May 25 Texas shooting news

Our live coverage of the mass shooting in Texas has moved here.

While on a visit to the US, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shared her country’s experience with gun reform in a discussion with Democratic and Republican representatives on Wednesday. 

Ardern said it is not for her to tell others what to do.

The Prime Minister arrived in the US earlier this week on a trade mission to support export growth and the return of tourists post-Covid-19.

Reacting to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, while appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” an emotional Ardern said she saw the events “not as a politician,” but “as a mother,” adding she was “so sorry” for what happened.

Tess Marie Mata, 10, has been identified as one of the victims killed at Robb Elementary, her sister told the Washington Post.

Faith Mata, a college student at Texas State University, told the Post that Tess, a fourth-grader, loved TikTok dances, Ariana Grande and the Houston Astros. 

The 10-year-old was currently saving money so that the whole family could go to Disney World, Mata said. 

Eliahana ‘Elijah’ Cruz Torres, 10, has been identified as one of the victims killed at Robb Elementary, her aunt Leandra Vera told CNN. 

Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9, has been named as one of the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary.

Family members confirmed to CNN affiliate KHOU.

Rogelio Lugo and Nelda Lugo, Eliana’s grandparents, told the LA Times that she was a fourth-grader at the school and the second-eldest of five girls in the family.

She loved the movie “Encanto,” cheerleading and basketball, according to her grandparents. They added that she dreamed of becoming a teacher.

US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said dozens of on-duty and off-duty agents responded to the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, adding that as soon as officers arrived, “they didn’t hesitate.”

“We responded from various locations. I had both on-duty, off-duty, folks that were in a training environment all responded to this location,” Ortiz said, adding between 80-100 officers responded.

Among those who responded were members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, which is a specialized unit made up of highly trained officers that respond to “emergent and high-risk incidents,” according to the agency.

One agent was injured and has since been released from the hospital.

“I talked to my officers and certainly talked to the agent that was injured yesterday. Nothing prepares you for a scene like they saw and witnessed yesterday,” Ortiz said.  

Border Patrol will participate in the investigation, given its involvement.

Earlier Wednesday, Chief Jason Owens, who heads the Del Rio sector for Border Patrol, told CNN’s Mark Morales that the uniforms of the agents who responded to the scene were “covered in blood.”

US Customs and Border Protection has a large presence in Uvalde, which is located about 60 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. Some agents had family members who attended the school, according to Owens. 

“I had agents that were responding to this scene that had kids in there that they didn’t know were okay or not. We had a couple that were impacted by this. And we had one agent that lost a granddaughter, we had others that lost extended family members,” Owens said.

Annabell Guadalupe Rodríguez, 10, has been identified as one of the 21 victims killed at Robb Elementary.

Family members of Annabell confirmed her identity to CNN affiliate KHOU.

She was a fourth grader at the school. Her family told KHOU that she was in the same classroom as her cousin, who was also shot and killed.

Correction: An earlier version of this post placed Annabell in the wrong grade. She was in the fourth grade.

Angel Garza, the father of Amerie Jo Garza, who was killed in Tuesday’s school shooting in Uvalde, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper this evening that his daughter was trying to help her classmates as the attack was unfolding.

“She was just trying to do the right thing,” he said. “She was just trying to call the cops, that’s all.”

The father noted that his daughter had received a phone for her birthday two weeks ago.

“She just got her phone. She’d been wanting a phone for so long, and we finally got it for her. She just tried to call the police,” he told CNN.

Garza, who works as a med aide, learned this information while arriving on the scene to help the shooting victims. He stated that two students in the classroom confirmed that she was trying to call police when she got shot.

“One little girl was just covered in blood head-to-toe,” Garza said. “I asked her what was wrong, and she said ‘she was ok.’ She was hysterical saying they shot her best friend. ‘She’s not breathing, and she tried to call the cops.’ I asked her what’s her name and she said, she told me ‘Amerie, she said Amerie.’”

The father described his daughter, calling her “the sweetest little girl.”

“She was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong. She listened to her mom and dad. She always brushed her teeth. She was creative. She made things for us. She never got in trouble in school,” he said.

Watch the interview:

The 66-year-old woman in serious condition being treated at a San Antonio hospital is the shooter’s grandmother, officials confirmed Wednesday.

According to officials, the shooter’s grandmother had been airlifted in critical condition to the hospital Tuesday after being shot by the gunman. 

“The first thing that happened was the gunman shot his grandmother in the face. She then contacted police. The gunman fled, and as he was fleeing had an accident just outside the elementary school and he ran into the school,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference earlier Wednesday.

In a televised CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer, Sgt. Erick Estrada, a public information officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, echoed Abbott’s comments and confirmed the 66-year-old woman is the shooter’s grandmother.

University Hospital in San Antonio declines to comment on individual patients, but in a Wednesday morning statement confirmed they were treating three children and a 66-year-old woman, who is in serious condition after being downgraded from critical condition.

A vigil is underway in the Uvalde County Fairplex for the victims of the school shooting at Robb Elementary.

With 21 dead and 17 others injured, the attack was the deadliest school shooting in almost a decade and shook a nation still reeling from a mass shooting just 10 days ago.

“Amazing Grace” was played during the vigil as members of the community wept and hugged.

Children look on during the vigil at Uvalde County Fairplex.

Watch a moment from the vigil:

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More than 100 federal officers responded to Tuesday’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, according to Customs and Border Patrol.

“When it was all said and done, we had over 80 officers immediately on the scene, and then right after that, 150 or so officers converged on this area,” Customs and Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz told CNN on Wednesday.

Ortiz said those officers came from several divisions, including the Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations and Homeland Security Investigations.

Jason Owens, who commands the Del Rio sector of the Border Patrol, told CNN the scene was incredibly disturbing.

“I took my agents back to the Uvalde section, and I had to bring new uniforms for them to change into,” Owens said. When asked why, Owens responded, “Covered in blood. What this person did was evil.”

The Robb Elementary School shooter was on the premises for up to an hour before law enforcement forcibly entered a classroom and killed him, officials said Wednesday.

“It’s going to be within, like 40 minutes or something, [within] an hour,” Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw told CNN’s Ed Lavandera at a news conference. 

Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Uvalde, told CNN’s Jake Tapper he was briefed that shooter Salvador Ramos was in a standoff with law enforcement for about a half-hour after firing on students and teachers.

Department of Public Safety spokesperson Sgt. Erick Estrada declined to be more specific about the timeline in a CNN interview Wednesday night.

Irma Garcia, a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School, has been identified as a victim in Tuesday’s school shooting, CNN has confirmed through a GoFundMe site set up to raise funds for funeral expenses and family needs.

Garcia was a wife and mother to four children, the GoFundMe campaign says. “Sweet, kind, loving. Fun with the greatest personality. A wonderful 4th grade teacher at Robb Elementary that was a victim in a Texas school shooting in Uvalde, Texas,” it added.

Garcia’s nephew John Martinez told the Washington Post that officials informed the family that she helped shield students from the gunfire.

According to Garcia’s profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website, she had been an educator for 23 years. It was her fifth year co-teaching with Eva Mireles, who was also tragically gunned down at the elementary school.

The bodies of nine victims of the Uvalde Elementary School shooting will be released to funeral homes this evening, Judge Lalo Diaz tells CNN.

