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

[Marysmith]

Hard to say. In his younger days, maybe he was a good officer. We know he was demoted once for being hard to get along with. Honestly, I think he took the ISD Chief job because it paid well and he thought it would be an easy job to ride to retirement. Then when the fateful day arrived, he was woefully unprepared. To some degree, I almost believe him when he says he didn't know he was in charge at the scene. I don't think he had a clue what his job was other than drive around in a uniform and collect paychecks.

Totally agree that he thought of the position as a retirement job. Hate that idea honestly… if you cannot perform the duties required in the worst case situation then it’s time to retire or look for something with less responsibility.
He’s probably got a pretty decent pension from all his years on the force.
Hard to get along with… that tracks. How could he not even acknowledge that this was a tragedy? Him playing the victim in it is behind inappropriate.

 

[ilovewings]

Hard to say. In his younger days, maybe he was a good officer. We know he was demoted once for being hard to get along with. Honestly, I think he took the ISD Chief job because it paid well and he thought it would be an easy job to ride to retirement. Then when the fateful day arrived, he was woefully unprepared. To some degree, I almost believe him when he says he didn't know he was in charge at the scene. I don't think he had a clue what his job was other than drive around in a uniform and collect paychecks.

I think you nailed him and the situation: I think he thought he was riding the gravy train to retirement- then boom- here comes a real active shooter situation and he was caught, shall we say flat footed- he was totally clueless ( as you pointed out woefully unprepared). For him to actually state he did not know he was in charge at the scene is mind bending!!!!
Thing is, he remains clueless- his statements made in that letter after learning he was fired reflect a man who has no remorse for his failure to do his job, which would have been to assist in saving those children and others in those school rooms. His statement is in fact obtuse and cold-hearted.

 

[Dotta]

" 'Don't move to Texas':
Mysterious billboards pop up in Los Angeles and San Francisco with 'tasteless' reference to Uvalde shooting, warning residents not to pack up and move to the Lone Star state. "

Billboards pop up in Los Angeles with reference to Uvalde shooting

Mysterious billboards warning residents to not 'move to Texas' have popped up in major California cities in reference to the Uvalde school shooting.

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[PrairieWind]

" 'Don't move to Texas':
Mysterious billboards pop up in Los Angeles and San Francisco with 'tasteless' reference to Uvalde shooting, warning residents not to pack up and move to the Lone Star state. "

Billboards pop up in Los Angeles with reference to Uvalde shooting

Mysterious billboards warning residents to not 'move to Texas' have popped up in major California cities in reference to the Uvalde school shooting.

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org

What is wrong with people?!!!

 

[BeckyF]

What is wrong with people?!!!

It’s true! There should be a few more around the country, IMO.

 

[Friday Fan]

I think those might be have been put up by an activist/protest group. (Not a registered a group which legitimately fundraises or mainstream anything. They probably got their sign funds from bitcoins)

They may be hoping to start a boycott and may hope for change, but nah won't work

It's just someone expressing their opinion

It's really a non-story.

 

[Seattle1]

I think those might be have been put up by an activist/protest group. (Not a registered a group which legitimately fundraises or mainstream anything. They probably got their sign funds from bitcoins)

They may be hoping to start a boycott and may hope for change, but nah won't work

It's just someone expressing their opinion

It's really a non-story.

Yup. And somebody that's never been to Austin or had Texas BBQ!

 

[Dotta]

Yup. And somebody that's never been to Austin or had Texas BBQ!

And what is special about Austin?

 

[IceIce9]

And what is special about Austin?

If you have to ask you probably have never been there.

MOO

 

[Dotta]

If you have to ask you probably have never been there.

MOO

Never haha
I live in Europe
That is why I ask.
Im curious.

 

[kaen]

I think you nailed him and the situation: I think he thought he was riding the gravy train to retirement- then boom- here comes a real active shooter situation and he was caught, shall we say flat footed- he was totally clueless ( as you pointed out woefully unprepared). For him to actually state he did not know he was in charge at the scene is mind bending!!!!
Thing is, he remains clueless- his statements made in that letter after learning he was fired reflect a man who has no remorse for his failure to do his job, which would have been to assist in saving those children and others in those school rooms. His statement is in fact obtuse and cold-hearted.

