UVALDE, Texas — *Editor's note: The video at the top of this story was from before the council voted on the leave of absence request.
The Uvalde City Council unanimously voted to deny newly elected Councilman Pete Arredondo a leave of absence Tuesday night in the wake of the Robb Elementary shooting.
Arredondo is also the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District. He's facing national scrutiny for not confronting an active shooter who killed 19 school children and two teachers when he entered the school on May 24.
In recent weeks, law enforcement officials revealed that the children and teachers waited over an hour for officers to confront 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.
On Tuesday, Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw said Ramos could have been neutralized within minutes if Arredondo, the on-scene incident commander, had made the order to breach two classrooms where the children and teachers were waiting for help. Arredondo told the Texas Tribune in an interview that he didn't believe he was the incident commander.
Arredondo has not attended a city council meeting since being elected and has been busy dealing with the aftermath of the shooting.
He testified behind closed doors in the Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday.
It's not clear if Arredondo requested the leave of absence, but the way the council voted signals that the embattled chief might have.
All council members unanimously voted to deny Arredondo the leave of absence, one council member even suggesting that it's time he faces a grieving community that has passionately asked for transparency and action during public comment.
Family members of victims spoke against granting the leave of absence.
This is a developing story and will be updated.