Heart-shaped balloons fly decorating a memorial site outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Monday, May 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
For months questions have swirled around the lack of action taken by officials during the 2022 Uvalde school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Now some never-before-seen video is providing new insight.
In an exclusive video obtained by CNN, Pedro "Pete" Arredondo, then the Uvalde school police chief, told investigators that he didn't immediately send in help to stop the shooter out of fear that others could be killed.
"We have him contained –- and I know this is horrible and I know it's [what] our training tells us to do but — we have him contained. There's probably going to be some deceased in there, but we don't need any more from out here," he said.
Arredondo waited more than an hour after the shooting began to send in officers to neutralize the shooter. According to the Associated Press, there were enough officers and weaponry on the scene to move in after just three minutes.
Shortly after the school shooting, Col. Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, admonished Arredondo and said he prioritized the lives of trained officers above the lives of children.
