U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden hope to comfort a city plagued by grief and anger as they reunite with families affected by the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers .
Sunday’s visit to Uvalde is Biden’s second trip in as many weeks to comfort a grieving community after an impressive loss. On May 17, he was in Buffalo, NY, to reunite with the families of the victims and condemn white supremacy after a shooter killed 10 blacks in a supermarket.
The shootings in Texas and New York and their aftermath have highlighted the country’s deep-rooted divisions and its inability to forge consensus on actions to reduce armed violence.
“The evil hit the Texas elementary school classroom, the New York grocery store, too many places where they died innocent,” Biden said Saturday in a graduation speech at the University of Delaware. “We need to be stronger. We need to be stronger. We can’t ban tragedy, I know, but we can make America safer.”
The president visits the school, the church
The Biden visited the makeshift monument outside Robb Elementary School, where they placed a bouquet of flowers, hugged the school principal, Mandy Gutierrez, and toured a sample of photos of the victims. .
Shortly afterwards, the Biden attended Mass at a local Catholic church. They were also scheduled to meet with family members at a community center and first responders at the local airport before returning to Washington, the White House said. The president was not expected to make formal statements.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, pay their respects Sunday at a makeshift monument in front of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. A gunman killed 21 people, including 19 children, at the school on Tuesday. (Chandan Khanna / AFP / Getty Images)
Mckinzie Hinojosa, whose cousin Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, was killed Tuesday, said she respected Biden’s decision to cry with the people of Uvalde.
“It’s more than mourning,” he said. “We want change. We want action. It’s still something that happens over and over and over again. It’s a mass shooting. It’s in the news. People are crying. Then it’s gone. Nobody cares. And then it happens again. And again. “
Growing scrutiny of police response to shooting
The Biden visit to Uvalde comes amid growing scrutiny of the police response to the shooting.
Officials revealed Friday that students and faculty repeatedly begged for help from 911 operators, although a police commander told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. Officials said the commander believed the suspect was barricaded inside an adjoining classroom and that there was no longer any active attack.
The revelation sparked further distress and questions about whether more lives were lost because officers failed to act more quickly to stop the gunman, who was eventually killed by Border Patrol tactical officers.
On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would conduct a review of the local police response to the shooting.
On Wednesday, before the details of the officer’s delayed response became known, Biden had praised his efforts, saying that “brave local officers and Border Patrol officers intervened to save as many children as they could.”
The Biden greet Texas Gov. Greg Abbott when they arrive in Uvalde on Sunday. The president was scheduled to attend Mass at a local Catholic church and to meet with relatives and those in charge. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
Authorities say the gunman 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.
Speaking on Saturday, Biden said something had to change in response to the attack.
“He calls on all Americans at this time to unite and make their voices heard, to work together to make this nation what it can and should be,” he said. “I know we can do that. We’ve done it before.”
Hours after the shooting, Biden filed a passionate petition for additional gun control legislation, asking, “When, in God’s name, will we face the gun lobby? Why are we willing to live with this carnage?” Why are we still letting this happen? “
Over the years, Biden has been intimately involved in the most notable achievements of the arms control movement, such as the 1994 assault weapons ban, as well as its most troubling disappointments, including the lack of approval of new legislation after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. in Newtown, Connecticut.
Two girls write words of encouragement on a catwalk in a plaza in Uvalde on Saturday, where a memorial is set up for victims killed during a shooting at an elementary school earlier in the week. (Jae C. Hong / The Associated Press)
In the White House, Biden has tried to eliminate armed violence through executive orders. He now faces few new options, but executive action could be the best the president can do, given Washington’s strong divisions over gun control legislation.
Lawmakers resumed long-standing negotiations to extend background check requirements and encourage “red flag” laws aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of people suspected of posing a risk to them or their others, but the conversations face a difficult battle at the Capitol.