Live updates: 19 kids, 2 adults slain in Uvalde, Texas, school shooting
The father of a child killed by a shooting rampage at a Texas elementary school says police were slow to move in and were unprepared.
Javier Cazares is the father of fourth-grader Jacklyn Cazares, one of 19 youngsters who died along with two teachers in a classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Cazares says he raced to school when he heard about the shooting and arrived while police were still massed outside the building. Cazares says he was upset that police weren’t charging and raised to idea of going inside himself with several others.
However, authorities say the shooter, Salvador Ramos, had fired at a school security officer outside and once in the school he shot at two arriving police officers, who were injured.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw says law enforcement did immediately “engage” Ramos and contained him inside the locked classroom.
The standoff ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.
Key developments
— Governor: Texas gunman said he was going to shoot up school
— Beto O’Rourke disrupts news conference on shooting
— Stories are emerging about the lives of the children and teachers killed
— Many questions remain to be answered
Type of rifle gunman used
The rifle used in the Texas elementary school shooting is known as a “DDM4 Rifle.” It’s modeled after the M4 carbine, the U.S. military’s go-to rifle, according to a blog post by the gun’s maker, Daniel Defense.
The Daniel Defense rifle can be classified as an AR-15 type. A key difference between the Daniel Defense rifle and the M4 carbine is that the military’s version can switch to fully automatic or fire a three-round burst depending on the model.
AR-15-type rifles can be purchased for as little as $400, but the Daniel Defense rifle is on the high-end of around $2,000 or more. These rifles can also be financed, with customers paying less than $100 a month.
The Daniel Defense rifle is not sold with sights. According to pictures of the shooter’s guns posted on Instagram, he appears to have purchased a battery-powered holographic sight that typically sells for around $725.
A sniper’s scope uses magnification to aid in hitting targets from a great distance. Holographic sights are designed to speed up the process of short-range shooting by helping to fix on targets more quickly.
O’Rourke interrupts Abbott press conference
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Beto O’Rourke interrupted a press conference Wednesday about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, calling the shooting “totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”
O’Rourke was escorted out while members of the crowd yelled at him, with one man shouting profanities at O’Rourke. The Democrat is challenging against Gov. Greg Abbott in this year’s election.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said to O’Rourke: “You’re out of line and an embarrassment.”
O’Rourke, as he was being escorted out, turned around, faced the stage, pointed his finger and said: “This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.”
Abbott says the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school warned on social media minutes before the attack that he was going to shoot up a school. He says the shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 in the attack Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
The news conference was attended by several elected Republican officials.
About 30 minutes before the shooting, Ramos made three social media posts. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot an elementary school.
Seventeen people were also injured in the attack.
Abbott says Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history.
“Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday,” the Republican governor said at the news conference attended by other Republican political officials.
Trump address at NRA convention
Former President Donald Trump says he’ll “deliver an important address to America” at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Texas on Friday.
The Republican leader posted on his social media network Wednesday that “America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship.”
Houston’s Democratic mayor, Sylvester Turner, says some people want the city to cancel the NRA meeting, but he says they can’t break the contract.
The greater question, he says, is why politicians still plan to speak there after the shooting in Uvalde. Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are among other Republicans scheduled to address a leadership forum sponsored by the NRA’s lobbying arm.
“It’s about elected officials at the highest level in our state going and speaking and endorsing those policies and that’s wrong,” Turner said. “And you can’t pray and send condolences on one day and then be going and championing guns on the next.”
School security
Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes wants to increase literal and perceived security at Fort Worth-area schools.
Noakes said his department has had conversations with Fort Worth school district officials in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde but couldn’t go into specifics about plans for increased security, speaking Wednesday outside an event at the Bob Bolan Public Safety Complex. He promised to offer more specifics Wednesday afternoon.
Schools around the country increased security as a precaution after the killings of 19 children and two teachers in Texas.
In Connecticut, where the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting killed 20 first graders and six educators, state police said they were sending extra troopers to schools Wednesday, although no specific threats had been received.
“This assault on the most innocent of our citizens is deeply disturbing and heartbreaking,” Connecticut state police Col. Stavros Mellekas said in a statement. “At this time, our focus will be on protecting all school populations here in our state.”
Schools in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Virginia, Maryland and Florida also were among those increasing security and offering counseling.
Shooter’s Instagram account
Instagram has confirmed it’s working with law enforcement to review an account that appears to belong to the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas.
