A CNN reporter correctly confronted the Uvalde, Texas, school district chief of police on Wednesday, refusing to take no for an answer when Chief Pedro Arredondo repeatedly tried to sidestep the reporter and avoid answering crucial questions about last week’s school massacre. Arredondo escaped through a door, after which the school district announced that it would arrest any reporter found on school district property.
These aren’t the actions of administrators and officers interested in an honest assessment of what went wrong in a school shooting that left 19 children and two educators dead. These are the actions of officials doing their best to evade accountability for the apparent hand-wringing cowardice of a commander who restrained law enforcers from taking action to save precious lives.
The threat to arrest reporters applies not just to Robb Elementary, the scene of the massacre, but any school district property where reporters wait to speak with officials. A video posted on Twitter Wednesday showed four school district officers informing reporters that they were regarded as trespassers and subject to arrest.