Diaz is the justice of the peace for precinct 4 in Uvalde County.

The remaining 12 bodies of victims will be released either later tonight or tomorrow, Diaz said.

The body of the shooter is in another county’s morgue, Diaz noted, telling CNN that the priority is to handle the victims and then they will worry about his remains.

After Eva Mireles, a 4th grade teacher at Robb Elementary School, was killed in Tuesday’s mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, her daughter posted a tribute on Twitter.

Amber Ybarra, a family member of Eva Mireles, confirmed to CNN that the tribute was from Mireles’ daughter, Adalynn.

Mireles had been an educator for 17 years, according to her profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website.

See the tweet:

Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety

The gunman who shot and killed 19 children and two teachers inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, dropped a black bag full of ammunition outside of the school when he was “engaged” by the school resource officer (SRO), Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said.

When the shooter arrived at the school, he was encountered by the SRO who saw him carrying the large black bag, he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room.

The shooter dropped the bag during that interaction and ran inside the school, Estrada said. 

DPS is still investigating what happened during that interaction, but during an earlier conference, DPS Director Steven McCraw said that no shots were fired in that interaction.

Estrada spoke of the heartbreak in the community following the mass shooting.

“I’m a father of two children,” Estrada said. “It took me a while to even step out my vehicle and know what I was about to see inside that school.”

Community member Amanda Welch brings flowers to lay at Robb Elementary School on Wednesday, May 25, in Uvalde, Texas.

President Biden announced he will visit Texas “in the coming days” to meet the grieving families after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde on Tuesday.

More information has come to light about how Tuesday’s events unfolded and the lives claimed by the gunman:

The victims:

Here’s a look at the order of events on Tuesday:

The suspect:

The city and the school:

Remember: Tuesday’s massacre is the deadliest school shooting since 2012, when 26 children and adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This is at least the 30th shooting at a K-12 school in 2022, according to a CNN tally.

While the Supreme Court has been working behind closed doors on its first major Second Amendment opinion in more than a decade, three mass shootings have broken the country, including Tuesday’s massacre of 19 schoolchildren in Texas.

Closed off from public view, the justices are penning opinions and dissents in a dispute that targets one concealed carry law in New York that is more than a century old. A narrow ruling could impact only a handful of states with similar laws, but a more expansive ruling could open a new chapter in constitutional challenges to gun safety laws across the country.

“As a formal matter, the Supreme Court’s ruling on New York’s gun law doesn’t call into question gun laws restricting types of weapons or sensitive places where individuals can carry guns,” said Jacob Charles, executive director of the Center for Firearms Law at Duke University School of Law.

“But a broader ruling that changes the way courts evaluate gun laws could call into question a wider array of gun regulations like assault weapons bans and other restrictions like high-capacity magazine bans,” Charles added.

The deliberations come as the country mourns another tragedy, victims of gun violence plea for more action, and the political branches seem forever divided on a path forward.

In 2008, the Supreme Court held for the first time, that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms at home for self-defense.

After the ruling, however, to the frustration of gun rights advocates, lower courts relied upon language in the opinion to uphold many gun regulations.

“Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings,” then-Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority in the Heller case.

Except for a follow-up decision two years later, the justices largely stayed away from the issue, infuriating gun rights advocates and even some of the justices themselves.

Justice Clarence Thomas declared at one point that the “Second Amendment is a disfavored right in this court.”

After Amy Coney Barrett took her seat, the court agreed to take up a new case, highlighting the impact of former President Donald Trump’s three nominees on the court.

Keep reading here.

Ubiquitous gun violence in the United States has left few places unscathed over the decades. Still, many Americans hold their right to bear arms, enshrined in the US Constitution, as sacrosanct. But critics of the Second Amendment say that right threatens another: The right to life.

America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier.

As the tally of gun-related deaths continue to grow daily, here’s a look at how gun culture in the US compares to the rest of the world.

Read the full story and see how CNN reported it here.

As a parent, it can be gut-wrenching to discuss violence happening across the country with your kids, and even harder when the violence is happening in our schools. In the wake of the Texas school shooting, what questions are your school-aged children asking and how are they feeling?

Please call in with your child and leave us a voicemail at (404) 618-1992 to let us know your thoughts and what you are discussing with your children.

Each voicemail can be three minutes in length. All or part of your call may be used by CNN on television and/or digital as part of our coverage.

Please include your name, contact information and where you’re calling from. By calling in with your child, you are representing that you have authority to consent for your child’s voice and statements to be used by CNN on television and/or digital and are agreeing to such use.

Thank you for weighing in with your important perspective.

President Biden announced Wednesday that he will be traveling to Texas “in the coming days” to meet with the families mourning the loss of their loved ones after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday.

“As a nation, I think we all must be there for them. Everyone,” Biden said. “And we must ask when in God’s name will we do what needs to be done to — if not completely stop — fundamentally change the amount of the carnage that goes on in this country.”

Echoing remarks he made shortly after returning from Asia on Tuesday, Biden said he was “sick and tired of what’s going on.”

He said “common sense” gun reform wouldn’t “prevent every tragedy,” but would still “have significant impact, and have no negative impact on the second amendment.”

“The second amendment is not absolute,” Biden said. “When it was passed you couldn’t own a cannon. You couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons. There’s just always been limitations.” 

“Where’s the backbone?,” he asked. “Where’s the courage to stand up to a very powerful lobby?”

The President said “one modest step” Congress could take immediately would be to confirm his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Steve Dettelbach, who vowed earlier Wednesday he would not be influenced by political considerations if he secures the job at a Senate confirmation hearing.

“The Senate should confirm him without delay, without excuse,” Biden said. “Send the nomination to my desk. It’s time for action.”

Vice President Kamala Harris also addressed the shooting as she began her remarks.

“I know that today, following yesterday, that all of our hearts, of course, are with the people of Uvalde, Texas, with the parents, with the children, with all the folks that said goodbye yesterday morning to someone they loved not knowing that that goodbye would be their last,” she said.

“Enough is enough,” Harris continued. “As the President said last night, we must have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and pass reasonable gun safety laws.”

CNN’s Nikki Carvajal and Maegan Vazquez contributed reporting to this post.

Uvalde Memorial Hospital provided an update on the victims they received from the shooting Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The hospital received 15 patients in their emergency department, 11 of those being children, according to a news release. Four were transported to other hospitals in San Antonio and seven were discharged to go home, the hospital said.

The hospital also treated four adults, one of whom was transferred to another facility and three whom were discharged. 

In addition to the above, the hospital also received two children, a male, and a female who were pronounced dead on arrival, the release said. 

Currently, there are no patients at Uvalde Memorial from yesterday’s incident.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price acknowledged Wednesday that the mass school shooting in Texas has “implications” for the United States’ standing in the world.

“The fact is that what happens in this country is — is magnified on the world stage,” Price said at a State Department briefing.

When the US is at its best, it sets an example that other nations would seek to follow, and instances like these are examples that “no country would wish to emulate,” he said.

Other governments send formal notes of condolence in the aftermath of such events, he noted, adding that his colleagues posted abroad often hear “disbelief [about] how something like this could continue to happen.” 

