Texas shooting: Governor Abbott issues disaster declaration for Uvalde as funeral services begin
Services are planned for 11 children and their teacher Irma Garcia this week
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Families and community members have gathered to remember the 19 children and two adult teachers who were killed in last Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, with funerals beginning to take place.
All 21 victims will be buried between now and mid-June, authorities have said, with funerals held on Tuesday for Amerie Jo Garza and Maite Rodriguez, both 10 years old. About a dozen services are planned for this week alone.
The investigation into the Uvalde massacre is continuing with revelations that the school district’s law enforcement agency has not responded to interview requests with the Texas Rangers as investigators probe the response.
Recently released footage from outside the school captures a 911 dispatcher relaying information from a child who called emergency operators, “advising he is in the room, full of victims” – again raising questions about the police decision not to storm the classroom.
Governor Greg Abbott has meanwhile issued a disaster declaration for Uvalde allowing the Texas Division of Emergency Management to provide critical assistance.
Voices | Uvalde police made terrible errors
It’s not hard to understand why police stood around outside, nor why they reacted with anger and force to people urging them to confront the shooter, writes Noah Berlatsky for The Independent.
The shooter had a semi-automatic weapon; he was very dangerous, and anyone confronting him was likely to die.
Republicans continue to insist that we embrace a Hollywood vision of gun violence by arming more law enforcement in hopes that some John McClane or Batman will foil the next gunman. Everything that actually happened in Uvalde shows how misguided that is.
Uvalde police made terrible errors. Republicans think they’re Hollywood heroes
Uvalde police training emphasized that in an active shooter situation, police are supposed to confront the attacker. The GOP has responded with fantasy ideals about more cops in schools. But the truth is that we know humans respond very differently to situations with automatic weapons — and we saw that happen at Robb Elementary School
Republican governor signals support for AR-15 restriction
Arkansas’s Republican governor Asa Hutchinson has become the latest figure to signal their support for new restrictions on purchasing semi-automatic rifles following Uvalde.
Authorities say Uvalde shooter Salvador Ramos legally bought two guns not long before the 24 May shooting because he had just turned 18-years-old.
Under federal law in the US, an 18-year-old can legally purchase weapons – even those such as the military-style semi-automatic AR-style rifle Ramos used to kill 19 children and two teachers.
“You have to at least have a conversation about that,” said Mr Hutchinson of raising the age limit on buying AR-15s. His comments come despite the Republican being a supporter of the Second Amendment.
A group of senators are currently involved in talks to find common-ground on gun legislation, which could include new laws limiting sales of semi-automatic guns.
Biden praises New Zealand’s gun control efforts during talks
The meeting between US President Joe Biden and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern presented the White House with another opportunity to talk-up gun control efforts on Tuesday.
Mr Biden praised his counterpart for her success in curbing gun violence and domestic extremism during the long-planned meeting, and said he would “meet with the Congress on guns, I promise you”.
Whether or not US lawmakers can be won-over by New Zealand’s prime minister on gun control remains to be seen however.
She successfully won a passage of gun control measures in her country after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019.
As the Associated Presss reported, that law banned military-style semi automatic weapons – not dissimilar to the AR-1 gun used by Uvalde, Texas, shooter Salvador Ramos.
Three people remain hospitalised after last week’s shooting
Three people remain hospitalised after they were injured by Uvalde gunman Salvador Ramos, CNN reported on Wednesday.
They are the gunman’s 66-year-old grandmother, Celia “Sally” Gonzales, a nine-year-old girl and a 10-year-old girl. Both children were not named.
The University Hospital San Antonio said while Ms Gonzales and the nine-year-old were in a good condition on Tuesday, the 10-year-old is a serious condition.
State divided other police response to school shooting threat
Police in Florida have come under fire for their response to an incident in which a student allegedly threatened a mass shooting at an elementary school in the state.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said at the weekend that a fifth-grader was interviewed and arrested in connection with a threatening text message about a school in Cape Coral.
The incident came just days after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos went on a shooting spree, killing 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on 24 May.
“Fake threats come with real consequences,” said congressman Byron Donalds of the arrest. “I applaud the dedicated professionals of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for taking action and providing peace of mind to our community”.
As Rachel Sharp reports, many others expressed their concern at bringing the named child “a lifetime of shame” however:
Florida police under fire for perp walking 10-year-old boy who threatened school
The child allegedly sent text saying ‘get ready for water day’ and image of assault rifle to classmate
Child tells police ‘I got shot’. new video shows
A video has emerged from last Tuesday’s shooting at Robb Elementary School in which a student told law enforcement he had been hit.
The video, which appears to be shot from the outside the school, captured the radio communications playing nearby and was handed to CNN by an anonymous individual.
An adult voice can be heard asking “are you injured?” A child responds “I got shot.”
As Graig Graziosi reports, the condition of that child remains unknown more than a week after the attack, which killed 19 children and two adults:
Video captures moment Uvalde student tells Border Patrol agent they had been shot
The condition of the child on the radio is unclear
Uvalde teacher did not leave door open
An Uvalde teacher did not leave a door propped open that allowed the gunman to enter Robb Elementary School, her lawyer has said, despite claims to the contrary from Texas law enforcement.
Don Flanary told The San Antonio News that the teacher had initially propped the door open to get food from a car, but actually closed it shut after realising the heavily armed gunman was heading towards the school.
Last week Colonel Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a news conference that a door to the school was left ajar by the teacher who ran outside when she heard Salvador Ramos crash his truck.
As Graeme Massie writes, the claims are another detail likely to raise questions about the police response:
Uvalde teacher did not leave door propped open that gunman used, says lawyer
Lawyer says that door was shut as gunman closed in on Robb Elementary but may not have locked
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