A gunman who attacked a primary school in Texas on Tuesday was able to enter the building unobstructed, police say.

Texas Ranger Victor Escalon said no armed guard challenged the teenage attacker and it is unclear if the school door was even locked.

Mr Escalon defended the police response amid mounting criticism of an apparent delay in confronting the gunman.

Reports quoted witnesses saying police were hesitant to confront the killer inside Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School.

Mr Escalon said at Thursday’s press conference that initial reports the gunman had shot a guard were incorrect.
He said officers entered the school four minutes after the gunman.

“They [didn’t] make entry immediately because of the gunfire they were receiving,” Mr Escalon told reporters.

But an hour lapsed before the gunman was killed in a shootout after US Border Patrol tactical teams arrived.

The attacker shot dead 19 students and two teachers, and injured at least 17 more people.

Videos have emerged of police being urged by onlookers and family remembers to storm the building immediately.

A father whose daughter died in the attack told the Associated Press news agency he had considered running into the school with bystanders out of frustration with the alleged police inaction.

Mr Escalon – a Texas Ranger and spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety – said that during the time officers were outside the school they were calling in reinforcements and “also evacuating students, teachers”.

“An hour later US Border Patrol tactical teams arrive, they make entry and shoot and kill the suspect,” he added. “Immediately… it turns into a rescue operation.”
After crashing his truck into a ditch near the school, the gunman emerged and began firing at two people across the street.

He then jumped a fence and began firing “multiple, numerous rounds” at the building, Mr Escalon said.

As he approached the entrance to the school he “was not confronted by anybody”, the ranger said.

According to Uvalde County Independent School District Officers protocol, campuses are required to have staff “who patrol door entrances, parking lots and perimeters”. Teachers are told to keep doors locked at all times.

“We will find out as much as we can why it was unlocked,” Mr Escalon said. “Or maybe it was locked. But right now, it appears it was unlocked.”

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro has written to the director of the FBI to ask that agents investigate the law enforcement response to the attack as it was unfolding.

“Onlookers allege that parents unsuccessfully urged law enforcement to enter the building during this time and confront the shooter,” Mr Joaquin said in a statement, noting the “conflicting accounts” offered by police and witnesses.

President Joe Biden and the US first lady will visit Uvalde on Sunday, the White House announced.

Across the country, students from primary to high school staged class walk-outs to protest against gun violence in schools on Thursday. The leaders of the country’s two largest teacher unions are also planning to travel to Houston, Texas, this weekend to demonstrate outside an annual conference of the National Rifle Association, a pro-gun lobby group.

A father has told the BBC how his two terrified children hid as the massacre unfolded inside Robb Elementary.

“My son ran up to me and said he didn’t think he was going to make it out – that he didn’t think he was going to see me or his mother again,” Jesse Jimenez said. “My daughter was lost, she didn’t know what was going on, she didn’t know if it was a drill or if it was real.”

On Thursday, the husband of one of the two teachers killed in the attack died from a heart attack.

Joe Garcia “passed away due to grief” two days after his wife of 24 years, Irma Garcia, family members said.
Source: BBC News

Nineteen children and two teachers have been killed in a shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The children who died were aged between seven and 10. Some of them had just received awards for great school work.

One victim was a 10-year-old boy who loved to dance. Another was a girl who died while trying to call the police.

It is the deadliest shooting at a US elementary school since 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook school a decade ago.

There are unconfirmed reports that two children from the same family were killed.

‘The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known’
Some parents were at the school hours before the shooting, watching with pride as their children held up their honour roll certificates at an awards ceremony. Hours later, they were back there.

Amerie Jo Garza was one of the first children to be confirmed dead. She had celebrated her 10th birthday just two weeks ago, and was shot while trying to call emergency services, her grandmother Berlinda Irene Arreola told The Daily Beast.

Amerie was “super-outgoing” and a “teacher’s pet”, she added.

A family member wrote on Facebook: “Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them.”

Xavier Javier Lopez, aged 10, was remembered as a “sweet, playful” boy by his cousin, 54-year-old Lisa Garza.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Garza said she and her family were devastated when they learnt of his death.

She saw Xavier over Easter and said he seemed so happy to be enjoying the holidays with his family.

Xavier loved to dance, she said, and was an avid user of TikTok.

Ms Garza added she had other cousins studying at the same school, some of whom were injured but survived. One of them was being treated at a hospital in San Antonio, she said.
Uziyah Garcia, 8, was remembered by his grandfather, Manny Renfro, as the “sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known”.

Mr Renfro recalled the last time he had seen his grandson during the school holidays, saying that they had practised football passes together.
Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Mr Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practised.”

‘The worst nightmare ever’
Eva Mireles, 44, was the first teacher to be confirmed killed. Trained in bilingual and special education, she had taught fourth-grade students in the Uvalde school district for 17 years.

In a short biography posted on the school district’s website, she described her love of running and hiking. She also said she had “a supportive, fun, and loving family” – her husband, her college graduate daughter and “three furry friends”.

According to media reports, Ms Mireles’ husband Ruben Ruiz, a police officer in the same school district, had held an active shooter drill at Uvalde High School just two months ago.

In a post on Twitter, her daughter Adalynn Ruiz described her as the “half that makes me whole” and hailed her for having “selflessly jumped in front of her students to save their lives”.

“I want everything back,” she said. “My heart will forever be broken.”

Ms Mireles’ aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, expressed her grief in a Facebook post, saying she was “furious that these shootings continue”. Her cousin, Cristina Arizmendi Mirelez, said “it’s unimaginable… the worst nightmare ever”.

One grief-stricken parent paid tribute to Ms Mireles on Twitter.

Source: BBC

Fourteen students and one teacher were killed in a shooting Tuesday morning at a Texas elementary school, Gov. Greg Abbott said.

The suspected shooter, who might have had a handgun and rifle, was fatally wounded by responding law enforcement, he said.

The incident was no longer active Tuesday afternoon. The suspected shooter was 18, authorities said.

Initial accounts indicated 13 children were taken to the emergency room at Uvalde Memorial Hospital after the shooting at Robb Elementary, according to a Facebook statement and hospital CEO Tom Nordwick. Two were transferred and one is pending a transfer, the CEO said in a phone call.

In addition, two people were pronounced dead prior to arriving at the hospital, Nordwick said. Their names and ages were not released.
University Health said in a tweet that it was treating a child and a 66-year-old woman who is listed in critical condition. The condition of the child is not yet known.

A University Health spokesperson said she could not confirm if the patients are shooting victims, but added their injuries are related to the shooting at the school.

The suspected shooter was taken into custody just after 1 p.m. local time, the Uvalde Police Department announced on Facebook. No other details, including the suspect’s name and the number of those injured, were disclosed.
News of the suspect’s capture came less than an hour after the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announced on Twitter that there was “an active shooter” at the elementary school.

“Law enforcement is on site. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared,” the tweet said.
Source: NBC News