“The toll of watching this even, even for those of us who are enmeshed day to day in foreign policy has been a real punch to the gut,” Price said. “And it’s been a punch that has landed on what is, in many ways, a bruise that hasn’t healed, from just the other day and what we saw in Buffalo.”

Adding a personal note, he said that he was the age of the students at Columbine, “and now that we’re nearly 25 years beyond that, and there are kids in elementary schools, much younger than me, who have been targeted on a mass scale, twice in the past 10 years, it’s not lost on me. And I don’t think it’s lost on anyone.”

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said she is “heartbroken by another tragedy related to gun violence” and that the loss of life is “a reminder that gun violence is a serious public health threat that must be addressed.”

Here’s her full statement issued Wednesday in response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: 

Minutes before his deadly assault in Uvalde, Texas, the shooter, Salvador Ramos, allegedly sent a series of chilling text messages to a girl he met online, describing how he had just shot his grandmother and was going to “shoot up a(n) elementary school.”

According to screenshots reviewed by CNN and an interview with the teenage girl, who said she had been in contact with the gunman for weeks, Ramos complained about his grandmother being “on the phone with AT&T abojt (sic) my phone.” 

“It’s annoying,” he texted.

Six minutes later, he texted: “I just shot my grandma in her head.”

Seconds later, he said, “Ima go shoot up a(n) elementary school rn (right now).”

It was sent at 6:21 p.m. Central European time (CET), which was 11:21 a.m. Central time (CT) in Texas. It was his last message to the girl.

The 15-year-old girl, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany, said she began chatting with Ramos on a social media app on May 9. Ramos sent the girl selfie videos and discussed a plan to go visit her in Europe, according to videos and text messages. 

In one message, he sent her a screenshot of a Google flight itinerary from nearby San Antonio. “I’m coming over soon,” he wrote.

She said Ramos told her on Monday that he received a package of ammunition.

She said he told her that the bullets would expand when they struck somebody.

At some point, the girl asked what he planned to do. She said he told her it was a surprise and to “just wait for it.”

On Tuesday, at 11:01 a.m. CT, Ramos called and told her he loved her, she said. Then, about 20 minutes later, at 11:21 a.m. CT, he texted her that he had shot his grandmother.

The girl, whose mother gave permission for her to be interviewed, said she spoke daily on FaceTime with Ramos. She said she also communicated with him via a social livestreaming app called Yubo and played games with him on a gaming app named Plato. In their conversations, she said he asked about her life in Germany. “He looked happy and comfortable talking to me,” the girl said. She said he told her that he spent a lot of time alone at home. 

There were other text messages, however, that alarmed her. In one case, she said, he told her that he “threw dead cats at people’s houses.”

She said she got the impression that he kept to himself.

“Every time I talked to him,” she said, “he never had plans with his friends.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the amount of time between Ramos’ text messages.

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said “our faith has been shaken” after the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in the Texas town.

Harrell said the staff at the school were heroes.

“Yesterday we lost two teachers. These two teachers, I would say, are the cornerstone of that campus to some great degree. They are two beautiful souls. They had taught on that campus for many years and they poured their heart and soul into what they did – educating our kids in Uvalde,” he said.

Harrell also spoke about the students who were killed.

“Nineteen students. Nineteen precious students who came to school yesterday to enjoy the day, to the enjoy the awards ceremony. As I look at their pictures, you can tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved and that they loved coming to school,” he said.

“We are hurting. We have been cut deep here in our community,” he added. 

Snapchat has suspended an account associated with the Uvalde school shooter, a Snap spokesperson told CNN. 

The account may no longer be used or accessed, the spokesperson said.

“We are investigating an account that may have been associated with the suspect and we are in active contact with law enforcement authorities to support their investigation,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Asked whether the account had raised any prior red flags, the company declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

FBI Director Chris Wray said Tuesday that the Bureau was “heartbroken” by Tuesday’s massacre at an elementary school in Texas, as he told lawmakers in Senate testimony that the FBI was “committed to doing our part to support our partners in the investigation and the community of Uvalde as we began to try to move forward.” 

 Wray is testifying in a previously scheduled Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the FBI’s budget. He kicked off his opening statement by addressing the shooting, which left 19 children and two adults dead.  

“Parents got calls yesterday that are too devastating to even fathom and a community really, a whole nation was shaken by another horrific mass shooting — this time once again in an elementary school full of young kids just days, days away from finishing their school year and my heart goes out to the families of the victims and to the entire community of Uvalde,” Wray said. “I know that you’re experiencing unimaginable pain and trauma, and the entire FBI family feels your heartbreak and stands with you.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that prior to the Uvalde elementary school shooting, the gunman shared his plans on Facebook about 30 minutes before reaching the school.

Abbott said in the first message, he wrote: “I’m going to shoot my grandmother.”

The gunman later said: “I shot my grandmother” and “I’m going to shoot an elementary school,” according to Abbott who described the messages as posts.

A spokesperson for Meta, formerly known as Facebook, said Wednesday the messages written by the shooter were “private one-to-one text messages,” contrary to Abbott’s assertion the gunman made the posts on Facebook.

“The messages Gov. Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred. We are closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a Twitter post.

CNN is reaching out to Facebook and Abbott’s office for additional clarification.

The gunman shot his 66-year-old grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in her car, according to Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The shooter used his grandmother’s vehicle “to drive approximately 0.29 miles, which is a block and a half away from Robb Elementary School,” McCraw continued.

“He crashed the vehicle at that point in time. He exited with a backpack, took a rifle with him” and went to the west side of the campus, which is a backdoor, he added.

Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, detailed how the gunman responsible for the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School obtained his guns and ammunition, at a news conference Tuesday.

The 18-year-old, identified as Salvador Ramos by officials, was a dropout of the Uvalde High School and authorities have not found a criminal history so far, McCraw said, adding that the gunman lived with his 66-year-old grandmother.

The official said Ramos purchased a semiautomatic rifle at a local sporting goods store and 375 rounds of ammunition for that rifle. Then, he purchased another semiautomatic rifle at this same local store, McCraw said.

McCraw had said the gunman purchased the ammunition and rifles in March, but according to state Sen. John Whitmire, who received a briefing from law enforcement Tuesday night, Ramos legally purchased two AR platform rifles at a local federal firearms licensee on May 17 and May 20.

He also purchased 375 rounds of ammunition on May 18, Whitmire said, citing law enforcement.

State Sen. Ronald Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said the purchases were made for the suspect’s 18th birthday.

Update: The post has been updated with CNN’s latest reporting about when the gunman purchased the gun and ammunition.

Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke interrupted a news conference where Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials were providing updates on the Uvalde elementary school shooting.

He approached the stage where Abbott was speaking. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, among other officials and lawmakers, were in attendance.

Cruz told O’Rourke to “sit down,” and Lt. Gov Dan Patrick added, “you’re out of line.”

O’Rourke could be heard saying, “this is totally predictable,” and then was told that he needed to leave while being shouted down by officials on stage.

Abbott didn’t engage and barely looked at O’Rourke, but Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin shouted at O’Rourke: “You’re a sick son of a b**ch that would come to a deal like this.”

O’Rourke was led away by officers.

As he walked out of the room, O’Rourke told Abbott, “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 then said the outburst was about an “agenda.”

Speaking to reporters after he left the news conference, O’Rourke said of Abbott, “He said he was going to do something. He did nothing. In fact, the only thing he did was make it easier to carry a gun in public.”