I believe he knew he was in charge. His statements were (and continued to be) completely a CYA. I don't think he anticipated that many people would turn on him or that the investigations would point to his incompetence.

Additionally, there has been changes happening in the LE narrative about going into these types of situations. When you have courts and experts (very few, not many but there are some) saying that an officer(s) don't have to risk their lives to go into harms way and they are protected from their failure to act, there is going to be more of these incident intervention/action failures. It has happened in Parkland. The only way to hold that officer accountable was to charge him for child neglect and culpable negligence.

Clearly, this man was riding the wave to retirement. And, he wanted more so he ran for a council seat and won. These departments are funded by state and federal monies. It would make sense that these funding sources begin to oversee where their funds go and make the departments accountable for the level of training provided. Many of the officers in those published videos did not seem to agitated about the lack of action....

 

[PrairieWind]

I believe he knew he was in charge. His statements were (and continued to be) completely a CYA. I don't think he anticipated that many people would turn on him or that the investigations would point to his incompetence.

Additionally, there has been changes happening in the LE narrative about going into these types of situations. When you have courts and experts (very few, not many but there are some) saying that an officer(s) don't have to risk their lives to go into harms way and they are protected from their failure to act, there is going to be more of these incident intervention/action failures. It has happened in Parkland. The only way to hold that officer accountable was to charge him for child neglect and culpable negligence.

Clearly, this man was riding the wave to retirement. And, he wanted more so he ran for a council seat and won. These departments are funded by state and federal monies. It would make sense that these funding sources begin to oversee where their funds go and make the departments accountable for the level of training provided. Many of the officers in those published videos did not seem to agitated about the lack of action....

I agree he was riding this well paid job to retirement. Just like the Parkland RO. And neither was willing to put their life on the line. I would like, however, to address the issue of police not having a duty to protect. The court rulings on this are often misunderstood and misrepresented. In the Castle Rock case, the Court said that individuals do not have a 14th Amendment right to ensure police protect them. Scalia noted in that case that Congress, and States are free to enact other legislation to provide those rights a duties and seemed to encourage them to do so.

 

[SuziQ]

It so shocking that he worked as LE for nearly 30 years.
I mean - was he appreciated by his superiors?
Were there any red flags?

It is so strange that seemingly experienced officer failed so spectacularly.

He was not a rookie.

MOO

Yes there were red flags. His employment history was troubled. I will go find a link and post it.

 

[SuziQ]

Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo was demoted at former job

About two years later, on May 24, 2022, Aredondo was the on-scene commander who state law enforcement officials say made the fateful decision not to confront a gunman at Robb Elementary School imme…

nypost.com

8 years before Uvalde, Arredondo was demoted from previous law enforcement position: Report

The report comes from the San Antonio Express-News.

www.kvue.com

 

[Marysmith]

Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo was demoted at former job

About two years later, on May 24, 2022, Aredondo was the on-scene commander who state law enforcement officials say made the fateful decision not to confront a gunman at Robb Elementary School imme…

nypost.com

8 years before Uvalde, Arredondo was demoted from previous law enforcement position: Report

The report comes from the San Antonio Express-News.

www.kvue.com

Wow. There must have been other candidates? You can tell that he’s hard to get along with from his behaviour post the massacre IMO.

 

[WingsOverTX]

Never haha
I live in Europe
That is why I ask.
Im curious.

A bit OT but I will briefly answer your question. As Austin has evolved from a small city into a major metro area so much of its unique "flavor" is evaporating daily. That said, the outdoor recreational is wonderful. I enjoyed the trails & creeks in that hilly limestone country immensely while living there for almost 20 years. It is very green & has a unique fragrance due to prolific cedar tree colonies that also cause sinus troubles known as "cedar fever."

It is often said it should be "kept weird" & it's unique quirkiness was very appealing to me. City leadership never favored growth so the boom since 2008 has been challenging to every form of infrastructure. I no longer live there because it became too large & busy for me with competition way too high for every scarce resource from trails to housing.

Activism is strong (marches for all kinds of causes at the state capitol & elsewhere). Amazing BBQ. Live music venues. It has many claims to fame. Many festivals (SXSW, etc.) & unique park areas that support them.

