited, I am ready to hit the ground running. I have plenty of ideas, and I definitely have plenty of drive,” Arredondo said to the newspaper.

“I’m in public service and law enforcement, but I’m very proud of my finance background and what I’ve done with budgets. I’m hoping to lend a hand with that and target, you know, smart spending, make sure that we’re fiscally responsible and get some projects done. I’m a big advocate of keeping our streets clean.”

[..]

In March, according to a post he made on Facebook, Arredondo’s department led active shooter training.

On Monday the UCISD Police Department hosted an ‘Active Shooter Training’ at the Uvalde High School. Our overall goal is to train every Uvalde area law enforcement officer so that we can prepare as best as possible for any situation that may arise,” he wrote. “We have hosted several of these courses and plan to continue to do so. I would like to thank UCISD Officers Adrian Gonzales, Ruben Ruiz and UCISD Lieutenant Mike Hernandez for instructing the course. Additionally, we would like to thank Dr. Harrell and Mr. Mueller for supporting our plans to keep our children and staff safe. Great job to everyone!! #UCISDPROUD.

Ruiz was married to Eva Mireles, a teacher who died in the massacre, according to Reuters.


 
What I find extraordinary is that 2 persons directly responsible for school and security:

- the Principal/Head teacher
- Chief of School Police

haven't spoken to the public and Press yet.

I mean formal speeches.

Expressing condolences.
 
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Did the all officers on duty have radios to communicate with dispatch and other officers? Did they have hard body armor? What kind of weaponry did they have? What is the plan when there is a major incident requiring a bigger police presence? Do they have a SWAT team? What's the process for calling them? How many people were working in dispatch?
Did the incident move from an active shooter incident to one of containment (perhaps mistakenly)?
All very good questions. I believe some of the confusion comes from there being two departments: the City of Uvalde Police Department (Daniel Rodriguez, Chief of Police), and the tiny school police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (Pete Arredondo, Police Chief) that oversees about 8 schools, where it's still unclear what roles each played with responding forces coming from numerous counties.

The City Police Dept has a SWAT team but not sure which if any members of SWAT responded. I'm still wondering why the incident commander wasn't the City Police Chief leading his own officers? MOO

ETA: OK, School police versus City police taking charge was by Texas legislature that in 2019 approved a measure that required such training for all school police.
 
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This is a good article about the challenges of detecting red flags from social media posts -

Shooter warning signs get lost in sea of social media posts

Just a thought: National Tipline devoted to threats towards schools, or pertaining to mass shootings and gun violence?

Maybe there needs to be a National tipline devoted just to threats? How many kids, and teens feel safe calling the FBI? Have you ever had to call? Some agents are rude and dismissive and intimidating not sure I would be brave enough at age 10 to do it.
 
ow many kids, and teens feel safe calling the FBI? Have you ever had to call? Some agents are rude and dismissive and intimidating not sure I would be brave enough at age 10 to do it.
At the age of 10, I ran to my parents with every problem :)
So I think, kids should report it to parents.
And let them proceed adequately.
 
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What I find extraordinary is that 2 persons directly responsible for school and security:

- the Principal/Head teacher
- Chief of School Police

haven't spoken to the public and Press yet.

I mean formal speeches.

Expressing condolences.

I've noticed both of their absences as well. Maybe it was not televised?
 
At the age of 10, I ran to my parents with every problem :)
So I think, kids should report it to parents.
And let them procceed adequately.

That works too BUT there are kids who do NOT trust nor tell their parents everything esp if they are on an sm app they are not supposed to be on. Kids can get secretive and scared. :(
I'm an adult and I've had threats so disturbing I was almost too afraid to report out of fear they might retaliate.
My mind immediately goes to this tragic story, this teen was 17 and too scared to talk to his own mother that was home:
 
There are only two funeral homes in Uvalde and Obituaries for the 21 victims are best viewed at the two funeral links below. (Uvalde News Ledger is paywalled).

Hillcrest Memorial Obituaries

 
Just a thought: National Tipline devoted to threats towards schools, or pertaining to mass shootings and gun violence?

Maybe there needs to be a National tipline devoted just to threats? How many kids, and teens feel safe calling the FBI? Have you ever had to call? Some agents are rude and dismissive and intimidating not sure I would be brave enough at age 10 to do it.
Just jumping off this topic… it bothers me that many teens and young adults don’t seem overly concerned about social media attacks or threatening private messages (SR threatened to rape and kill I believe I read). Is it because everyone does it and they are numb? I respect the “I just blocked him” route, but at what point and how should concerning posts or messages get reported? I live in a pretty safe small suburb so maybe a little sheltered, but if My kids saw a post or received a threat online, I would be inclined to report it to the school and/or LE.
 
