Parents, teachers, school staff and students who were on scene the day of the shooting are demanding redress for "the indelible and forever-lasting trauma" caused by the failures of law enforcement. [121] Four other victims, the perpetrator's grandmother and three students, were taken to the University Hospital in San Antonio. The report said a total of 376 law enforcement officials responded to the shooting, including 149 Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officers. But what didn't . A student in classroom 112 calls 9-1-1 and asks the operator to send the police now. [1][138][139] He posted a picture of two rifles on his Instagram account three days before the shooting. [203] Former Austin and Houston's police chief Art Acevedo tweeted, "We don't have all of the particulars right now, but when gunfire is ringing out with, police are trained, expected, and required to engage, engage, engage. The school teaches. The exercise also covered the ability to compare and contrast an active shooter situation versus a barricaded subject or hostage crisis where an armed person isolates themselves with limited to no ability to harm others. It was the wrong decision. He replied, "No, stop asking dumb questions. [122][261][262], Internationally, the shooting was condemned by various governments and politicians, including by the government of Mexico,[263] which said it was working with American authorities to identify Mexican victims. Ramos enters the school through its west entrance door, walks through the hallway and shoots into interconnected classrooms 111 and 112 from the hallway, then enters, exits and re-enters classrooms 111 and 112. GRAPHICS: Total police response . "If there's kids in there, we need to go in there," the DPS special agent repeats. When a pair of students killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999, there was no precedent of renovation or rebuilding to follow. However, according to The New York Times, "Some of the footage from the scene raises questions about the city's account. Arezzo is a bargain hunter's paradise. FILE - Law enforcement, and other first responders, gather outside Robb Elementary School following a shooting, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. In response, the district canceled school while it investigated the threat. [31][32][33] On the day of the shooting, there had been an awards ceremony at the school. A UCISD officer arrives at the school, having heard the 9-1-1 call. Arredondo disputed the characterization of his role as incident commander, but was later fired by the Uvalde school board for his actions during the shooting. The hour-long meeting was "heated", and voices were raised. [96], On June 21, Steve McCraw, Texas Department of Public Safety Director, testified during the Texas Senate Committee Meeting on the Uvalde School Shooting that the police response was an "abject failure and antithetical to everything we have learned over the past two decades" and that the police could have stopped the shooter in three minutes. [199], Almost 400 law enforcement officers, including 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 Texas DPS officers, came to Uvalde during the shooting. The old school was razed in 2013 after the town's residents voted overwhelmingly to do so. [40], UCISD held joint security training exercises in August 2020 along with the Uvalde Police Department, the Uvalde County Sheriff's Department, and other local law enforcement agencies. Four shots are heard from surveillance footage. "We can't let the shooters rule our lives. "[43] The materials also put forth the position that a "first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field". In the GOP-controlled Texas Capitol, Republicans this year rejected virtually all proposals to tighten gun laws over the protests of the families and Democrats. On May 24, 2022, 21 people, including 19 children were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. [37], Police arrested and handcuffed one mother who drove to the school after hearing about the shooting, which prevented her from trying to save her children. [293] Gun safety advocacy groups such as Moms Demand Action and March for Our Lives, as well as local teachers' unions, Black Lives Matter chapters, the Harris County Democratic Party, and Beto O'Rourke protested outside the convention. Begun by Ivan Bruschi in 1968, the Arezzo Antique Market offers its array of international visitors, the unmissable opportunity to seek out collectable objects - a process otherwise . Copyright 2022 NPR. [225] Multiple survivors from the shooting have expressed their fear of returning to school,[226][227] and have spoken with media outlets to recount their experiences. We're trying to preserve the rest of the life". [29][30] In 2022, about 90% of Robb Elementary School's 600 students in the second through fourth grades were Hispanic, and about 81% of the student population came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. [298] Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed during the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, also called for politicians to enact stricter gun control, and expressed support for the families of Robb Elementary School victims. The investigation has run parallel to a new wave of public anger in the U.S. over gun violence, renewed calls for stricter firearm regulations and legal challenges over authorities in Uvalde continuing to