The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers crossed the grounds of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, without being confronted and entered the building through an unlocked door, authorities say. a new account of the events that preceded the massacre.
Key points:
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New reports say the gunman was barricaded inside a classroom at Robb Elementary School for an hour before he was killed.
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Investigators are still investigating the gunman’s cell phone, which had no criminal record
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Meghan Markle pays an unannounced visit to Uvalde to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting
Police confirmed the gunman was barricaded inside a Robb Elementary School classroom for an hour before a tactical team finally entered the room and shot him dead.
Parents outside begged officers to storm the building.
The school district of Uvalde has a closed classroom policy as a security measure. The latest details from officials contradicted some early statements and raised new questions about the chronology of events, the speed of response of law enforcement and school safety precautions.
The gunman, Salvador Ramos, 18, crashed his truck outside the school at 11:28 a.m. (local time) on Tuesday, fired several shots at two spectators across the street and entered at school at 11:40, Victor. Escalon, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Homeland Security, told a news conference.
Escalon said two responding officers entered the school four minutes later, but took cover after the gunman fired several rounds at them.
Most of the victims were children aged 9 and 10. (AP: The San Antonio Express-News)
The gunman barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom, where he shot his victims, mostly 9- and 10-year-olds, in the deadliest shooting at an American school in nearly a decade.
Asked if officers should have come in earlier, Mr Escalon said, “This is a difficult question,” adding that authorities will provide more information as the investigation progresses.
He described a chaotic scene after the initial exchange of gunfire, with officers calling for support and evacuating students and staff.
The new, more detailed account came hours after videos appeared showing desperate parents outside the school during the attack, asking officers to storm the building, with some parents having to be stopped.
In a video posted on Facebook by a man named Angel Ledezma, parents can be seen breaking the yellow police ribbon and shouting at officers to enter the building.
“It’s been an hour and they still can’t get all the kids out,” Ledezma said in the video.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another video posted on YouTube showed officers restricting at least one adult.
A woman can be heard saying, “Why let the children die? There are shots inside.”
“We have guys coming in to have kids,” an agent is heard telling the crowd. “They’re working.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Students organize outings in Virginia and Michigan in support of victims of Texas school shooting.
There were no armed police officers parked at the school, Escalon told reporters.
He said the gunman fired more than 25 shots at the start of the attack, most of the time he fired during the siege.
The massacre, the latest in a series of years of mass shootings, has rekindled a national debate over the country’s gun laws.
President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats have vowed to push for new restrictions, despite resistance from Republicans.
Police are yet to find the gunman’s cell phone
Investigators are still working to determine a reason, Escalon said.
The man who dropped out of high school had no criminal record or a history of mental illness.
Officials say 17 people were also injured, including children. (AP: Jae C Hong)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday the gunman had written an online message to someone minutes before he was run over, saying he was about to “shoot an elementary school.”
He started firing at home, where he shot his grandmother in the face before fleeing in a van.
Her grandmother, who is in critical condition at the hospital, managed to call police.
A fourth-grader in the classroom told a CBS-affiliated television station in San Antonio that the gunman started firing before entering and then entered.
The boy, whom the station did not identify, said he hid under a table until police entered the classroom, prompting an exchange of gunfire.
At least 17 people were also injured, including children.
The victims’ loved ones used social media to express anguish over the loss of children who never returned home from school.
“We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio posted on Facebook in memory of her daughter, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, an honorary fourth-grader.
“We had no idea this was a goodbye.”
Uvalde is home to about 16,000 residents, almost 80% of them Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many members of the united community knew some of the victims or their families personally.
Read more about the Texas school shooting:
The teacher’s widowed husband dies of a heart attack
Meanwhile, the husband of a fourth-grader killed in this week’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school has died of a heart attack, relatives told the New York Times.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Sandy Hook’s victim’s daughter speaks out against armed violence.
Joe Garcia was preparing for the funeral of Irma Garcia, his beloved high school and 24-year-old wife, when she collapsed and died Thursday, the newspaper reported.
The two are leaving four children, according to the report.
Irma Garcia, 46, was one of two teachers killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, along with 19 children.
Relatives informed by authorities said that Irma Garcia and her co-teacher, Eva Mireles, died trying to protect their students.
NBC News also reported the death of Joe Garcia, citing his son Christian Garcia and a nephew, John Martinez.
“EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say my Aunt [aunt] Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has died of grief, I’m really speechless about how we feel, “Martinez wrote on his Twitter account, using the Spanish word for” aunt “and asking for family prayers. .
“God have mercy on us, this is not easy.”
Joe Garcia died after returning home after delivering flowers to a memorial for Irma Garcia, Martinez told NBC.
Meghan Markle pays tribute to the victims
On Thursday, Meghan Markle, the wife of British Prince Harry, paid an unannounced visit to Uvalde to pay his respects to the victims of the massacre.
Meghan Markle walked around the monument, looking at the white crosses with the names of the victims. (AP: Jae C Hong)
The 40-year-old Duchess of Sussex, wearing jeans, a blue baseball cap and T-shirt, stood up with her head bowed and placed flowers on a makeshift monument outside Uvalde’s court.
He also walked around the monument, looking at the white crosses with the names of the victims of Tuesday’s carnage.
A spokeswoman for Mrs Markle said the Duchess was visiting Uvalde personally and as a mother, to offer her condolences and support to a grieving community.
Harry and his wife left the royal life and moved to North America two years ago. They now live in California with their two children.
Buckingham Palace announced this month that the couple will not be present at the official celebrations of Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee on June 2.
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