Just jumping off this topic… it bothers me that many teens and young adults don’t seem overly concerned about social media attacks or threatening private messages (SR threatened to rape and kill I believe I read). Is it because everyone does it and they are numb? I respect the “I just blocked him” route, but at what point and how should concerning posts or messages get reported? I live in a pretty safe small suburb so maybe a little sheltered, but if My kids saw a post or received a threat online, I would be inclined to report it to the school and/or LE.

YES! I receive rape, or death threats about twice a week sometimes several a day. It's so common.
It's WORSE for underage, young pre-teens, and teens.
I honestly do not know if someone is serious or being edgy aka edgelord or death serious anymore. SR strikes me he might have come across as an Edhelord, a geeky teen trying to seem tough but is all talk. How would these kids know?!
However, any death threat should be reported but guess what Twitter and FB REFUSE to do anything. They suggest you IGNORE/BLOCK them. I wouldn't expect a 15 year teen in Germany to know if he was dead serious or just trying to be cool.
The dead animals part should be a HUGE RED FLAG! If she saw a video of him killing cats in bags then that was the moment o report him.
I dare you to create a fake account say you are 12 or 13 and watch the creepers show up in your Twitter/Instagram Feed.
 
YES! I receive rape, or death threats about twice a week sometimes several a day. It's so common.
It's WORSE for underage, young pre-teens, and teens.
I honestly do not know if someone is serious or being edgy aka edgelord or death serious anymore. SR strikes me he might have come across as an Edhelord, a geeky teen trying to seem tough but is all talk. How would these kids know?!
However, any death threat should be reported but guess what Twitter and FB REFUSE to do anything. They suggest you IGNORE/BLOCK them. I wouldn't expect a 15 year teen in Germany to know if he was dead serious or just trying to be cool.
The dead animals part should be a HUGE RED FLAG! If she saw a video of him killing cats in bags then that was the moment o report him.
I dare you to create a fake account say you are 12 or 13 and watch the creepers show up in your Twitter/Instagram Feed.
Yuck - makes it super easy for the most dangerous creepiest creeps to hide amongst the regular creeps. So to actually get attention, they have to go above and beyond. You are absolutely correct that we can’t expect young people to navigate it all. <modsnip>
 
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I spoke to my husband about this. He was a HS Principal for 25 years, at 5A very large, but somewhat high crime, urban schools. (5A is the largest campus size in Texas) He said the Uvalde Consolidated ISD Police Chief was in way over his head and should have turned it over to the other agencies.

Campus police just do not engage with high risk situations on a frequent basis

They don't:
Serve warrants on dangerous criminals
Get involved with or negotiate domestic disturbances
Conduct routine traffic stops

All of these routine procedures put regular officers in higher risk situations, so that they are better able to handle a major incident.
Sure training for an active shooter is one thing, however dealing with dangerous unpredictable criminals on a daily basis also provides a needed experience because the LEO has more experience with dangerous situations.

I agree with OP's husband that the chief should have turned this over to the other agencies. I've since learned that the Chief Arredondo's Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department (UCISD) is 6 officers for a district of about 8 schools, versus the City Police Dept with about 40 officers on the payroll and a part-time SWAT team. Arredondo actually named three of his officers in his recent FB post quoted below -- including fallen teacher Eva Mireles's husband, Ruis.

In March, according to a post he made on Facebook, Arredondo’s department led active shooter training.

On Monday the UCISD Police Department hosted an ‘Active Shooter Training’ at the Uvalde High School. Our overall goal is to train every Uvalde area law enforcement officer so that we can prepare as best as possible for any situation that may arise,” he wrote. “We have hosted several of these courses and plan to continue to do so. I would like to thank UCISD Officers Adrian Gonzales, Ruben Ruiz and UCISD Lieutenant Mike Hernandez for instructing the course. Additionally, we would like to thank Dr. Harrell and Mr. Mueller for supporting our plans to keep our children and staff safe. Great job to everyone!! #UCISDPROUD.

 
Anybody been able to find out if he (shooter) attended Robb Elementary when he was younger? I know he was enrolled and attended and then dropped out of the HS - but it seems he had lived there a long time - and his grandmother had worked there - so did he attend there when he was younger?
 
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