Police in Uwalde, Texas, threatened to arrest journalists for raiding the school district’s headquarters on Thursday as senior cops faced an investigation into their response to the Robb Elementary School massacre.
Uwalde School District Police Chief Pete Aredondo is hiding in district offices or at his home under police guard as questions arise as to whether law enforcement is worth his life as they wait an hour to retrieve the shooter who killed 19 children and two adults last week.
An Uvalde official checked the credentials of two Post employees and the NBC News team on Thursday, warning them they would be arrested for violating the border if they did not leave.
The school’s district offices are in a private office complex, but other members of the public have been allowed to enter the taxpayer-funded office, including a local poetess who left a copy of one of her works.
CNN correspondent Shimon Prokupets posted a video on Twitter with other threats of arrest on Wednesday, as four uniformed police officers blocked the way to the offices.
“Well, I’ll just let you know that Uwalde’s police are on their way,” a police officer said in the video. “Once they arrive here, they will start issuing criminal property violations.”
Police Chief in the school district of Uwalde Pete Aredondo is hiding in the district offices or in his home under police guard. John Rock
“They want us to give you the initial warning and then, if you are still present, then they will issue criminal offenses,” said another.
The confrontations came after a CNN team caught up with media-shy Aredondo in the office on Wednesday. Aredondo told the news station briefly that he was in contact with the Texas Public Safety Department, despite reports that he had stopped cooperating in the investigation into the shooting.
Public Safety Director Stephen McCrow said Aredondo, while the field commander waited to break through the door and destroy 18-year-old shooter Salvador Ramos because he believed the situation had shifted from an active shooter to a “barricaded site.”
Shimon Prokupets tweeted a video showing employees telling the media to leave their property, a public building that houses the administrative offices of the independent school districts Uvalde.Twitter / shimonpro
“In favor of retrospectively, where I’m sitting now, of course, that wasn’t the right decision, it was the wrong decision, period,” McCrow said.
As police waited for a tactical unit to arrive, terrified children called 911 from the two interconnected classrooms where the killer had locked the doors, McCrow said.
On Thursday, a Uvalde employee checked the press credentials of two Post employees and the NBC News team. Twitter / shimonpro
The US Department of Justice is investigating the response.
Cops clashed with the press ahead of revelations about how police reacted to the May 24 shooting.
The next day, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference at Uwalde High School, which was interrupted by Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who challenged him in this year’s election. O’Rourke accused Abbott of weapons and escorted him. The press who followed him were not allowed back, with state soldiers claiming the director called for blocking the return of the media because he had a “security problem”.
Banned media were only allowed to collect personal belongings after the conference was over.
Uwalde relies on state police and other departments. Many of the interactions with members of the media were with cops from the police departments of Far, San Juan, Conroe and Mathis. An Edinburgh police car was located in front of the district office on Thursday, and another Conroe car was in the back.
An Edinburgh official was asked by The Post why the department provided patrols more than a week after the massacre,
“Not every media outlet like yours respects borders,” she said. “From what I hear, we had some YouTubers who were causing problems.”
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