A silver coffin with the body of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza was taken to the church of the Sacred Heart of Uvalde on Tuesday, marking the first of 21 funerals for the murders in the mass shooting of the last week at a Texas elementary school.
Maite Rodriguez will be buried Tuesday night. Her family said she wanted to be a marine biologist.
“She didn’t deserve it. I just know she was brave at the time. She was telling people where she was hiding,” Maite’s cousin Destiny Esquivel said.
Nineteen of the victims, including 44-year-old teacher Eva Mireles, will be buried in specially designed chests made and donated by a nearby Texas business. Mireles’ sister, Maggie, had to choose the dress with which she was to be buried.
On May 30, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas, a memorial is seen for the 19 children and two adults killed on May 24 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu Agency through Getty Images
“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I never thought I’d do this for my sister,” she told CBS News.
Mireles, a CrossFit enthusiast and avid hiker, was killed trying to protect her students.
“I get up every morning and the first thing I do is cry because I know it’s real. I know it’s not a dream,” Maggie said.
As reality sets in, so does anger against local law enforcement. The community that initially asked why the police waited about 75 minutes before entering the school is now asking for answers.
The Uvalde school police force, including its head Pete Arredondo, completed active shooter training just two months ago. The training indicates that the first priority of an officer is to face the attacker.
A woman cries at a makeshift monument at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 29, 2022. CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP via Getty Images
As the index finger grows, so does the pain. Residents continued to pay their respects at a growing memorial, including Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who grew up in Uvalde.
Local border patrol officers also laid a wreath after risking their lives to stop the attack.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster for the small town in order to “accelerate all available state and local resources to help” the community in times of need.
The police response remains very focused
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Sunday that it would review law enforcement response. Police have been heavily criticized for taking more than an hour to kill Ramos in adjoining classrooms where he unleashed carnage.
Officials revealed Friday that students and faculty repeatedly begged for help from 911 operators while a police commander told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. Officials said Arredondo believed the suspect was barricaded inside an adjoining classroom and that there was no longer any active attack.
The revelation raised new questions about whether lives were lost because officers failed to act more quickly to stop the gunman, who was eventually killed by U.S. Border Patrol tactical officers.
An officer stands in front of a broken window at Robb Elementary School, the site of the May 24, May 30, 2022, May 20, 2022 shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu Agency through Getty Images
Many locals have come to blame the beloved Arredondo for his unbearable delay in killing the shooter.
The director of state police said at a news conference on Friday that Arredondo made the “wrong decision” about when to move officers. Steven McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Homeland Security, said that after following the gunman into the building, officers waited more than an hour to enter the classroom.
Authorities say Ramos legally bought two weapons shortly before the school attack: an AR-style rifle on May 17 and a second rifle on May 20. He had just turned 18, and was allowed to buy weapons under federal law.
Arms legislation efforts were revived
A day after visiting Uvalde and promising, “We’ll do it,” in response to people chanting “Do something,” President Joe Biden expressed some optimism Monday that there may be some bipartisan support for tightening restrictions on the type of ‘powerful weapons. used by the gunman.
“I think things have gone so badly that everyone is becoming more rational, at least that’s my hope,” Biden told reporters before honoring the nation’s downfall in Memorial Day statements at the National Cemetery. ‘Arlington.
On May 30, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas, people are seen at a memorial for the 19 children and two adults killed on May 24 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu Agency through Getty Images
“The second amendment was never absolute,” Biden said. “You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn’t go out and buy a lot of weapons.”
A bipartisan group of senators spoke over the weekend to see if they could reach even a modest compromise on arms security legislation. Encouraging state “red flag” laws to keep guns away from people with mental health issues and addressing school safety and mental health resources were on the table, said Sen. Chris Murphy, who leads the effort .
The group will meet again this week with a 10-day deadline to reach an agreement.
School shooting in Uvalde, Texas
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