MASS SHOOTINGS

Jazmin Cazares, 17, was one of several family members of shooting victims and experts testifying before Texas lawmakers on Thursday. Her sister, Jackie Cazares, 9, was one of the victims of the school shooting in Uvalde.

The move comes weeks after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary. Uvalde CISD police Chief Pete Arredondo, one of the first to respond, and state officials have provided differing stories about what happened inside the school.

Relatives of the victims and other members of the community also called for the ousting of Pete Arredondo, who is the police chief of the city’s school district and a newly elected council member.

New information released by law enforcement sources and the director of the Department of Public Safety tells a different story about police response to the shooting than Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo.

Steve McCraw testified before a Texas Senate committee, laying blame on local police officers in Uvalde for not acting faster to save children during the school shooting.

The unremitting pace of ritualized mourning ended Thursday as the town buried an 11-year-old victim of the Robb Elementary shooting. Survivors now face less structured grief, starting each day knowing they will live it out differently than they should have.

Officials have called for more armed officers on campuses in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. Experts and some parents, though, say more law enforcement on campus doesn’t necessarily make schools safer.

After the Uvalde school shooting, like many mass shootings, mental health became a topic of discussion among politicians after the public demanded change in gun laws.

Criticized by law enforcement experts for slowness in taking out the shooter, Pete Arredondo described an agonizing wait for a key that would work. In an interview with The Texas Tribune, he said he hadn’t spoken out sooner because he didn’t want to compound his hometown’s grief or point blame.

In a bulletin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that recent and upcoming events could be “exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”

Authorities have been criticized for waiting over an hour to enter the school and confront the shooter. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said law enforcement agencies have promised to cooperate with the federal inquiry.

Next week, 10-year-old Ryland Ward will enter University Hospital for his 31st surgery after being shot five times during the 2017 Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church massacre that killed 26 people.

Cornyn on Monday made clear in a Senate floor speech that there are limits to what he and the Senate GOP conference are willing to support in their efforts to pass bipartisan gun legislation.

In arguing over causes of the latest mass shooting, political debate often overlooks the range of incremental steps that could lessen the chances of mass killing and help address the nation’s persistent gun violence.

More than 250 self-declared gun enthusiasts, including donors who have contributed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaigns, have signed on to an open letter supporting Sen. John Cornyn’s efforts at bipartisan gun reform legislation.

Patrick said he wants police in as many Texas schools as possible to have bulletproof shields before the fall. He’s asked other state leaders to move around money in the state budget to make it happen.

The revelation is the latest to point to deficiencies and missteps in authorities’ response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Police opted to wait for reinforcements and tactical gear, taking more than an hour to confront and take down the shooter.

Through music and painting, artists have begun works to preserve the lives lost in the Robb Elementary School shooting. “We want them to be monumental,” one artist said. “Because those lives should’ve been monumental.”

As chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, it was Arredondo’s call to wait more than an hour for backup instead of ordering officers on scene to immediately charge the shooter.

Phelan said it is an “outrage” that officials still do not have a clear picture of what happened during the shooting. The committee’s findings will inform the House’s legislative response.

Uvalde offers mental health resources for the victims and considers rebuilding the school where the shooting took place as the community tends to its invisible wounds.

Gutierrez, a Democrat who has been critical of the state’s response to past shootings, said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also snubbed state senators whose districts were affected by shootings in El Paso and Santa Fe.

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, said the commanding officer at the scene of the shooting was not informed about the calls that Uvalde police were receiving, calling the lack of coordination a “system failure.”

They were high school sweethearts. Irma Garcia taught at Robb Elementary for her entire 23-year career. Her husband died of a heart attack days after she was shot.

Abbott has tasked the Texas School Safety Center with conducting in-person, unannounced audits of public schools to see how quickly staff can enter a building without being stopped and detect weak points.

The committees are different from a special legislative session, which Democrats — and at least a couple Republicans — have asked for after the shooting. Abbott has not ruled that out.

Longtime Uvalde residents say the city is a hunting mecca and the love for guns goes right along with it. But some would now support measures like raising the age limit to buy AR-style weapons or monitoring high-volume ammunition purchases.

She wanted to be an art teacher. Her favorite color was purple. She was laid to rest three weeks after her birthday.

Residents of Uvalde, a deeply religious community, prayed, cried and embraced each other on the first Sunday since a gunman killed 21 people at an elementary school.

Residents of this town, which is nicknamed “the Crossroads of America,” grapple with the horror of losing 21 lives.

Facing yet another community grieving after a mass shooting, the president replied, ‘We will.’ But Congress hasn’t managed to change gun policy for decades.

The “God-given right” to self-defense has become a rallying cry in Texas politics, further cementing gun ownership as a holy cause and political identity. The state’s Republican leadership has spent decades carrying the banner.

All 13 Senate Democrats demanded lawmakers pass legislation that raises the minimum age to purchase a firearm and requires universal background checks, among other measures.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republicans argue that gunmen can be stopped by locking all but one door and posting guards at schools. School officials and safety experts say that’s not realistic.

“I am livid about what happened,” the governor said at a tense press conference in Uvalde. “The information I was given turned out, in part, to be inaccurate, and I am absolutely livid about that.”

Uvalde is grieving the loss of 19 students and two teachers after Tuesday’s devastating shooting at a local elementary school. In this video, residents say their town will never be the same, but they will help each other through the healing process.

Abbott’s press conference follows a morning briefing from top law enforcement who admitted local police made a crucial error as the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde continued.

The press conference is slated to begin at 1 p.m. Central time and comes after news reports quoting local residents saying that law enforcement did not enter the school fast enough.

Bleachers of the Uvalde County Fairplex were packed with young children, families and other community members Wednesday night in a mass vigil for the victims of Tuesday’s school shooting.

Texas requires schools to have emergency plans and conduct safety drills. But a lot of decisions about safety are left to school districts and charter schools.

Many in this small South Texas town of about 15,000 residents had ties to Robb Elementary, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers on Tuesday. A day later, residents sought to help and begin healing their community.

Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Here are some ways people across the world can help the grieving community of Uvalde in the aftermath.

After previous mass killings during his more than seven years in office, Abbott has pledged that lawmakers and his administration would search for solutions. He made no substantive suggestions Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are also scheduled to attend the event but their offices have not commented on their attendance since the shooting unfolded in Uvalde on Tuesday. Former President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to speak, said Wednesday he still plans to attend.

O’Rourke’s disruption drew angry responses from the elected officials onstage, with Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin calling him a “sick son of a bitch.”

A spokesperson for Abbott said he had previously committed to the event but all campaign-related activities are postponed until further notice.

Abbott was publicly criticized by his Democratic opponent for governor. Abbot also said he wasn’t sure if he would attend the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting later this week.

Families gathered at the city’s civic center to await news about their children following the elementary school shooting. Other residents processed their shock and grief in places of worship.

As President Joe Biden vowed to enact stricter gun laws following the Uvalde shooting, top Texas Republicans worked to create distance between the shooting and potential gun restrictions.

We know what comes next. Another scar hardens on the state’s collective psyche, but little is done to prevent the next one.

Now, let’s see how this works: 231 mass shootings in 146 days of 2021. And yet the Republican Party is pushing hard to make it easier to purchase guns.