Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived in Uvalde, Texas at noon on Sunday, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers last week. Her armored black limousine arrived at a makeshift monument outside Robb Elementary School around 11:15 a.m. Central Time, stopping by the sea of flowers, stuffed animals and photos that have grown since of the massacre.
The first lady wore a large bouquet of white roses to place in front of the brick sign at Robb Elementary School. The Biden, both dressed in dark black, were silent for a moment and the president made a sign of the cross.
After speaking with the school principal and the superintendent of the consolidated independent school district of Uvalde, Biden and the first lady went to a row of commemorative wreaths, each marking one of the children or teachers who were killed. They touched pieces of cardboard of each one, with their photos in front surrounded by white flowers, in calm observation.
The White House said the president and first lady would meet with community and religious leaders along with relatives of the young victims during their visit.
They plan to attend Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church before spending the afternoon reuniting with families. They will also meet with top officials before returning home to Delaware.
“He hopes to convey empathy and understanding of what is an impossibly horrible time for them,” said an adviser who was traveling with the president. “Expect to offer a little comfort, if possible.”
It is a solemn task made even more exhausting by the serious shortcomings of law enforcement that responded to Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde. And it comes without the promise of major legislative action to prevent further carnage, although a bipartisan group of lawmakers has begun talks to identify areas for potential action.
The frustrations of an angry audience could be felt at the memorial site. Spectators waiting for Biden began shouting when Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott arrived to accompany the president.
“Please, Governor Abbott, help Uvalde County,” shouted a man. “We need a change. Our kids don’t deserve that.”
As Biden left, similar cries for help could be heard before boarding his vehicle.
A day before his visit, Biden spoke of the agony of the parents who would meet on Sunday.
“I’m going to Uvalde, Texas, to talk to these families. As I speak, these parents are literally preparing to bury their children, in the United States of America, bury their children. There’s too much violence, too much “Fear, too much pain,” Biden told graduates Saturday at the University of Delaware graduation ceremony.
For Biden, the journey represents a grim duty to join grieving families in their darkest moments. She often relies on her own experience of losing two children: a young daughter from a car accident and her adult son from brain cancer, to comfort her parents.
“Losing a child is like breaking a piece of your soul. There’s a hole in your chest, and you feel like you’ve been sucked in and you can never get out of it. It’s suffocating. And it’s never. The same thing.” , said Biden on the night of the shooting, speaking from the Roosevelt Hall shortly after returning from a visit to two countries in Asia.
The Biden visit to Texas comes 12 days after the couple traveled to Buffalo, New York, to visit the site of a racist massacre at a grocery store. That shooting left 10 dead. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to the city on Saturday to attend the funeral of Ruth Whitfield, 86, the biggest victim of the attack.
“This is a time that requires all the good people who love people to just say we can’t stand this. That’s enough,” Harris said before placing a bouquet on a monument outside the Tops Friendly Markets store where the shooting took place on May 14th. When he left, Harris called for a ban on assault weapons such as those used to kill Uvalde and Buffalo.
The President and Vice President’s double visits to communities affected by mass killings were a striking reminder of the scourge of armed violence consumed by the nation. Biden, who has spent much of his career working to enact stricter gun laws, called for action again this week.
But he stopped before demanding that Congress pass any specific bill; the White House says it is up to Democratic leaders in the Senate to determine how to proceed with potential legislation. And he has not appointed a working group on armed violence beyond the officials already within the administration.
Biden and his aides also admit that there is little more that can be achieved through executive action that could prevent the types of massacres that now occur with frightening frequency.
On Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he felt a “different feeling” among his colleagues in Congress when it came to approving gun control measures following the shooting. ‘Uvalde. But the Illinois Democrat suggested to CNN’s Dana Bash about the “state of the Union” that if anything happened, it would be limited in scope due to the need to engage with Republicans.
In Texas, Biden will also face creepy accounts of the shooting that even state law enforcement officials said was a police failure. The decision of the responding officers not to enter the classroom where the shooting took place, despite 911 calls from students asking for help, leaves open the question of whether some lives could have been saved.
The White House has said it will not prejudge an investigation into police actions. But the revelations of the chronology, made on Friday during a heartbreaking press conference in Uvalde, only add to the sense of anguish that Biden will face during his visit.
This story and headline have been updated with additional news.
CNN’s Jasmine Wright contributed to this report.