“His only interest is the gun lobby. He’s scheduled to speak at the NRA convention this Friday in Houston, Texas, just days after these kids were slaughtered right here in Uvalde, after they were slaughtered at Santa Fe High School, at Sutherland Springs, In Midland-Odessa, in El Paso, Texas. Five of the worst mass hosting in US history, right here in this state in the last five years, he was governor for every single one of them,” O’Rourke continued.

Less than an hour before O’Rourke interrupted the news conference, he sent an email to his supporters where he said the Uvalde shooting is a “direct consequence” of “choices made by Greg Abbott.”

“These massacres are not natural disasters, acts of God, or random. They are totally predictable, direct consequences of the choices made by Greg Abbott and the majority of those in the Texas legislature,” he wrote.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott placed the blame for the Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 kids and two teachers on mental health issues.

Just prior to these remarks, Abbott said the gunman used an AR-15 to carry out the shooting and had no known mental health history.

The governor also said that mental health services and counseling is available for the community affected by the shooting.

When later asked by a reporter about an 18-year-old’s ability to purchase firearms, Abbott doubled-down and said it’s a “mental health challenge” whenever someone uses a gun to shoot someone else.

“So the ability of an 18-year-old to buy a long gun has been in place in the state of Texas for more than 60 years, and think about during the time over the course of that 60 years, we have not had episodes like this, and why is it that for the majority of those 60 years we did not have school shootings and why is it that we do now?” the governor said.

“What I do know in talking to the leaders here as well as leaders in other locations around the state and that is the one thing that has substantially changed is the status of mental health in our communities. What I do know is this, and that is we as a state, we as a society, need to do a better job with mental health. Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period. We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it,” he said.

Abbott also compared Texas’s gun laws with those in cities like Chicago and New York.

“There are, quote, real gun laws in Chicago. There are, quote, real gun laws in New York. There are ‘real’ gun laws in California. I hate to say this, but there are more people who were shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas,” he claimed. “And we need to realize that people who think that ‘maybe if we could just implement tougher gun laws, it’s going to solve it.’ Chicago and LA and New York disprove that thesis. And so if you’re looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you’re talking about is not a real solution. Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement.”

During his news conference Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott detailed how law enforcement officers engaged and killed the gunman at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School.

“Officers with the Consolidated Independent School District (ISD) approached the gunman and engaged with the gunman,” he said. “The gunman then entered a back door and then went down two short hallways and then into a classroom on the left-hand side.”

The gunman entered into a classroom, which was the connected internally to another classroom, Abbott explained.

“Border Patrol, Consolidated ISD officers, police, sheriffs and DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety) officers converged on that classroom. And a Border Patrol officer killed the gunman,” he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old gunman first shot his grandmother in the face before going into Robb Elementary School and killing 19 children and two teachers.

She called the police, and the gunman fled, had an accident with a vehicle outside the school and then went into the school, the governor said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott opened a press conference the day after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 people dead by saying that “people are rightfully angry” about what happened.

The press conference is ongoing.

Lexi Rubio

Felix and Kimberly Rubio celebrated their daughter Lexi making the All-A honor roll and receiving a good citizen award at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday shortly before the shooting that claimed her life.

Lexi was 10 years old and in the fourth grade, her parents told CNN.

The parents told CNN they were proud of their daughter.

“She was kind, sweet, and appreciated life. She was going to be an all-star in softball and had a bright future whether it’s sports or academic. Please let the world know we miss our baby,” they said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is holding a news conference to provide an update after Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde.

He is joined by Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, other state lawmakers, Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo and other officials.

The conference is being held at Uvalde High School.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that “today, we are all citizens of Uvalde” at the beginning of his commencement remarks at the US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, on Wednesday, the day after a deadly shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead. 

“All of us here today are moms and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and our hearts break for them, and for the unspeakable grief that they are enduring,” Austin said. “We cannot assuage that grief, we know that. But we can endeavor to keep them and the loved ones that they lost close to our hearts and deep in our prayers.”

Austin extended his condolences and “those of the entire department” of Defense to the people of Uvalde, Texas, in his opening comments.

At the beginning of the graduation ceremony, Chaplain Col. Julian Gaither held a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting. 

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly expressed his outrage over the deadly Uvalde school shooting, telling reporters on Wednesday that “it’s f–king nuts to do nothing about this.”

Kelly’s wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, was critically wounded after being shot by a gunman outside a supermarket in 2011.

The couple has been active in calling for gun reform and responsible gun ownership.

The two funeral homes in Uvalde will cover the cost of funerals for those who were killed Tuesday during the Robb Elementary School shooting.

In a post on Facebook, Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home said: “We have fought together as a community and we will pull together as one now in our time of need.”

The funeral home said they are “lost for words … our phones have been ringing off the hook from the outcry of the entire state.”

Additionally, the Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary said they have supported the Uvalde community for more than 60 years. “Today, our resolve is stronger than ever. We are here for the people of Uvalde and our professionals are currently at Robb Elementary assisting law enforcement.”

“As the situation develops and we have the opportunity to assist our community, not one family will be charged for our services,” they said.

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) has opened a memorial fund to accept donations for those affected by the shooting at Robb Elementary School, according to a tweet.

On Wednesday, UCISD said “an account has been opened at First State Bank of Uvalde for the families of Robb Elementary. If you would like to donate, you can do so at any FSB branch.” The tweet also gives details on how to donate.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered an emotional speech on the Senate floor Wednesday following a mass shooting in a Texas school a day earlier.  

The top Senate Republican put the blame clearly on the shooter, whom he described as a “deranged young man” and “maniac,” echoing the views of many Republicans that mental illness is the root cause of many of these recurring tragedies.   

McConnell didn’t make any mention of the 18-year-old shooter’s easy access to high-powered weapons or any possible preventative legislative solutions.

In separate interviews with CNN, Florida GOP Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott pushed back on calls for AR-15s and semi-automatic weapons to be banned and dismissed demands for expanded background checks. Rubio instead said he would try to force a vote today on a measure to bolster school safety in other ways.

In a back-and-forth with CNN, Rubio contended that expanded background checks would not solve the problem and said even if Washington banned AR-15s, a killer would find a different weapon.

“Listen, at the end of day, you’re arguing about what they’re using to commit this, and the truth of matter is these people are going to commit these horrifying crimes whether they have to use another weapon to do it; they’re going to figure out a way to do it,” Rubio said.

When asked about the prospect of banning AR-15s, Scott said, “I think we have in our Constitution our Second Amendment rights, and we shouldn’t take away rights for law-abiding citizens.”

As the justice of the peace for precinct 4 in Uvalde County, where the Robb Elementary School shooting occurred, it’s up to Lalo Diaz to coordinate the processing of the deceased victims. 

In total, 21 people — 19 children and two adults — were shot and killed Tuesday. The shooter also died. 

All 21 victims are currently with the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office in nearby San Antonio. The shooter is being held in a neighboring county and will not be moved to Bexar County until all the victims have been processed first, Diaz said. 

“Our first priority was to ID the victims,” Diaz said. 

Diaz was called to the scene a few hours after the shooting and was anticipating just a couple of victims. “I got there and thought it was 2-3 people and when I was told 16 children… You cannot believe it’s happening in your community,” he said.  

