Robb Elementary School shooting

Robb Elementary School shooting
Location of Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX
LocationRobb Elementary School, 715 Old Carrizo Road
Uvalde, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates29°11′58″N 99°47′18″W / 29.19944°N 99.78833°W / 29.19944; -99.78833
DateMay 24, 2022; 4 years ago (2022-05-24)
11:28 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. (UTC−05:00)
TargetStudents and staff at Robb Elementary School
Attack type
WeaponsDaniel Defense DDM4 V7
Deaths22 (including the perpetrator)
Injured
21 (18 directly, including the perpetrator's grandmother at her home; 3 minor injuries during civilian conflicts with law enforcement)
PerpetratorSalvador Ramos
Motive
AccusedPedro Arredondo
Adrian Gonzales
Convicted15-year-old girl in Germany convicted of neglecting to report planned crimes

The Robb elementary school shooting happened on May 24, 2022, when 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States. It was a mass shooting. Of the people fatally shot, 19 were students and 2 were teachers. Earlier that day, Ramos reportedly shot and critically wounded his grandmother.

The attack was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. elementary school since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, the deadliest U.S. school shooting since the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, and the 9th deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Background

In 2022, the school had about 600 students in the second through fourth grades. The majority of them were Latino.

The school district had many security measures at the time of the shooting, including four officers working within the school district and a security staff.

Shooting

The shooter is said to have entered the school at around 11:30 a.m. CDT. Police say the shooting began two minutes later, and according to a Facebook post by the school, the school was put on lockdown at 11:43 a.m. in response to gunshots in the neighborhood.

U.S. Border Patrol agents began shooting at Ramos after responding to the shooting. Ramos fired back until being shot and killed by a patrol agent.

The children killed were from 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade with ages ranging from aged 7 to 11.

The shooting came less than two weeks after a 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York that killed ten people.

Victims

The nineteen students and two teachers killed in the shooting were:

  • Uziyah Garcia, 10
  • Xavier Javier Lopez, 10
  • Jose Flores, 10
  • Miranda Mathis, 11
  • Eva Mireles, 44
  • Ellie Garcia, 9
  • Tess Marie Mata, 10
  • Eliahna "Elijah" Cruz Torres, 10
  • Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
  • Irma Garcia, 48
  • Nevaeh Bravo, 10
  • Makenna Elrod, 10
  • Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10
  • Alithia Ramirez, 10
  • Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10
  • Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
  • Rogelio Torres, 10
  • Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10
  • Amerie Jo Garza, 10
  • Jacklyn "Jackie" Cazares, 9
  • Layla Salazar, 11

Joe García, husband of Irma García, one of the teachers killed in the shooting, died afterwards of a heart attack, with his family saying he died of "grief".

Shooter

Salvador Rolando Ramos (May 16, 2004 – May 24, 2022) was from North Dakota and lived in Uvalde. He had Hispanic ancestry. Before the shooting, he had no criminal record or documented mental health issues. He had a stutter and a strong lisp and was bullied because of it. He dropped out of high school because of bad attendance and would often get into fights with some of his classmates.

Ramos legally bought a semi-automatic rifle from a local gun store on May 17, 2022, a day after his 18th birthday, and bought another rifle three days later. He had also bought an AR-15 style rifle eight days before the shooting. On May 18, 2022, he bought 375 rounds of ammunition.

Aftermath

Memorial made by the community to remember the victims

U.S. President Joe Biden addressed the nation on the night of the shooting and said: "As a nation we have to ask when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby...I am sick and tired of it -- we have to act." Biden did not lay out any plan to take action, which disappointed gun control activists. A study found that 90% of Americans supported universal background checks for gun buyers.

Former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, and many worlds leaders reacted to the shooting such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Pope Francis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Police response

In the aftermath of the shooting, the Uvalde police response was criticized for not acting quickly. The police were outside the school and did not enter the school for 40 minutes to an hour after Ramos had entered the building and began shooting.

