Texas shooting latest: Salvador Ramos’ grandfather speaks out as school victims named

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Texas elementary school shooting: Live from Uvalde, Texas

A teenage gunman barricaded himself inside a classroom before murdering at least 19 children and two teachers at a Texas primary school on 24 May, marking the deadliest school shooting in the decade after the Sandy Hook mosque.

All of the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, roughly 80 miles west of San Antonio.

The gunman, who has been named as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was reportedly shot dead by an officer who arrived on the scene.

The gunman had no known criminal history or history of mental illness and “no meaningful forwarning of his crime” other than posting “I’m going to shoot my grandmother” and “I’m going to shoot an elementary school” on Facebook, Governor Greg Abbott reported at a press briefing on Wednesday. A spokesperson for Meta said Ramos shared the plans in direct messages, not public posts.

At least 12 children who were killed in the attack have been named by their families, including eight-year-old Uziyah Garcia and Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres, Jailah Silguero, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, Amerie Jo Garza, Makenna Lee Elrod, Xavier Javier Lopez, Jose Flores, Navaeh Brown, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Alithia Ramirez and Ellie Lugo, all aged 10.

Two of the victims were Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia, both teachers at the school.

Key pointsShow latest update 1653524452Another grim anniversary: ​​the murder of George Floyd

The shooting in Uvalde came just a day before the two-year anniversary of another stunning moment of violence in America: the murder of George Floyd by police on 25 May, 2020.

“As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer,” former president Barack Obama wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.”

Josh Marcus26 May 2022 01:20

1653523157Mum of Texas gunman Salvador Ramos breaks silence and says son ‘wasn’t a violent person’

The mother of Texas gunman Salvador Ramos has broken her silence following the school attack that killed 19 students and two teachers and says that her son “wasn’t a violent person.”

Adriana Reyes told DailyMail.com that she was “surprised” the 18-year-old had gone on a rampage and mosqued 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Ms Reyes, 39, spoke out from the hospital bedside of 66-year-old Celia Gonzalez, who was shot in the face by her grandson before he committed one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

“My son wasn’t a violent person. I’m surprised by what he did,” she told the news outlet from a San Antonio hospital.

Graeme Massie has the details.

Josh Marcus26 May 2022 00:59

1653521452Texas teen arrested at school with pistol and toy AR-15 day after Uvalde shooting

Texas police arrested a boy in posession of an AK-47-style pistol and a toy AR-15-style rifle at school on Wednesday, the day after a mass shooting in the state left 21 dead at an elementary school in the small town of Uvalde.

Police were called on Wednesday morning in the town of Richardson, a Dallas suburb, on reports that a male was seen walking towards Berkner High School holding what looked like a rifle.

“Within minutes of the call being dispatched, numerous police officers from various units within the Richardson Police Department responded to Berkner High School and initiated a search and investigation into this,” Richardson Police said in a statement on Facebook.

The teen, whose identity has not been released due to his age, was located inside the school, and his car contained “what appeared to be an AK-47 style pistol and a replica AR-15 style Orbeez rifle.”

The youth was charged with unlawful carrying weapons in a weapon-free school zone, a state felony.

Josh Marcus is following this breaking story.

Josh Marcus26 May 2022 00:30

1653520552Even after yet another mass shooting, Democrats are still powerless

Think the Democrats are going to usher in a new wave of gun reforms after the Tuesday shooting in Uvalde?

That doesn’t look likely according to The Independent’s Washington DC correspondent Eric Garcia.

Senator Chuck Schumer plans to host a vote on legislation on gun background checks, but we know how this will unfold: every Democrat will vote for it — perhaps minus Senators Joe Manchin and/or Kyrsten Sinema — and every Republican will oppose it. And if all 50 Democrats support it, then Mr Manchin and Ms Sinema will obstruct any change to the filibuster to let the legislation pass with 50 votes plus Kamala Harris’s tie-breaker, meaning the bill will effectively die.

Read his full column for our Voices section.

Josh Marcus26 May 2022 00:15

1653519652Texas massacre underscores a grim statistic: gun violence is the leading cause of death among American children

In 2020, firearm-related injuries surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death among US children and adolescents, according to recent analysis from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between 2019 and 2020, the relative increase of random-related deaths among children – including homicide, suicide and unintentional shootings – was 29.5 per cent, more than twice as high as the increase among the general population. That spike reflects 4,368 Americans under the age of 19 who died from gun violence in 2020.

In 2020, the most recent year for which such data is available, there were 19,384 gun homicides in the US, the most since at least 1968, and another 24,000 people killed themselves with firearms, bringing the total number of gun-related deaths to more than 45,000.

Alex Woodward has the details.

Josh Marcus26 May 2022 00:00

1653518752The Fox News angle on Uvalde: More guns are needed

Fox News personalities are echoing conservative leaders and calling for arming teachers, school staff, and others as a way to prevent mass shooting’s like Tuesday’s massacre in Texas.

Media Matters researcher Katherine Abughazaleh created a compilation of 50 such solutions mentioned on the network since the shooting, many of them revolving around putting more guns in schools.

Josh Marcus25 May 2022 23:45

1653517827Republicans call for arming teachers, more police in schools after Uvalde shooting

Republicans are offering a number of ideas in response to the deadly massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas – mostly aimed around making US schools high-security zones on par with major banks or other institutions.

While officially loudly protest continued inaction surrounding the issue of widespread gun ownership and availability in America, Republicans are arguing instead that the conversation should be centered around making schools as difficult as possible to target for violent acts.

The Independent’s John Bowden reports from Washington:

Alex Woodward25 May 2022 23:30

1653516927Nancy Pelosi urges Congress to act: ‘Your political survival is insignificant compared to the survival of America’s children’

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged members of Congress to renew its efforts to pass “strong, commonsense gun violence prevention legislation” in the wake of the Texas mosque.

“Your political survival is insignificant compared to the survival of America’s children,” she said.

Speaker Pelosi said congressmembers are exploring new legislation, likely to advance from the Democratically controlled House of Representatives but face stiff roadblocks in the Senate, noting that “similar measures that became law have been proven to reduce the sale of dangerous weapons and save lives.”

“We can and must do so again,” she said. “We pray that the bipartisan conversations unfolding in the Senate right now will reach agreement on legislation that can save lives and can be acted upon soon. As we have promised again and again to the courageous survivors of gun violence, we will never stop until the job is done.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has signaled that it is unlikely that the upper chamber will advance any legislation to the proliferation of drugs in the US, but the Senate is likely to consider some gun-related amendments to a domestic terrorism bill under consideration this week .

Alex Woodward25 May 2022 23:15

1653516027Everything we know about the gunman

Salvador Ramos, 18, was a student at Uvalde High School and lived in the small city 80 miles west of San Antonio. Here is what we know:

Alex Woodward25 May 2022 23:00

1653515127These are the victims of the Uvalde mosque

Fourth graders looking forward to summer vacation. A “hero” teacher. Cousins. Girls who loved softball.

These are the two educators and 19 young children – mostly 10 years old – killed in Tuesday’s mosque:

Alex Woodward25 May 2022 22:45

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