“It’s a small town,” Diaz said, adding that everyone knows each other. He himself knows the families of several victims. 

Diaz is working to get the bodies of the victims back to Uvalde as soon as possible. He is coordinating with the two funeral homes in Uvalde to get the victims back with their families as early as later today or tomorrow.

The 18-year-old Uvalde shooter messaged someone on Instagram that “I got a lil secret” just hours before he gunned down 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, according to a screenshot of messages posted on the social media site. 

Three days before the attack, an Instagram account linked to shooter Salvador Ramos posted a photo of two rifles lying on a carpet. The story tagged another Instagram account by name in the photo.

The owner of the tagged Instagram account wrote in a story posted after the shooting that Ramos had tagged her and messaged her out of the blue.   

The girl, who did not include her name on her account and has since made her account private, posted a series of screenshots of messages that she said she exchanged with the shooter in the days before the massacre.

“Be grateful I tagged you,” Ramos told her, the screenshots showed, and she replied: “i barely know you and u tag me in a picture with some guns.”

In another message that appeared to be sent the morning of the shooting, Ramos wrote “I’m about to” – but didn’t say what he would do. “I got a lil secret,” he wrote in another message. “I wanna tell u.”

In messages posted to her story before it went private, the girl said that she didn’t live in Texas and didn’t know Ramos.

“the only reason i responded to him was because i was afraid of him i wish i stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime,” she wrote. “I didnt know.”

White House aides are in the early stages of planning for President Joe Biden to visit Texas after 19 children and two adults were killed in a mass shooting at an elementary school, sources familiar with the planning say. 

The details are still being finalized and it remains to be seen when the president will go, with officials keeping in mind they don’t want to distract from ongoing response efforts. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that he “aches for the families” of the victims of the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. He indicated in his remarks there might not be a vote on the two House-passed background check bills any time soon, arguing Americans know where senators stand on gun safety legislation.

The two House-passed background check bills — if ever brought to a vote in the Senate — are expected to fail due to strong GOP opposition.

Schumer urged Republicans to “work with us” to reach a bipartisan deal on gun reform legislation – but acknowledged this is a very “slim prospect” and “we’ve been burnt so many times before.” 

He added that if they cannot reach a “strong bill that has bipartisan support,” which he again reiterated is “unlikely” – Democrats will “continue to pursue this issue on our own. We have no choice. It’s too important. Lives are at stake.”

Schumer pleaded with Republicans to support gun reform legislation. “Please, please, please, Damnit. Put yourself in the shoes of these parents, for once,” he said. “Maybe that thought putting yourself in the shoes of these parents instead of in the arms of the NRA might let you wriggle free from the vice like grip of the NRA. Might free you to act even on a simple measure…Please damnit please think if it was your child or grandchild.” 

Schumer also criticized Republicans for focusing on the motives of shooter, as well as concerns of mental illness versus gun reform. “They talk about the real villain being mental illness and say nothing of the fact that we are a nation suffocated by firearms,” he said. “The US is not an outlier on mental illness, but we are in outlier in the sheer number of guns available in this country. That is why we have so many shootings and other Western countries don’t.”

He added that in the US “the leading cause of death among children is a firearm.” 

“America doesn’t stand out when it comes to the rate of mental illness, but we are unique among the world’s developed nations in that today the leading cause of death among children, is no longer a car accident, is no longer illness or malnourishment, the leading cause of death among children is a firearm.. Do you hear that my Republican colleagues? A firearm.”

People gather outside the local civic center where students were transported after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.

Just two days before students were to begin summer break, a lone gunman entered a Texas elementary school and opened fire, killing 19 young children and two teachers in the deadliest school shooting in almost a decade. 

Here’s the latest on Tuesday’s school shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas:

The victims:

What happened: 

The suspect 

The city & the school: 

Mass shootings in the US: 

The grandmother of the Uvalde shooting suspect is still alive, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez told CNN.

The suspect, Salvador Ramos, is believed to have shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School. She was hospitalized in critical condition late Tuesday. 

“We’re hoping, we’re praying, that the grandmother does pull through because obviously, she is a key witness,” Olivarez said.

He said authorities are trying to locate the suspect’s grandfather.

Tom Nordwick, the CEO of Uvalde Memorial Hospital, told CNN that of the 15 patients they received Tuesday from the shooting at Robb Elementary School, all have been either discharged or transferred to other hospitals.

On Wednesday morning, Nordwick said that “no patients remain in house from the incident yesterday.”

In total, Uvalde Memorial Hospital received 15 patients, he said. Eleven of them were children, and four of those were transferred to other locations in San Antonio. Seven were discharged and sent home. Of the four adults received, one was transferred to a San Antonio hospital and three were discharged and sent home.

Nordwick said some of the patients received scatter or fragment wounds, though he couldn’t say what caused the wounds. Those who were injured more significantly had to be transferred to San Antonio hospitals.  

This morning, University Hospital San Antonio posted an update on its Facebook page providing an update on the four patients they have received from the Tuesday shooting:

All pediatric patients have their families with them, the hospital said in the post. 

Brooke Army Medical Center tweeted Tuesday that it received two patients in critical condition. On Wednesday, BAMC said the two patients from the Robb Elementary School shooting remain in serious condition.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the patients, families and the community of Uvalde,” BAMC said.

Jose Flores Jr.

Jose Flores Jr., 10, has been identified as one of the victims killed at Robb Elementary, his father Jose Flores Sr. told CNN. 

Flores said his son was in the fourth grade and loved baseball and video games. 

“He was always full of energy,” Flores said. “Ready to play til the night.”

Flores also described his son as an amazing kid and big brother to his two siblings. 

The gunman in the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school legally purchased two AR platform rifles at a local federal firearms licensee on two separate dates, May 17 and May 20, according to Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, who received a briefing from law enforcement last night.

Whitmire also said that, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one of the rifles the gunman had purchased was left in the truck he crashed at the school. The other rifle, manufactured by Daniel Defense, was located in the school with the suspect. 

On May 18, the suspect also purchased hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Whitmire said, citing law enforcement. 

It appears the suspect dropped a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition near the entrance of the school, authorities told the state senator. Inside the school, authorities found what appears to be seven 30-round magazines. Authorities said they will not know whether that ammunition was used until the crime scene is processed.

Uziyah Garcia

Uziyah Garcia, 10, has been identified as one of the victims killed at Robb Elementary, his family confirmed to CNN. 

He was in fourth grade, his aunt Nikki Cross told CNN. His uncle Mitch Renfro described him as a “great kid. Full of life. Loved anything with wheels, and video games.” Uziyah leaves behind two sisters. 

His grandfather, Manny Renfro, also spoke with affiliate, KSAT.

“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”

Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break.

“We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”

President Biden urged Congress to pass gun safety legislation.

“We know common sense gun laws can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban — mass shootings went down. When the law expired — mass shootings tripled,” Biden tweeted this morning. 

The President made similar remarks in his prime-time address to the nation last night. 

Sen. Dick Durbin, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will work with his Democratic colleagues to schedule hearings on gun violence in America when lawmakers return from their Memorial recess, he said.

He also said that he believes a vote on the two pieces of legislation that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put on the calendar last night will have to wait until after Memorial Day. 