A series of posts appeared on Instagram and TikTok in the days leading up to Tuesday’s shooting. One selfie appears to show the shooter in front of a mirror. Another photo shows a gun magazine in hand. And on Friday, the same day law enforcement officials believe Salvador Ramos bought a second rifle, a picture of two AR-style semi-automatic rifles appeared.
Another Instagram user with many more followers was tagged in that post. That user has since removed her profile, but first she shared parts of what appears to be a chilling exchange with Ramos, asking her to share his gun pictures with her more than 10,000 followers.
“I barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns,” she responded, adding, “It’s just scary.”
A response sent from Ramos’s account on Tuesday morning just said: “I’m about to.”
Witnesses said the shooting began around 11:30 a.m.
Guns bought legally
UVALDE, Texas — The man who killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas bought his guns legally days before the attack and soon after his 18th birthday, a law enforcement briefing said.
He bought one AR-style rifle from a federally-licensed gun dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17, according to a state police briefing given to Sen. John Whitmire. The next day, he bought 375 rounds of ammunition, and bought a second rifle on May 20.
Officers recovered one of the rifles from Ramos’ truck and the other was found in the school, according to the briefing. It says Ramos dropped a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance, and that he was wearing a body-armor style vest but that it had no hardened plates inside.
Gunman carried rifle, wore tactical vest
UVALDE, Texas — The gunman who killed 19 children and two adults inside an elementary school in Texas carried a long rifle with multiple rounds of ammunition and wore a “tactical vest” as body armor, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
It “shows the intent of this evil person going into this school and having complete disregard for human life,’’ Olivarez told NBC’s “Today” show.
All the children and teachers who died were inside a single classroom where the shooter barricaded himself, Olivarez said on CNN.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that the shooter also also bought 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, according to state Sen. John Whitmire, who was briefed on the shooting.
The gunman’s movements
Authorities in Texas are providing more details about the gunman’s movements and the police response to the killings of 19 children and two adults at an elementary school. Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told NBC’s `Today’ show that the Uvalde Police Department was first alerted to a crashed vehicle and an armed person making his way into the school.
Police and state troopers arrived in time to hear gunshots inside a classroom where the man barricaded himself and began shooting children and teachers. Olivarez said some of the officers were shot by the gunman, so others began breaking windows around the school trying to evacuate children and teachers.
Olivarez said “tactical law enforcement” forced their way into the classroom, where “they were met with gunfire as well but they were able to shoot and kill that suspect.’’
Pope Francis ‘heartbroken about massacre’
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has said he was “heartbroken about the massacre” at an elementary school in Texas.
Francis spoke Wednesday during his general audience. He said he was praying for the children and adults killed and their families after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two teachers before an officer shot and killed the gunman.
“It’s time to say ‘Enough’ to the indiscriminate trade of weapons!” he said. Francis called for a renewed commitment “so that tragedies like this cannot occur again.”
The Argentine pope has long railed against the weapons industry, calling arms manufacturers “merchants of death.”
Ukrainian president ‘deeply saddened’
UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that he was “deeply saddened by the news of the murder of innocent children in Texas.”
Zelenskyy, in a tweet, sent his condolences to the families of the victims, the people of the U.S. and President Joe Biden after a gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, Texas, killing at least 19 children and two adults before an officer shot and killed the gunman.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, “As a nation that goes through the pain of losing innocent young lives, Ukraine shares the pain of our U.S. friends.”
The death toll
UVALDE — Authorities say the victim death toll from the Texas school shooting now stands at 19 children and two teachers.
The latest figures come from Travis Considine, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The gunman also died.
Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but the governor identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos and said he was a resident of the Unvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio.
The assault at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.
President Biden calls for gun restrictions
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden struck a somber and serious tone, calling for new gun restrictions, in an address to the nation after 19 children were killed in a shooting at a Texas elementary school.
“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name do we do what we all know needs to be done?” Biden asked.
Biden, who has lost both a son and a daughter, was joined by first lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House on Tuesday night.
“Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?” Biden said, adding later, “It’s time to act.”
At least 19 children and three adults, including the shooter, were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday morning. Uvalde is about 85 miles west of San Antonio.
Biden called on the nation to pray for the parents and siblings of those who died. “To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away,” he said.
Uvalde schools superintendent speaks
UVALDE — The superintendent of a Texas elementary school where an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children said his heart is broken.
Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, said Tuesday that Robb Elementary School will be closed and all school activities will be canceled until further notice. Harrell also said grief counselors would be available starting Wednesday morning.
“My heart is broken today,” Harrell said. “We’re a small community and we’re going to need your prayers to get through this.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Live updates: 19 kids, 2 adults slain in Uvalde, Texas, school shooting."