Pain and anguish have taken a heavy toll on Uvalde since an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on Robb Elementary School, turning a day that began with celebrations of student honors achievements into a nightmare. The gunman was shot dead by authorities inside a classroom more than an hour after entering the school. The massacre, the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, has been followed by conflicting official accounts of how it unfolded. The delay in the police clash with the mass shooter has exacerbated the anger of parents, and some say a quicker response could have saved the lives of the children. “Everyone is frustrated by the failures of what happened,” Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said Saturday. “No community anywhere in the United States should have to deal with this.”
Ahead of his planned visit to Uvalde on Sunday, President Joe Biden said that while tragedy cannot be banned, America can be made safer.
“When I speak, these parents are literally preparing to bury their children, in the United States of America, burying their children. There is too much violence, too much fear, too much pain,” he said Saturday during his graduation speech. at the University of Delaware.
Biden’s visit comes as the community is digesting gruesome details that emerged on Friday, when officials released a clearer timetable for law enforcement’s response to the shooting.
Uvalde police officers entered the school about two minutes after the shooter, and more than an hour had passed before he was killed, said Texas Department of Homeland Security director Steven McCraw.
In that more than 70-minute window, other officers arrived inside the building, McCraw said. They demanded more resources, equipment and negotiators, among other things, but without breaking the doors of the classroom where the shooter Salvador Ramos was hiding.
At one point, more than 45 minutes before the gunman’s death, up to 19 officers were parked in the hallway.
School district police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo called for officers not to enter the classroom while waiting for the key and tactical equipment in the room, officials said.
McCraw said it was the wrong move and that officers should have immediately confronted the shooter.
Meanwhile, Uvalde funeral homes have pledged to cover the expenses of the families of the 21 victims and have announced that some services will begin on Monday.
“We have fought together as a community and will come together as one now in our time of need,” Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home wrote on its Facebook page. The Rushing-Estes-Knowles Funeral Home echoed this support for the Uvalde community: “Today, our determination is stronger than ever. We are here for the people of Uvalde,” the funeral home said on of the shooting.
“There’s nothing here but love”
Since the shooting, graduations and other celebratory events have been canceled, as the community mourns the devastating loss of some of its most vulnerable.
The city affected by the pain of about 16,000 inhabitants has been gathering during the days since the shooting through prayers, hugs and donations.
Acts of kindness have ranged from people who drive for hours to support those who mourn their loved ones to those who have given food or blood.
Omar Rodriguez, who owns a car retail business, made 250 burgers to raise funds for the families of the victims. On the lot of a friend on Main Street, Rodriguez set up a large grill, tables, and cooking supplies while his family and friends grabbed cloths and soap to wash the cars to make a donation.
The 24-year-old said he could not stay home thinking he could do something to help.
“This is a good village. There is nothing here but love,” he said.
Patrick Johnson, 58, drove for seven hours from his hometown of Harleton, Texas, to Uvalde and set up a table full of toys for children who hadn’t smiled for days.
“There are many ways to be a blessing to people,” he said. “Whenever something like this happens, I do my research and get in touch with local law enforcement and ask ‘what can I do?’ What does your community need right now? “
Johnson, a father of four, said he broke down and cried when he learned of the shooting.
“I’m not even from this community, but it hurts me. It makes you think of your own children. It makes you realize that it may have been you, your children crying.”
Questions about the police response continue
Texas officials and law enforcement have been heavily scrutinized and have faced a backlash over the way officers responded to the shooting.
All Texas law enforcement officers are trained because their first priority is to move and confront the attacker, according to the active shooter guidelines in the state commission’s training manual for the implementation of the law 2020 obtained by CNN.
“As lifeguards, we must recognize that innocent life must be defended,” says the textbook. .
But that doesn’t seem to be what happened during the mass shooting at the elementary school.
He spent more than an hour between shots at school and when the shooter died. The commander of the incident at the time believed the situation had shifted from an active shooter to a “barricade affair,” McCraw said.
Decisive action was taken when a unit of border patrol officers arrived at the scene, entered the classroom and killed the gunman.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he wants a full account of what happened, but added that he has no say in whether Arredondo, the school district’s police chief, should be fired.
“As for his job situation, this is something that is out of my control and I am unaware of it,” Abbott said Friday.
CNole’s Nicole Chavez, Alaa Elassar, Ed Lavandera, Jasmine Wright and Nicky Robertson contributed to this report.