UVALDE, Texas – The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a rural elementary school in Texas on Tuesday entered the building despite confronting an armed security guard at the school. injured two police officers who responded and clashed at the school for more than an hour, state police officials said.
Although there were gaps in the chronology of events, details of a long carnage scene at Robb d’Uvalde Primary School surfaced on Wednesday. What started around 11:30 a.m., with the first report of a gunman approaching the school, ended when specialized officers broke up a couple of adjoining classrooms and killed the gunman barricaded inside shortly after 1 p.m., state police officials said.
It was not known how many died in the first minutes of the massacre, which was the deadliest in an American school since 20 children and six educators were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. in 2012. But officials said officers had successfully contained the gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, until more specially trained officers could arrive.
Praying in front of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Wednesday. Credit … Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times
However, although the details of the attack became clearer, the motivation behind the outbreak of violence remained frustratingly opaque. In the absence of an explanation, there was only deep pain in a community unaccustomed to outside attention, and a crude renewal of the national debate on firearms legislation and the staggering count of armed violence in America. .
On Wednesday, all the victims had been identified by officials, who had not yet released their names, but the balance of the tragedy was only beginning to take shape.
Among those killed were Eva Mireles, a schoolteacher who ran marathons in her spare time, and Jailah Silguero, 10, the youngest of four children. “I can’t believe it happened to my daughter,” her father, Jacob Silguero, said during an interview. “It’s always been my fear of losing a child.”
President Biden said he would travel to Uvalde in the coming days to try to comfort residents. He did not ask Congress to pass arms security legislation, but on Wednesday he said in statements that the “Second Amendment is not absolute” and that previous arms security laws did not violate its constitutional protections. “These actions we have taken before, save lives,” he said. “They can do it again.”
However, with little apparent openness at the federal level, Democratic-controlled states moved to introduce their own changes. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would work to raise to 21, “at least,” the age to buy AR-15-style weapons like the one used by the Texas gunman. In California, the state Senate advanced a bill along the lines of the party, proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and inspired by Texas’ restrictive abortion law, which would allow private citizens to sue those who make or break. they sell ghost weapons, ghost weapons equipment and illegal assault style. weapons.
“This state is tilting,” Mr. Newsom. “We are leaning forward.”
A state police officer accepted the flowers of a villain while the investigation into the shooting continued. Credit … Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times
In Uvalde, top Texas officials gathered for an emotional press conference that began with calls for unity after the assassination. “It is intolerable and unacceptable to have in this state someone who kills young children in our schools,” Mr. Abbott, who has celebrated the loosening of gun regulations in Texas and last year pushed for a new law that would allow most Texans to carry a gun without permission.
But the gloomy tone that Mr. Abbott’s strike attempt was replaced by Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat who challenged the re-election of Mr. Abbott. Abbott, who blamed the governor for the repeated carnage in the state. “The time to stop the next shoot is right now and you’re not doing anything,” O’Rourke said.
“Sit down, you’re offline and it’s a shame,” Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick replied.
The disruption and resulting vitriol of the stage, filled almost entirely with Republican officials, instantly revealed the entrenched battle lines over gun ownership and mass killings in the United States.
“I don’t like to say that, but there are more people who get shot every weekend in Chicago than in Texas schools,” he said. Abbott later. He criticized “people who think that, well, ‘Maybe we’ll just implement tougher gun laws; that’s going to fix it,'” Chicago and LA and New York deny this thesis.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker responded by pointing out the evidence that “most of the weapons used in the Chicago shootings come from states with lax gun laws.”
Mr. Patrick said limiting admissions to just one in smaller schools could be a solution to keeping students safe. He also suggested arming teachers. Mr. Abbott stressed the need for better mental health care, but did not say how to improve access to health care.
Bobby Kramer, left, and Charlie Galvan donated blood the morning after the shooting. Credit … Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
However, in the case of Mr. Ramos, there was little to raise the official alarm before the shooting, officials said. No history of mental illness. No apparent criminal record. “We don’t see any motive or catalyst right now,” said Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
But those who met the gunman said he had escaped: he looked like he had dropped out of high school and often scared his co-workers at a fast food restaurant where he worked. When they caught him, he attacked in response. Acquaintances said he often missed class and had few friends.
“He would curse customers, managers, even me,” said Jocelyn Rodriguez, 19, an employee of Wendy’s Restaurant. He remembered once saying, “I’m going to shoot Wendy’s,” but he never took his threats seriously. “I thought I was kidding.”
Two weeks ago, he said, he stopped showing up for work.
He bought an AR-style rifle at a local retailer on May 17, a day after his 18th birthday. He then bought another on May 20, officials said. In between, he bought 375 rounds of ammunition.
He had been posting obliquely messages about his plans with a 15-year-old girl in Germany he had recently met online. The girl, who asked to be identified only by her nickname, Cece, said she had called him on video on his birthday from a gun shop, where he told her he was buying a rifle. Mr. Ramos also showed him, in the video call, a black bag that appeared to contain many ammunition magazines and at least one pistol.
On Tuesday morning, parents dropped off their children at Robb Elementary, a cheerful brick school near the edge of Uvalde where everyone was getting ready for summer vacation.
Orelia Barker with Sister Clarice Suchy after a Mass on Wednesday for the victims of the shooting. Credit … Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times
Narcedalia Luna and her 8-year-old grandson, a third-year student, attended an end-of-year awards program in the school cafeteria. But his grandson told him he wanted to go home soon. So they did. “I gave up and I’m glad I did,” he said.
They returned home to Diaz Street.
On the same short street, less than half a mile from the school, Mr. Ramos lived in a modest house with his grandmother. On Tuesday morning, Mr. Ramos sent a text message to the girl in Germany shortly after 11 a.m., looking upset because her grandmother was calling AT&T on her cell phone. “I’ll do something for you,” he wrote. The screenshots do not show Cece responding, but at 11:21, Mr. Ramos sent another text message: “I just shot my grandmother in the head,” immediately followed by another: “I to shoot at an elementary school “.
According to officials, Mr. Ramos had grabbed one of the weapons he had bought and shot his 66-year-old grandmother in the face.
The injured woman rushed to a neighbor’s house for help as Mr. Ramos took off in his truck, carrying an ammunition bag and two weapons with him. Ms Luna said another neighbor saw the grandmother with “blood on her face running down the street”.
The truck driven by Mr. Ramos, authorities said, crashed at high speed next to the school at approximately 11:30 a.m.
As he approached the school, officials said, he met an officer from the Uvalde school district. There were conflicting reports, state police officials said, about whether there was an exchange of gunfire at the time.
As the gunman approached, Juan Paulo Ybarra Jr., his younger sister, a 10-year-old student at Robb Elementary, had been in his fourth grade class, watching a movie. He said he looked out the classroom window and saw a man outside with a gun, and then alerted his teacher. Soon, the classroom could hear the shots aimed at the nearby windows, he told her.
On Wednesday, all the victims had been identified by officials, who had not yet released their names, but the balance of the tragedy was only beginning to take shape. Credit … Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times
Mr. Ybarra said her sister described how she and her classmates jumped out of the window, one by one, and ran to a funeral home across the street, seeking refuge.
The gunman entered the school. After being inside, two officers from the Uvalde police department arrived, confronted the gunman and were immediately shot, officials said. Both were shot.
Dozens of police officers soon responded to the scene, but the gunman had barricaded himself inside what Mr. Abbott described them as internally connected classrooms. It would take tactical equipment, including specialized Border Patrol agents, to finally enter the room.
When they entered, one of the officers raised a shield so that the other officers could pass behind, an officer reported …