Update: 11:33 a.m. ET
First responders recounted the horror they saw when they arrived at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday morning.
More than two dozen children and two of their teachers were shot by a crazed gunman in the same 4th grade classroom at the school.
19 children and 2 teachers died during the worst school shooting in Texas history.
First responders could still hear the screaming and gunshots from inside the school. Children and their frantic teachers poured out of every school exit.
Panicked parents arrived – some barefoot – searching frantically for their children.
Fathers smashed windows, and physically pulled their kids out of classrooms,” said Ernest “Chip” King, a Uvalde firefighter who was one of the first responders at the scene.
Within an hour, 500 first responders had arrived at the scene from as far away as San Antonio.
First responders were horrified by the carnage inside one fourth grade classroom.
“I was stabilizing a little girl, she was so tiny,” says an EMT who wanted to be identified only by his first name, Rey. “There was blood everywhere. She had been shot in the chest and the shoulder. We were trying to stop the bleeding. I looked at her and I was like ‘She’s just a baby. Who would shoot a baby?'”
Frantic parents looked into ambulance’s windows, trying to see who the patient was. “Everyone wanted to see,” says Rey. “They wanted to make sure it wasn’t their kid.”
“A father came up to me and asked in Spanish if it was a boy or a girl inside [the ambulance],” says Rey. “He was looking for his son, and when I told him that it was a girl, he just ran to another ambulance.”
Update: 10:00 a.m. ET
The 18-year-old Texas school gunman shot his grandmother in the face before heading to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. According to officials, the gunman barricaded himself in a fourth grade classroom where the 21 victims were killed. His unidentified grandmother is in critical condition in the same hospital as some of the 17 wounded people.
Originally published on May 25, 2022 at 08:54.
The death toll has risen to 21 in the worst mass school shooting in Texas history. Officials confirmed 19 children and 2 teachers were shot dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old gunman shot and critically wounded his grandmother at home before driving to the school and crashing his truck outside.
He then walked into the elementary school and entered a fourth grade classroom where he told the youngsters, “You’re going to die.”
The shooter was armed with a handgun and an assault rifle. He was dressed in black and wore body armor.
Amerie Jo Garza’s grandmother, Berlinda Irene Arreola, said Amerie tried to call 911 on her cell phone before she was shot dead. Amerie’s best friend, who sat beside her in class, was left covered in Amerie’s blood, Arreola told The Daily Beast.
More than 13 children were wounded in the mass shooting at the school, which is 40 miles from the Texas border.
Police confirmed that two teachers, Irma Garcia, a mother-of-four, and Eva Mireles, 44, were among the deceased victims. Garcia (left) worked at Robb Elementary for 23 years. Mireles (right) was her co-teacher for 5 years.
A Border Patrol agent who was working a post nearby rushed into the school and exchanged gunfire with the shooter before killing him. The 45-year-old agent was grazed by a bullet and was able to walk out of the school as police backup arrived.
The teenage shooter was described as a bullied loner who dropped out of Uvalde High School 2 years ago. He was often teased about his lisp, his habit of wearing black eyeliner, and hand-me-down clothes.
The shooter lived in poverty with his 66-year-old grandmother, who reportedly expressed her disappointment in him before he shot and critically wounded her.
The Golden State Warriors observed a moment of silence in honor of the victims before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at American Airlines Arena on Tuesday.
Before the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr implored Congress to do something about gun violence in America. Kerr screamed and slammed the table during his emotional plea. “I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough!”
The video of his plea was viewed over 21 million times on Twitter.
Steve Kerr on today's tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas. pic.twitter.com/lsJ8RzPcmC
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) May 24, 2022
