Texas state senator: Incident commander didn't have radio during Uvalde shooting

June 3 (UPI) -- A Texas state senator said Friday that Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo didn't have his radio with him during the May 24 school shooting that killed 21 people.

"He [Arredondo] did not have his radio or comms on him during incident," Sen. Roland Gutierrez said, according to Fox 29. "So unless there was someone relaying him info, there was no way for him to know there were 911 calls coming from inside that room."

Gutierrez said law enforcement told him Friday that Arredondo didn't have the radio with him.

Arredondo was recently sworn in as a member of the Uvalde City Council.

He was the commanding officer during the shooting who decided police would wait for reinforcements and not force their way into the classroom, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

DPS Director Steven McGraw said that was the wrong decision.

Gutierrez said that 911 calls from frightened children inside the school were not relayed to Chief Arredondo.

A Justice Department review of the police response to the Uvalde shooting will likely focus on Arredondo's decision to delay ordering officers into the classrooms to confront the shooter.

"You have to figure out what caused that decision. To do that you have to peel away the layers, and that will take time. The goal is to learn from this and potentially prevent it from happening in the future," said Rick Braziel, a retired Sacramento police chief and consultant.