Lawmakers are still expected to leave for recess Thursday. 

Durbin said Democrats are committed to action, but he conceded that it would be an uphill lift to get Republican votes. 

“The President was right it’s time for us to stand up and fight back as a nation,” Durbin said. “We are loath to call ourselves leaders in this country if we don’t address it.”

When CNN pushed Durbin on if he’d gut the filibuster to pass background checks, he said “absolutely.” 

Sen. Chris Murphy dismissed placing the sole blame on mental health for school shootings in America, saying it is too easy to obtain an assault rifle to carry out mass killings.

“We don’t have more mental illness than any other nation in the world. There’s no evidence that there are more mentally ill people here than in Europe. The difference is when people have homicidal thoughts in the United States of America, they can walk down the street to a Walmart and get an assault weapon easier than they can buy a cat or a dog. There’s more red tape involved in pet ownership in this country than there is in assault weapons ownership,” he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

Murphy also addressed the idea of putting more armed officers in schools.

“That shooter made it inside the school, and unless you are literally planning on putting an army battalion at every school in this country, it only takes a handful of minutes for an individual with an assault weapon to kill 20 or 30 people,” Murphy said.

Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who has been outspoken on gun reform since the Sandy Hook school shooting in his state, yesterday gave a speech on the Senate floor slamming his fellow lawmakers for doing “nothing” as school shootings continue.

He told Sciutto that “we just don’t have enough Republican partners right now” to work out a compromise on gun legislation, like for stronger gun background checks.

“This is a problem that has been endemic in the Senate,” he said, adding “maybe that changes this week.”

Murphy said he refuses “to believe that this is inevitable.”

“Is this Congress going to pass something substantial? I can’t guarantee you that. I’m going to try all day today to try to find some compromise but this is ultimately up to voters. Voters get to decide this. Ask your candidates this fall, ‘are you supportive of universal background checks, do you think 18-year-olds should have access to military-style assault weapons?’ and if they say yes, if they support the current law, if they don’t support reform, don’t send them back to Congress. So this is up to Congress, but this is also up to voters as well,” he said.

Steve Dettelbach speaks during an event about gun violence in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 11.

President Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will come under scrutiny at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, as the nation’s attention is focused on gun violence again after a horrific shooting at a Texas elementary school.

An 18-year-old gunman on Tuesday fatally shot 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, before he was killed by law enforcement officers, officials said. It is the deadliest shooting at a school since the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut in 2012 that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.

The high-profile tragedy has shocked the nation and ratcheted up the pressure on Congress and the President to take action, though Democrats can do little to pass stricter gun control measures in a 50-50 Senate amid widespread Republican opposition.

Against that backdrop, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider the nomination of Steve Dettelbach to run the ATF during a hearing on Wednesday in a high-stakes moment for the administration’s agenda.

Dettelbach could be confirmed in the Senate without any GOP votes if all Democrats vote in favor and would just need 51 votes with Vice President Kama Harris breaking a tie.

But Democratic unity is not guaranteed on the contentious issue of gun policy. And the White House has already suffered an embarrassing setback over its efforts to confirm a nominee to head the bureau last fall.

Some background: In September 2021, the White House withdrew the nomination of David Chipman to lead the bureau. Biden put the blame on Republicans for the inability to get Chipman confirmed, even though there had been stiff resistance among moderate Democrats and independent Maine Sen. Angus King — as well as GOP senators — over Chipman’s past record on gun control.

The incident laid bare the reality of confirming someone to a post that has made past comments on such a sensitive and divisive issue as gun control, something that is sure to once again be front and center in Dettelbach’s hearing. Dettelbach made clear he supported universal background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons during his bid to be attorney general of Ohio in 2018. Those positions are expected to face scrutiny Wednesday.

Dettelbach is a former federal prosecutor and was previously unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the US attorney for the Northern District of Ohio under President Barack Obama.

The ATF has operated under a series of acting directors since its last Senate-confirmed leader stepped down in 2015, and the Senate last confirmed an ATF nominee in 2013.

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed reporting to this post.

All fatalities and injuries took place inside one classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, according to Lt. Chris Olivarez, spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety.

The shooter barricaded himself in one room, killing two teachers and 19 children, he said.

“Just goes to show you the complete evil from this shooter,” Olivarez told CNN’s John Berman and Shimon Prokupecz.  

As the shooting was taking place, officers were going around the school, breaking windows and trying to evacuate children and staff. They were then able to force entry into the classroom where the shooter was, he said.

All the victims have been removed, identified and their families have been notified, the lieutenant said. Multiple children were wounded inside the classroom, according to Olivarez, but there is no exact number as to how many at this time. 

“It’s a small classroom, you can have anywhere from 25 to 30 students in there, plus there were two teachers in there. … So don’t have exact number of how many students were in that classroom, but it could vary … It was a classroom setting, a typical classroom setting where you have mass groups of children inside that classroom all together, with nowhere to go,” Olivarez said.

Olivarez said there was no chase with law enforcement before the shooter crashed a car near the school.

When asked if the school was a target, Olivarez said there are still “a lot of unanswered questions.”

Olivarez said the shooter had one rifle in his possession when he went into the school, and authorities are working to determine what type of rifle and the capacity. 

The shooter was wearing “a tactical vest carrier with no ballistic panels; so typically those type of carriers are used by tactical teams, SWAT teams, where they can place magazines, extra ammunition inside those carriers and be able to move in a tactical formation,” Olivarez said.

Olivarez said his grandmother — whom the shooter shot beforehand — is still alive and authorities are trying to locate his grandfather and immediate family members.

CNN’s Raja Razek contributed reporting to this post.

Kim Hammond, who lives two doors down from Robb Elementary School, said at first it didn’t register that it was gunfire that she heard at the school.

“I just kind of dismissed it,” she told CNN’s John Berman. “Then my living room started to shake, and it was a helicopter, it was literally right over my house just above the tree, and I thought ‘this is not good.’”

When Hammond realized something was happening at the school, she went onto Facebook to investigate, and she saw that police were reporting a shooting at Robb Elementary.

Hammond, who is a Desert Storm veteran, knows what gunfire sounds like. She said she didn’t want to believe that it was coming from the school.

“That can’t be, not here,” she hoped. “But my mind wouldn’t even go there. I just figured somebody ran and they are having a shootout, so I’ll stay in the house and lock the doors.”

Hammond, getting emotional, said she very much looks forward to next school year when the kids will once again return to the school playing loudly at recess and loading buses.

“I’ll be happy to hear it to tell you the truth, I’ll welcome it. These kids, they need to be sheltered from it as much as they can be,” she said.  

Ross McGlothlin, top left.

Former Robb Elementary School Principal Ross McGlothlin described the school and the city of Uvalde following yesterday’s mass shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers.

“We never believe that something this tragic can happen so close to us,” he said to CNN’s John Berman following Tuesday’s mass shooting. “Robb Elementary is a great school.”

McGlothlin said that when he was principal at the school, in 2015 and 2016, it served students in the third and fourth grades. They come from across the city of Uvalde, since the city separates some students by grade levels at some campuses, said McGlothlin. 

“Uvalde is a great little town,” McGlothlin said. “It’s a quiet, friendly community, farmland to the south and ranchland to the north; it’s the gateway to the Texas Hill Country.”