withhold public records related to the shooting and the police response. [135] On May 14, Ramos sent a private Instagram message reading, "10 more days". Many of Uvalde's families have grown up hunting, so guns have been built into the county's culture and economic lifeblood for generations. Classes now take place in a new building on campus that was constructed after the shooting and dedicated in October 2020. CNN's Laura Coates and Shimon Prokupecz are joined by Andrew McCabe and Charles Ramsey to break down the surveillance footage of the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. [34], The city of Uvalde spent 40% of its municipal budget on its police department in the 20192020 fiscal year,[17][35] and UCISD, the school district operating Robb Elementary School, had multiple security measures in place at the time of the shooting. Arredondo instructs officers to position a sniper on the east roof. Robb Elementary Principal Mandy Gutierrez defended herself Wednesday against criticism about her handling of school security before the massacre that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Email Or Call (888) 847-9869. [96] The source also said that law enforcement, for the entire time, possessed a halligan tool that could have breached a locked classroom door. [3], Born on May 16, 2004, in Fargo, North Dakota,[122] Salvador Rolando Ramos was a resident of Uvalde from an early age and was a former student at Uvalde High School. [40] According to The New York Times, the report found that the Uvalde Police chief knew that a child had made 911 calls from inside a classroom, but that "none of the officers who learned of the calls advocated for 'shifting to an active shooter-style response or otherwise acting more urgently to breach the classrooms. ", "Will the recently passed Bipartisan Safer Communities Act help limit access to guns? When they did not, parents offered to enter the building themselves. [99], Arredondo was aware the gunman was firing from within the classroom, and that some shots had grazed police officers. [98], On July 2, Arredondo resigned from his position on the Uvalde city council. Marshals Service received a call for assistance from a Uvalde police officer. [145] The DPS responded that the UPD and UCISD police force "have been cooperating with investigators", while specifying that UCISD police chief Pedro Arredondo "provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago. [39] That night, UCISD's superintendent Hal Harrel announced in a letter sent to parents that the school year had concluded for the entire district, similarly to what was done during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, including the cancelation of a planned graduation ceremony. The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Col. Steve McCraw, put much of the blame after the attack on Uvaldes school police chief, who was later fired by trustees. [163] Some parents had to wait late into the night for final confirmation of their child's death, awaiting DNA identification. [180] On May 27, it was announced that an anonymous donor had donated $175,000 to go towards the funerals of the victims. [209][214][216] On May 27, McCraw said that the school police officer was not at the school when the incident started, but he drove there during the incident, "drove right by" Ramos, and mistakenly confronted a teacher. [266] President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador commented on the Hispanic origin of the majority of the victims, noting, "Just look at the surnames; they are children, grandchildren of Mexicans it hurts us a lot. Furthermore, the lawsuit filed charges on the accusation of a "failed law enforcement response", claiming that Eliahna's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when she and her fellow students and teachers were involuntarily confined within their classrooms, accompanying additional unlawful seizure and lack of due process accusations towards the law enforcement defendants. Republican Texas Gov. [58] The entrance door did not lock despite being designed to be locked when shut. Prior to this, the agent had been off-duty. [96] The surveillance video showed Ramos firing inside classrooms 111 and 112, briefly returning into the hallway, and then going back into the classrooms, said the source; Ramos then shot through the closed door, prompting law enforcement to retreat. [132], A year before the shooting, Ramos started posting pictures to his Instagram account of semi-automatic rifles that were on his wish list. The student in classroom 112 says she can hear the police next door. And yet it was part of a learning environment that would be delightful for the children, a place where they look forward to coming and every day engaged in a joyful process of learning.". [311] The bill notably excludes an assault weapons ban but includes other measures, such as banning those under 21 from purchasing semi-automatic rifles and the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of high-capacity magazines, requiring bump stocks to be registered under the National Firearms Act and banning them for civilian use. [8][22] Law enforcement was also aware there were injured individuals in the school before they made their entrance. [318] President Biden spoke about the anniversary at the White House with 21 candles at the base of the White House Grand Staircase, and spoke about his frustration at a lack of change in gun policy.