References

  1. 1 2 Ibañez, Rebecca; Salinas, David (May 24, 2022). "15 killed in shooting at Uvalde elementary school; gunman dead, Gov. Abbott says". KSAT. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  2. ↑ "At least 2 dead, suspect in custody after shooter reported at Texas school - National | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  3. ↑ "At least 2 children dead in 'active shooter' incident at Texas elementary school". ABC News. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Henderson, Jennifer; Lynch, Jamiel; Levenson, Eric (24 May 2022). "At least two are dead and others injured after a shooting at a Texas elementary school, hospital officials say". CNN. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Texas shooting: 19 children among dead in primary school attack". BBC News. 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
  6. ↑ Yancey-Bragg, N'dea; Hughes, Trevor; Kenning, Chris (May 24, 2022). "14 students, 1 teacher killed in Texas elementary school shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott says. The shooter is also dead, Abbott says". USA Today. Retrieved May 24, 2022. It is the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since the shocking attack in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, almost a decade ago, fueling a fresh round of grief and despair.
  7. ↑ "14 students and teacher killed in Texas elementary school shooting, governor says". CBC News. The Associated Press. 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  8. ↑ Levenson, Jennifer Henderson,Jamiel Lynch,Eric (May 24, 2022). "Shooting at a Texas elementary school leaves 14 students and a teacher dead, governor says". CNN.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Yancey-Bragg, N'dea; Hughes, Trevor; Kenning, Chris (May 24, 2022). "14 students, 1 teacher killed in Texas elementary school shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott says. The shooter is also dead, Abbott says". USA Today. Retrieved May 24, 2022. It is the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since the shocking attack in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, almost a decade ago, fueling a fresh round of grief and despair.
  10. ↑ Martinez, Christian; Hennessy-Fiske, Molly; Jarvie, Jenny (May 24, 2022). "19 children and 2 adults die in Texas school shooting". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  11. ↑ Conklin, Audrey (May 24, 2022). "Texas mass shooting: Uvalde school district had security measures in place prior to tragedy". Fox News. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  12. ↑ "What We Know So Far About the Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas". Time. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  13. ↑ Stringini, Mary (May 24, 2022). "Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting: 16 dead, including 14 kids, Abbott says". WJBK. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  14. ↑ Hurley, Bevan (May 25, 2022). "Salvador Ramos: Everything we know about Texas school mass shooter". The Independent. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Texas shooting: 19 children among dead in primary school attack". BBC News. May 24, 2022. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  16. ↑ "At Least 21 Dead in Uvalde, Texas Elementary School Shooting". Vanity Fair. May 24, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Remembering the lives lost in Uvalde". Houston Chronicle. May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  18. ↑ Silva, Daniella (26 May 2022). "Grieving husband of teacher killed in Texas school shooting has died, family says". NBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  19. ↑ Medina, Eduardo (26 May 2022). "The husband of a teacher killed in the massacre has died of a heart attack". NY Times. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  20. 1 2 Van Dyke, Stacie (May 24, 2022). "Lawmaker says Texas school shooter originally from North Dakota". KVLY-TV. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  21. 1 2 Klemko, Robert; Foster-Frau, Silvia; Boburg, Shawn (May 25, 2022). "Gunman was bullied as a child, grew increasingly violent, friends say". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  22. 1 2 Ballard, Moriah; Arnold, Robert; Diaz, Mario (May 24, 2022). "SUSPECT INFO: New details obtained about 18-year-old shooter who officials say killed 19 students, 2 adults at Texas elementary school". KPRC-TV. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  23. ↑ Cathey, Libby; Carlson, Adam; Garcia, Armando (May 24, 2022). "Biden addresses nation on 'horrific' Texas school shooting: 'We have to act'". ABC News. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  24. ↑ Kertscher, Tom (2021-03-15). "Support for universal background checks on gun buyers is near 90%". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on May 16, 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  25. ↑ "'Enough is enough': Texas shooting spurs pleas for gun control". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  26. ↑ Hooper, Kelly. "Trump will attend NRA convention in school shooting's wake". POLITICO. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
  27. ↑ O'Kane, Caitlin (May 24, 2022). "'Grief overwhelms the soul': Politicians and celebrities react to Texas elementary school mass shooting". CBS News. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Trudeau: 'My heart breaks' for victims of shooting". CTVNews. May 24, 2022. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  29. ↑ "Pope 'Heartbroken' by Texas School Shooting, Calls for Gun Control". VOA News. 25 May 2022. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  30. ↑ Levenson, Eric; Yan, Holly; Sutton, Joe (26 May 2022). "Uvalde mass shooter was not confronted by police before he entered the school, Texas official says". CNN. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  31. ↑ Fechter, Joshua (26 May 2022). "Authorities took an hour to stop Uvalde gunman, raising questions about law enforcement response". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 27 May 2022.