Lee Luna heard what he thought was a hard hammer blow a few blocks from the gas station where he works.
Jennifer Gaitan watched as police cruisers hurried past her home to her daughter’s school.
Francisco Ayala was on his way home after his truck driving job when he saw a disturbing news item in a San Antonio hotel and immediately left for home.
At the end of Tuesday, few in Uvalde, Texas were left untouched by the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers at a local elementary school.
This city of 16,000 is located about 100 miles from the Mexican border in South Texas. It’s a predominantly Latino community of modest bungalows and a handful of businesses surrounded by extensive ranches, where “everyone knows everyone,” said Tim Wiginton, 37, a border patrol officer who has lived there since seven years ago.
“So if you were directly affected [by the school shooting] or you know someone who was there, whose children were there, the first to respond, everyone knows someone who was connected, “he said.
Tim Wiginton is a border patrol officer living in Uvalde. Some of his comrades responded to the shooting on Tuesday. (Kazi Stastna / CBC)
Some of Wiginton’s colleagues were among the first to respond to the shooting at Robb Elementary, and one of them killed the gunman, according to a report. report by the National Public Radio.
“Honestly, we’re probably the best-prepared agency,” Wiginton said, explaining why border guards responded even though the school board has its own dedicated officers. “We’re just around the corner. We have more manpower … They only have four resource officers for six or seven schools.”
Wiginton said many border guards had children or other relatives attending or working at the school.
“Some of them lost relatives there.”
Police have blocked access to Robb Elementary School while the investigation into the shooting continues. (Kazi Stastna / CBC)
“He was a witness and heard a lot”
Jennifer Gaitan, 30, came face to face with some of the officers when she rushed to Robb Elementary on Tuesday morning to check on her nine-year-old daughter, Jazlynn, and tried to break through the police cordon to keep anxious parents. in the Bay.
“I had a policeman backing me up and he was ready to arrest me,” Gaitan said Wednesday. “And I’m yelling at her, ‘Don’t worry about us … go get the kids.’
Gaitan said he lives on a few blocks from the school and was one of the first parents to arrive on the scene around 11:30 a.m. local time, but it was about 1:00 p.m. that her daughter be released from inside the school.
“It was awful for me, and I was out. I could imagine for her,” Gaitan said.
He said it was his daughter’s 4th grade teacher’s actions that gave Jazlynn a chance to fight.
Uvalde residents flaunt the colors of Robb Elementary School at a prayer vigil at the city’s fairgrounds on Wednesday. The event was attended by religious leaders and local and state officials, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. (Jae C. Hong / The Associated Press)
“When [the gunman] he entered through the back door, his room being the first door. He opened that door, but with [the teacher’s] Thinking quickly, he told them to turn off the lights and go down, and he thought there was no one there. That teacher saved my daughter’s life. “
Still, she’s worried about the impact on Jazlynn’s mental health.
“She was a witness and heard a lot,” Gaitan said through tears. “She is traumatized.”
That’s why Gaitan took Jazlynn to a prayer vigil on Wednesday evening at the extensive fairgrounds on the outskirts of the city, where hundreds of Uvalde residents and as far away as San Antonio, as well as state politicians and religious leaders. and locals, gathered to comfort them. others.
“Just before I came here, I asked [Jazlynn], ‘You know, are you okay? Please just talk to me, and my daughter has never caught me so much. And he let her escape, “Gaitan said.” She just said she couldn’t help but imagine it in her head, everything she felt, everything she saw. It’s horrible. “
A taqueria in Uvalde. The city is surrounded by open roads and extensive ranches. (Kazi Stastna / CBC)
The vigil brings relief to some
Francisco Ayala was on Wednesday night with his daughter Hermione and shared an equally agonizing experience of waiting for news from his children. Ayala lives in Batesville, but four of her children go to high school or high school in Uvalde.
A truck driver traveling across North America was in San Antonio on his way home for his son’s high school graduation when he heard news of a school shooting and feared his children might be in danger. .
“No one answered the phone because everyone was running around [to Uvalde]and I had no idea what was going on, “he said.
Trucker Francisco Ayala is seen with his daughter Hermione. He lives in Batesville, about 30 miles south of Uvalde, but has four children who go to school in the city. He initially feared that his schools would be involved in the shooting. (Kazi Stastna / CBC)
He later found them safe at the local civic center, but learned that a member of his wife’s family was among the murdered children.
He said Wednesday night’s vigil brought some relief, but that for the time being, he is giving his space to those who suffer.
“We are just letting everyone grieve alone, as they please, with their immediate family. [and] I’m just staying with my grieving family right now, ”he said.
The trauma of the shooting extends beyond those who experienced it first hand in the classrooms. Parents are also being persecuted for what they witnessed.
Justin Rodriguez, a resident of Uvalde whose nephew was grazed during the shooting, got this tattoo as a result of the tragedy. (Jason Burles / CBC)
“It’s very hard to see and it will stay in my head forever,” said Justin Rodriguez, 23, who works at a recycling facility. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I tried to sleep for five minutes. I woke up every minute. Just people screaming and screaming, screaming in pain.”
On Tuesday, he saw his 11-year-old nephew leave the school, who was in one of the two classrooms to which the gunman pointed and who had been shot by a bullet, leaving the school, but Rodríguez did not she was able to reach him.
“He saw several of his comrades … being shot,” Rodriguez said. “He tried to save this girl. He couldn’t save her. He wanted to, he really wanted to.”
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He is not ready to analyze, to speculate
Some who spoke to CBC said their children or siblings had gone to a local high school with the shooter and his sister, but emotions in the city were still too raw for most to speculate on what might have happened. motivated. Some didn’t want to talk about the event at all.
“It’s just sad, you know what I mean?” said a young man coming out of a convenience store when he approached them for an interview. “I was in Robb when the kids were finishing up. I was there, but I don’t want to think about it.”
A Texas state agent takes flowers to two people near Robb Elementary School. Access to the school has been blocked while the investigation into the shooting continues. (Jae C. Hong / The Associated Press)
On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shifted the blame for the shooting to chronic mental health issues, saying the local sheriff and others had told him “they have a problem with mental illness in this community.”
Some residents of Uvalde questioned this characterization.
“She doesn’t know. She’s never in any of these small towns. She’s always in the big cities,” said Lee Luna, 26, whose best friend lost her 10-year-old cousin, Xavier Javier Lopez. . in the shooting.
Luna said her younger brother and sister attended high school with the gunman, but that she could not provide much information about her psyche.
“Some people just have a different cable,” Luna said. “Some people go through a lot of things, they just retaliate in different ways.”
Luna, who grew up in Uvalde and attended Robb Elementary itself, said the city has never seen such violence.
“There are gangs out there and stuff, but not like that, where they kill innocent kids.”
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