According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Aredondo did not respond to a request for a follow-up interview with Texas Rangers investigating the shooting at Rob Elementary School.
Still outside his home on Wednesday, Aredondo told CNN’s Aaron Cooper, “I’m in touch with the DPS every day.”
And in front of his office minutes later, he told CNN’s Shimon Prokupets that he would not release any additional information while the funeral continued.
“We will treat the family with respect,” he said. “We will do it eventually. When this is done and the families stop grieving, then obviously we will do it.”
This is the first time Aredondo has commented after two brief statements to the press on the day of the attack, in which he said the gunman was dead, but provided little information about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. He did not answer questions at the time and has not appeared in a public forum since.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in last Tuesday’s attack, and officers have so far failed to answer key questions about why police took about 80 minutes to break through two locked classroom doors and confront an armed man.
Last week, the school police chief was identified by the MRF as a commander who decided not to force his way into the rooms and instead stepped back and waited for reinforcements – even as children inside repeatedly called 911 and asked police for help.
Eventually, a tactical team of the Customs and Border Guard entered the rooms with the keys of a porter and fatally shot the suspect, the MRF reported.
DPS director Stephen McCrow did not identify Aredondo by name, but said the boss had made the “wrong decision” not to engage with the shooter earlier. He said the commander had decided to treat the situation as a barricaded suspect, not an active shooter.
The established law enforcement policy, established after the Columbine school shooting in 1999, calls on police to stop the shooter as soon as possible in an active shooter situation.
Aredondo was sworn in before the city council in a secret ceremony
Aredondo was elected a member of Uwalde’s city council earlier this month, and a special city council meeting to swear an oath to him and others was scheduled for Tuesday.
However, Mayor Don McLaughlin said in a statement Monday that the meeting “will not take place on schedule”, adding that “our focus on Tuesday is on our families who have lost loved ones”.
Instead, Aredondo took the oath in private without prior notice to the media. Although there was no official ceremony, McLaughlin said council members came to the “convenient” town hall during the day to take the oath, adding that Aredondo had come in person to receive the oath and sign documents. .
“Out of respect for the families who buried their children today and who plan to bury their children in the next few days, no ceremony was held,” McLaughlin said in a written statement.
In a statement Monday, the mayor said Aredondo was “properly elected” and that there was “nothing in the Texas city charter, electoral code or constitution that forbade him from taking the oath. As far as we know, we are not currently aware of any investigation by Mr Aredondo. “
In brief remarks Wednesday, Aredondo said the swearing-in was a “private matter” out of respect for families, saying families are in the spotlight right now.
CNN’s Omar Jimenez and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
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