Definitely unique in Texas & the U.S. despite the changes that threaten to turn it into a mixed use of urban ubiquity not unlike Dallas or Houston, sadly.

 

[Dotta]

A bit OT but I will briefly answer your question. As Austin has evolved from a small city into a major metro area so much of its unique "flavor" is evaporating daily. That said, the outdoor recreational is wonderful. I enjoyed the trails & creeks in that hilly limestone country immensely while living there for almost 20 years. It is very green & has a unique fragrance due to prolific cedar tree colonies that also cause sinus troubles known as "cedar fever."

It is often said it should be "kept weird" & it's unique quirkiness was very appealing to me. City leadership never favored growth so the boom since 2008 has been challenging to every form of infrastructure. I no longer live there because it became too large & busy for me with competition way too high for every scarce resource from trails to housing.

Activism is strong (marches for all kinds of causes at the state capitol & elsewhere). Amazing BBQ. Live music venues. It has many claims to fame. Many festivals (SXSW, etc.) & unique park areas that support them.

Definitely unique in Texas & the U.S. despite the changes that threaten to turn it into a mixed use of urban ubiquity not unlike Dallas or Houston, sadly.

Thanks!

I googled this tx bbq.
OMG
1 portion could feed a whole family in my country haha
But it looks delicious, even for me (Im almost vegetarian)

 

[WingsOverTX]

Thanks!

I googled this tx bbq.
OMG
1 portion could feed a whole family in my country haha
But it looks delicious, even for me (Im almost vegetarian)

I failed to mention its laid back hippy history. That was mostly before my time there

There was still a flamboyant guy in a hot pink bikini bottom who famously held court at an equally famous intersection at 6th & Congress when I first moved there. I worked in a building where he hung out on the sidewalk doing his part to keep it weird in comparison with buttoned up Dallas, for instance. Soooo there's that, too!

 

[kaen]

I agree he was riding this well paid job to retirement. Just like the Parkland RO. And neither was willing to put their life on the line. I would like, however, to address the issue of police not having a duty to protect. The court rulings on this are often misunderstood and misrepresented. In the Castle Rock case, the Court said that individuals do not have a 14th Amendment right to ensure police protect them. Scalia noted in that case that Congress, and States are free to enact other legislation to provide those rights a duties and seemed to encourage them to do so.

This is what I have been working off of:

Questions of Police Duty
The motto, "To Protect and Serve," first coined by the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1950s, has been widely copied by police departments everywhere. But what, exactly, is a police officer's legal obligation to protect people? Must they risk their lives in dangerous situations like the one in Uvalde?

The answer is no.

In the 1981 case Warren v. District of Columbia, the D.C. Court of Appeals held that police have a general "public duty," but that "no specific legal duty exists" unless there is a special relationship between an officer and an individual, such as a person in custody.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that police have no specific obligation to protect. In its 1989 decision in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, the justices ruled that a social services department had no duty to protect a young boy from his abusive father. In 2005'sCastle Rock v. Gonzales, a woman sued the police for failing to protect her from her husband after he violated a restraining order and abducted and killed their three children. Justices said the police had no such duty.

Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that police could not be held liable for failing to protect students in the 2018 shooting that claimed 17 lives at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. From: Do the Police Have an Obligation to Protect You? - FindLaw

 

[kaen]

From mainstream media:

Police aren’t required to protect you. When shots ring out in a school, the law doesn’t demand police rush inside and confront the shooter, even if lives could be saved. There’s an expectation that they will — as the motto “To Protect and to Serve” suggests — and departments train and prepare to do so. But as the courts have found, there is no law to hold officers accountable if they don’t. TOP VIDEOS Top Videos WATCH MORE Dallas-Fort Worth area high school volleyball Top10 plays × The so-called “public duty doctrine” doesn’t apply to mass shootings only, but also a practically innumerable spectrum of possible scenarios, according to experts. The doctrine holds that “an individual has no duty to come to the aid of an individual,” and that principle extends to police officers. They have no more legal responsibility to save someone than an average citizen, in most circumstances. “What duty do police have to protect individual members of the public? The short answer is not much,” Phillip Lyons, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, told McClatchy News

Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article262044822.html#storylink=cpy