Neighbor blasts Uvalde police chief keeping 24/7 guard around his house a 'coward'

The police chief criticized over his decision against storming the Uvalde elementary school classroom a mass shooter was in was called out by a neighbor on Saturday for keeping police protection at his home.

Uvalde School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo was the on-scene commander who decided the shooting at Robb Elementary School had transitioned from an “active shooter” situation to a “barricaded suspect” standoff and that no more children were at risk.

This resulted in 19 officers present waiting over half an hour for a tactical unit to arrive, despite 911 calls from injured children inside the classroom.

The chief has stayed away from the public since Col. Steven McGraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Friday that “with the benefit of hindsight… it was the wrong decision, period.”

Arredondo’s neighbor, 56-year-old Lydia Torres, is furious at how local police have now posted up around the police chief’s house.

“Pete Arredondo is a coward. He didn’t do his job. He failed the children,” Torres told the New York Post.

“I do not understand why the police from Uvalde, Texas, are guarding Pete Arredondo’s home,” she added.

“He is hiding in his home, requesting the PD patrol the area and guard his home day and night. He should come out and speak up.”

Torres insisted Arredondo address why the officers at the classroom door did not go in themselves.

“I want to know why the 19 police officers in the hallway didn’t take action immediately, when the children were begging for help,” said Torres.

“If they can not protect the children and citizens of Uvalde, Texas, then they have no business in law enforcement.

On Tuesday, ABC News reported that the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force, which Arredondo is a part of, are no longer cooperating with the state’s review of the response to the Robb Elementary School shooting.