“This is just a sad example that this absolutely can happen anywhere,” he added.  

David Hogg

David Hogg, activist and survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, told CNN on Wednesday that “there is no way to process what has happened” at Robb Elementary School. 

Hogg was hiding in a closet during the shooting at his high school in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14, 2018; 17 people were killed. 

“The reality is if I’m just talking about this, and Congress is talking about this, after there’s been the equivalent of another Sandy Hook or another Parkland or another Buffalo…we are failing our children,” Hogg told CNN’s John Berman. 

Hogg said he spent a few days with victims of the recent mass shooting in Buffalo and says there is still “shock” in that community. 

The March for Our Lives co-founder told CNN his message for action on gun violence is “first of all vote and second of all, show up at your state legislature every year demanding action on gun violence. Not just around how somebody gets a gun, but why they pick up a gun in the first place.” 

“If we do that, mark my words, we could cut gun violence in half in a decade,” said Hogg. 

Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, is the second-deadliest school shooting since 2012, when 26 children and adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It is at least the 30th shooting at a K-12 school in 2022, according to a CNN tally.

At least 19 children and two teachers were killed in Tuesday’s mass shooting. The 18-year-old gunman is dead.

CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe, Nicole Chavez and Dakin Andone contributed reporting to this post.

Xavier Lopez.

Ten-year-old Xavier Lopez has been identified as one of the victims killed at Robb Elementary School, his mother Felicha Martinez confirmed to the Washington Post.

“He was funny, never serious and his smile,” Martinez said about the fourth grader, her voice breaking. “That smile I will never forget. It would always cheer anyone up.”

Just a few days shy of completing his last year of elementary school, Xavier was counting the days until he would officially move up the academic ladder into Flores Middle School in Uvalde.

His dreams seemed so close on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School’s honor roll ceremony. Martinez was there to cheer him on as Xavier’s name was called to receive his certificate. Mere hours before the tragedy, Martinez snapped a photo of Xavier.

She told him she was proud and that she loved him before hugging him goodbye. She said she did not imagine that would be the last moment she would share with her “mama’s boy.”

Amerie Jo Garza is held by her father Angel Garza.

The father of one of the children killed in Tuesday’s school shooting has identified his daughter as 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza.

Angel Garza said on Facebook early Wednesday morning that his daughter had been killed in the shooting at her elementary school.

“Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me,” said the father.

The post came hours after Angel’s original post asking for help in finding the girl in the wake of the shooting. “I don’t ask for much or hardly even post on here but please It’s been 7 hours and I still haven’t heard anything on my love. 💔 Please fb help me find my daughter.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised for more than a year to have a vote on two House-passed bills to expand background checks on gun sales — but he has been reluctant to force a vote on the issue knowing that they will fail, even as he has set up failed votes on other issues, like abortion and voting rights, before.

The bills are likely to get less than 50 votes — much less the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

It’s unclear when Schumer will try to force a procedural vote to break a filibuster. Unless there’s an agreement from all 100 senators, the earliest he could set up the procedural vote would be Saturday, according to a Democratic aide.

But senators were expected to leave for next week’s Memorial Day recess on Thursday afternoon. So they may wait until after the recess to take that procedural vote, even though leaving town amid the Texas tragedy would be bad optics. 

The aide said Schumer has not indicated when he may try to force the vote yet.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences over the Texas elementary school shooting, calling it “a cowardly attack.”

Pope Francis delivers his speech during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, on May 25.

Pope Francis expressed his condolences over the Texas school shooting tragedy and sent his prayers to the victims and their families during today’s morning weekly audience. 

The Pope also called for stronger gun controls and commitment so that “such tragedies can never happen again.”

Other European leaders, including the prime ministers of Slovakia, Ireland and Finland, are also sending their condolences today.

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin called the shooting “an appalling and shocking tragedy” and offered his “heartfelt sympathies” to families of the victims.

 Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also sent her thoughts to the families of the victims.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at a press conference in Pretoria, South Africa in this file photo from May 24.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez separately expressed their condolences over the Texas school shooting.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers his speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday.

Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez shared on Twitter a video of the emotional speech given by Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

Some context:  Before Tuesday’s game in Dallas, Kerr told reporters “basketball questions don’t matter” right now, referring to the mass shooting, adding, “When are we going to do something?”

The nation faced yet another horror on Tuesday after a lone 18-year-old gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, with two assault rifles and killed at least 19 children and two adults, snatching the lives of innocent elementary school students before he was killed by law enforcement.

It was a chilling reminder of how little progress America’s leaders have made in stemming the tide of gun violence since the 2012 massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

It was also the second mass shooting in less than two weeks after a different 18-year-old gunman trafficking in White supremacist theories killed 10 Black Americans in Buffalo.

In a nation where mass shootings are now a weekly, and sometimes a daily occurrence, the flags at the White House and across the country were lowered to half-staff by the time President Joe Biden returned home from a trip to Asia to address a grieving nation.

It was a role he has filled too many times.

Read the full analysis:

An officer walks outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. - An 18-year-old gunman killed 14 children and a teacher at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, according to the state's governor, in the nation's deadliest school shooting in years. (Photo by allison dinner / AFP) (Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Analysis: As deadly school massacre unfolds in Texas, few signs of common ground in Washington

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelesnky speaks via video call during a breakfast discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences to family members and relatives of children who were killed in the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday

Zelensky further acknowledged 21 people had been killed, including 19 children, adding “this is terrible to have victims of shooters in peaceful time.”

Robb Elementary School Teacher Eva Mireles.

Eva Mireles, a fourth-grade teacher, was killed Tuesday in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, her aunt told CNN.

Although authorities haven’t publicly identified any of the victims, Lydia Martinez Delgado said her niece was killed.

Delgado also gave a statement to CNN affiliate KSAT.

According to Mireles’ profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website, she had been an educator for 17 years.

In her off time, she enjoyed running, hiking, biking, and spending time with her family, according to the website.

SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center

Less than two miles away from Robb Elementary School, where at least 19 children and two adults were killed by a mass shooter on Tuesday, the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center has become the epicenter for families looking for their children.

For more than 12 hours, families gathered in silence outside the center — which was serving as a polling place for the runoff election on Tuesday — waiting for updates.

At least four families told CNN that parents had been asked for DNA swabs to confirm their relationship with their children and instructed to wait for an hour for an answer.

A father, who had just received the news that his child was dead, fought back tears as several of his cousins embraced him.

A few yards away, a grandmother who had driven from San Antonio said she would not stop praying for her 10-year-old granddaughter as they waited for the results of the DNA swabs.

Inside the civic center, city workers were handing out pizza, snacks and water to families. Some parents waited in silence or were sobbing quietly as a group of children sat on the floor playing with teddy bears. Later, a group of local pastors and chaplains arrived to offer their support to the families. 

UVALDE, TEXAS - JUNE 01: A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults killed on May 24th during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on June 01, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Opening wakes and funerals for the 21 victims will be scheduled throughout the week. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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Related gallery Photos: Mass shooting at Texas elementary school

Zinna Aguilera, a 61-year-old bookkeeper who lives in front of the elementary school, said she first learned about the shooting when a friend called her, asking if her granddaughter stayed home on Tuesday. 

People in this largely Hispanic neighborhood sat outside their homes after the shooting, some with their families while others gathered with neighbors.

Across the street from the school, Adolfo Cruz waited for word about his 10-year-old granddaughter. 

Adolfo Cruz

The 69-year-old air conditioning contractor answered calls from worried family members and friends while watching local and state law enforcement officers walk inside the school building.  

Cruz, a cancer survivor, said he couldn’t lose hope but questioned how no school resource officers were able to stop the shooter from walking into the campus.

Adela and Paul Martinez

Adela Martinez and her husband Paul Martinez, a former city council member and former furniture store owner, spoke about the grief spreading across this town of 16,000 people. 

Tuesday’s shooting at a Texas elementary school, which has left at least 19 children and two adults dead, marked another instance of a uniquely American tragedy.

The shooting is the latest entry in the long history of gun violence in the United States. Before Tuesday, there had been at least 39 shootings in K-12 schools, colleges and universities in 2022, resulting in at least 10 deaths and 51 injuries.

While proposals to overhaul gun laws – such a ban on assault-style weapons or high-capacity magazines – face steep odds at the federal level, there are some areas of bipartisan agreement. Whether that’s enough to break congressional gridlock is yet to be seen.

Read the full analysis:

Rifles and ammunition.

Related article Gun legislation is stalled in Congress. Here's why that won't change anytime soon.

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00:26 - Source: cnn

Following Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on Tuesday, Golden State Warriors guard/forward Damion Lee said of the Uvalde school mass shooting: “It’s sad the world that we live in.”

Noting there have been more mass shootings in 2022 than the number of days, Lee added, “We need to be better than that. It’s supposed to be, you know, the greatest country in the world, and it’s just ridiculous. This is senseless, losing our lives.”

The game, in which the Mavericks defeated the Warriors 119-109, was played in Dallas. Game 5 will be played Thursday night in San Francisco.

Some context: Prior to Tuesday’s game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters “basketball questions don’t matter” right now, referencing the mass shooting, adding, “When are we going to do something?”

A fiery Kerr called out “50 senators who refuse to vote on HR-8,” a House bill that strengthens firearm background checks, claiming, “They won’t vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power.”

Golden State’s Steph Curry said at a postgame press conference he appreciated Kerr’s leadership and comments, and that the shooting “was on everybody’s mind coming into the game.”

CNN’s Jill Martin contributed reporting to this post.

“Mass shootings have become America’s copy and paste tragedy,” Politico’s Tyler Weyant wrote Tuesday evening. “We change the place, the town, the number of dead and injured. But the constant is lives lost, people who cannot be brought back, and the nation is left in a numb daze.”

At least, until, it happens again. In this case, it only took 10 days from the last slaughter for another spasm of senseless violence and terror to force the nation to go through the motions once again.

It’s all so predictable and formulaic at this point. First come the initial reports of a shooting, then details about fatalities and injuries, then details about the shooter and motive, and finally the tributes to the dead. All the while, there are widespread calls for the US to take some – any – action to stop these regular massacres from occurring while Fox personalities and GOP leaders insist the shooting shouldn’t be “politicized.”

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An officer walks outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. - An 18-year-old gunman killed 14 children and a teacher at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, according to the state's governor, in the nation's deadliest school shooting in years. (Photo by allison dinner / AFP) (Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Analysis: Media coverage of Texas school massacre invokes Sandy Hook

Matthew McConaughey at the premiere of "Gold" in New York City, in this Jan.17, 2017 file image.

Matthew McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde where at least 21 people were killed Tuesday, described gun violence as an “epidemic we can control.”

“Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us,” the 52-year-old actor said in a statement.

McConaughey called on all Americans to “renegotiate our wants from our needs,” adding that “we have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue.”

Some background: The star of movies such as “Dallas Buyers Club” and “The Lincoln Lawyer” has maintained a close relationship with his home state – and last year weighed a run for governor.

When he decided not to run, he said in part:

The Archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo Garcia Seller, comforts families outside of the Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24.

In response to the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Antonio called on elected officials to work with citizens toward preventing such attacks in the future.

Members of the community gather at the City of Uvalde Town Square for a prayer vigil on Tuesday, May 24, in Uvalde, Texas.

At least 19 students and 2 adults were killed Tuesday in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, roughly 80 miles west of San Antonio, authorities said.

The gunman, identified by officials as Salvador Ramos, is dead and is believed to have acted alone. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old suspect had attended Uvalde High School.

The shooting was the deadliest at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.

Here are the latest developments:

A former classmate of school shooter Salvador Ramos said the gunman texted him photos of a firearm he had and a bag full of ammunition days before the attack.

The friend, who did not want to be identified by name, said he was somewhat “close” to Ramos and would hear from him occasionally to play Xbox together.

The friend said Ramos was taunted by others for the clothes he wore and his family’s financial situation, and eventually was seen less in class.

He said that after his own graduation, he communicated with Ramos less. But every few months, Ramos would send a text or ask to play Xbox, he said.

Fred Guttenberg’s daughter, Jaime, was one of 17 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

He spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, just hours after 18 children and one adult were killed in Uvalde, Texas.

Guttenberg said news of another shooting is infuriating “because all of these instances we know the next one is going to happen because we haven’t done anything to fix it.”

When asked what message he’d give to families in Uvalde, Guttenberg quoted something his rabbi told him at his daughter’s funeral: “We don’t move on, we move forward.”

“I want everyone to know that they are loved and that they are going to go forward. It’s what I call a ‘new normal,’” he said. “But the next few minutes, hours, days are going to be brutal.”

A photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account tied to the suspected Uvalde shooter just three days before Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary school. Part of the image has been obscured by CNN to remove the name of a third party.

A photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account tied to the suspected Uvalde shooter just three days before Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School.

The photo was posted as a story under the username “salv8dor_.” Multiple classmates confirmed the account belonged to suspected gunman Salvador Ramos, who was shot dead by officers responding to the school shooting. 

Ramos’ TikTok page has only a single post – a clip of a Subway Surfers mobile game. The bio under his profile picture reads: “Kids be scared irl” or in real life.

President Biden addressed the nation from the White House on Tuesday, opening his remarks by saying, “I had hoped, when I became President, I would not have to do this, again.”

He called today’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, “another massacre” in the US.

The President said, “To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away.” He said the feeling is “suffocating.”

The President called on the nation to pray for the victims and “stand up to the gun lobby” in the wake of today’s events.

The Mexican government is providing consular assistance in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, which is located roughly 50 miles from the US-Mexico border.

In a statement from Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations, the government “condemns this act of violence that has cost children’s lives and devastated families in a predominantly Hispanic town.”

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina warned Democrats against having a “reflexive reaction” in the wake of the Texas school shooting that left 15 people dead, by trying to pass laws that would impinge on Second Amendment rights, saying he is confident in the coming days it will be learned that there were “signs” the 18-year-old shooter was “at risk.”

Asked if there was a component of guns that could be part of the solution for the problem of mass shootings in the country, Tillis said “no.”

Sen. Joe Manchin said Tuesday he would do anything he could to move “common sense” gun legislation forward, but he refused to eliminate the filibuster to get gun legislation through the Senate. 

When asked by CNN what his message to outraged and frightened parents and grandparents is, Manchin noted he’s a grandfather, adding: