The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-26)

teachers dead was the fourth

mass shooting in Te xas with 10 or

more fatalities since 2017. Yet as

Abbott sought to reassure the

public Wednesday that his ad-

ministration is doing all it can to

respond to the crisis, he sought to

deflect blame for not doing

enough to keep students safe.

The 40-point plan, parts of

which were approved by the state

legislature in 2019, was not

broadly implemented, according

to analysts and lawmakers. A gun

rights groups hailed the state’s

recent laws to loosen gun restric-

tions, including a measure

passed last year authorizing resi-

dents to carry handguns without

licenses or training.

At a news conference Wednes-

day, Abbott sought to play down

the shooter’s relatively easy access

SEE GUN LAWS ON A

BY DAVID NAKAMURA

AND KARIN BRULLIARD

Amid a spate of mass shoot-

ings in recent years, Te xas Gov.

Greg Abbott (R) responded by

focusing on promoting mental

health services and convening a

task force that produced a 40-

point plan centered on “harden-

ing” school campuses and identi-

fying threats.

But in the wake of the worst

school attack in state history,

Abbott is facing mounting criti-

cism that his administration’s

response has been inadequate

and failed to deal with the most

urgent problem: easy access to

guns, including powerful assault

rifles.

The massacre at Robb Elemen-

tary School in Uvalde on Tuesday

that left 19 students and two

After latest attack in Texas, Abbott

defends record on guns and safety

ABCDE

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Private messages held shooter’s plan

JOSHUA LOTT/THE WASHINGTON POST

Aida Hernandez, l eft, a retired teacher, hugs an unidentified Robb Elementary School teacher during a prayer service at Sacred Heart

Catholic Church in Uvalde, Tex., on Wednesday, a day after a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary.

BY ARELIS R. HERNÁNDEZ,

TIM CRAIG

AND MARK BERMAN

uvalde, tex. — The gunman

who opened fire at an elementary

school here shared his intentions

to carry out an attack in private

social media messages shortly be-

fore slaughtering at least 19 chil-

dren and two adults, officials said

Wednesday.

Speaking a day after the gun-

man attacked Robb Elementary

School in Uvalde, Te x., authorities

laid out a bleak account of the

carnage that had devastated this

community. They said the gun-

man, wielding rifles he had pur-

chased only days earlier, shot his

grandmother in the face before

storming the school, where he

massacred small children — all of

them, the officials said, inside a

single classroom.

“Evil swept across Uvalde yes-

terday,” Te xas Gov. Greg Abbott

(R) said at a news briefing on

Wednesday.

This latest shooting rampage

sent shock waves of horror and

grief throughout Uvalde and

across the country, as families

were left mourning young lives

SEE UVALDE ON A

BY ARELIS R. HERNÁNDEZ,

HANNAH ALLAM,

RAZZAN NAKHLAWI

AND JOANNA SLATER

uvalde, tex. — The gray Ford
pickup truck veered into a ditch
with such force that people who
live on the block assumed it was
an accident and rushed over to
help the driver.
Instead, according to witness
and police accounts, Salvador
Rolando Ramos emerged wear-
ing tactical gear and carrying an
AR-15-style rifle he bought this
month just after his 18th birth-
day. Bystanders scattered as Ra-
mos hopped a fence, exchanged
gunfire with a school police offi-
cer and entered through a side
door to Robb Elementary. Inside,
he embarked on a deadly ram-
page that brought the national
scourge of school shootings to a
fourth-grade classroom in this
southern Te xas town.
“That’s where the carnage be-
gan,” Steven McCraw, director of
the Te xas Department of Public
Safety, said at a news conference
Wednesday.
Authorities say the attack was
part of a grisly checklist Ramos
SEE SHOOTING ON A

Uvalde weeps

as officials lay

out details of

massacre

A grisly

checklist, then

a sickening

rampage

school in Uvalde.

Faith realized something was

amiss, but she was not too con-

cerned. Local schools in and

around Uvalde frequently have to

lock down, she said, because

people arrested for crossing the

border often try to outrun police

or flee after being detained. Bail-

outs, Faith said, are common in

the area but rarely has she seen

them result in anything serious

or fatal to bystanders.

Still, Faith called her mother,

who was in a lockdown at her

school. But Veronica also thought

this was yet another bailout and

was not too worried.

But then Faith’s cousin texted

her back and said there was a

shooter near Robb Elementary.

So Faith made another call to her

mother, who by now had heard

SEE TESS ON A

BY IAN SHAPIRA

Faith Mata, 21, was getting
dressed and ready for work at her
apartment in San Marcos, Te x.,
where she is a rising senior at
Te xas State University, when she
received a text from a cousin in
her hometown of Uvalde. Her
cousin works at the Uvalde Police
Department. The cousin wanted
to know: What school did her
sister Tess go to?
“Hurry,” the message read,
i mploring Faith to respond.
Faith replied that Te ss Mata —
a 10-year-old fourth-grader who
loved TikTok dance videos, Ari-
ana Grande, the Houston Astros
and getting her hair curled —
attended Robb Elementary. Her
cousin told her to call her moth-
er, Veronica Mata, a kindergarten
teacher at another elementary

They hoped Tess was hiding.

Instead, she was gone.

BY KIMBERLY KINDY

AND LAURA REILEY

When a whistleblower sent a
34-page report to the Food and
Drug Administration in October
alleging a host of unsanitary con-
ditions at a n Abbott infant formu-
la factory, the top official in
charge of food safety didn’t see it.
In fact, Frank Yiannas, the
FDA’s deputy commissioner for
food policy and response, didn’t
learn about the complaint until
four months later, according to
Yiannas and others knowledge-
able about the case.

By that time, one infant had

already died and two others were

hospitalized after consuming for-

mula from the plant — all while

other top FDA officials less-

versed in food safety had elected

not to send new inspectors to the

plant in Sturgis, Mich. As another

infant death was linked to Ab-

bott-produced formula, the plant

closed down and a recall was

issued, sparking a critical nation-

al shortage of baby formula.

“It wasn’t sent to me, and it

wasn’t shared with me internally.

How does this happen?” Yiannas,

who previously ran the food safe-

ty program for Walmart, the na-

tion’s largest grocer, told The

Washington Post. “There were

early signals, and in any safety

profession you want to take those

SEE FDA ON A

Red flag on baby formula idled at FDA

Whistleblower report on

Abbott plant didn’t reach

top food safety official

BY AMY GARDNER

peachtree corners, ga. —

Last spring, Georgia Secretary of

State Brad Raffensperger was

ready to launch his 2022 reelec-

tion campaign. He wanted to

start by meeting with every

county Republican committee in

the state.

No one would have him.

Raffensperger had lost favor

with a broad swath of Georgia

Republicans after refusing for-

mer president Donald Trump’s

demands that he reverse Joe

Biden’s 2020 win. An internal

GOP poll showed that he could

lose by as many as 40 points in a

party primary.

On Tuesday, Raffensperger de-

feated his Trump-backed oppo-

nent, U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, by

nearly 19 points. He did it by

closing the gap among Republi-

can voters, attracting Democrats

who had celebrated his decision

to uphold the law and, with 52

percent of the vote in a four-

c andidate field, avoiding t he run-

off that even his allies were

predicting just days ago.

Raffensperger, 67, won in part

by courting Trump’s base with

promises of stricter election se-

curity. But he also won by not

trying to hide from his role in

2020: A plain-spoken structural

engineer, he repudiated Trump’s

SEE RAFFENSPERGER ON A

Ga.’s Ra≠ensperger defies the odds

Elections official didn’t

cave to Trump, and

voters rewarded him

In the Senate: Pessimism

abounds over gun legislation. A1 0

GOP: Some push for arming

teachers, “hardening” schools. A

Reassurance: Schools in D.C. area

ramp up security presence. B

Philip Kennicott: The time is now

for a memorial for gun victims. C

China’s covid code Constant coronavirus

testing to beat the pandemic results in a

struggle to keep a “green” status. A

‘The only option’ U.S. envoy to Iran insists on

using diplomacy to revive nuclear deal in first

public hearing since March. A

LOCAL LIVING

Nuts and bolts

The 15 tools every

homeowner should have,

for any and all repairs.

STYLE

Feeding the beast

Musical artists hit back

at labels’ demands for

content. C

In the News

THE NATION

President Biden

signed an executive

o rder that will attempt

to bolster police ac-

countability, but it falls

well short of legislation

that the White House

sought. A

The EPA’s proposed

protections for a major

salmon fishery is a

p otentially fatal blow for

a mining plan. A

Vaccines may not

prevent symptoms of

long covid, with little

difference six months

after infection between

the vaccinated and

u nvaccinated, a study

found. A

THE WORLD

To diplomatic observ-

ers, the war in Ukraine

highlights flaws in the

U.N. system. A

North Korea tested a

suspected interconti-

nental ballistic missile

hours after President

Biden concluded his trip

to Asia. A

A mosque in Hindu-

ism’s holiest city is the

latest flash point in a

struggle between India’s

Hindu nationalists and

the country’s Muslim

minority. A

THE ECONOMY

The federal retirement

program will open a

long-planned “ window”

on June 1 that will pro-

vide access to some

5,000 mutual funds. A

High inflation is

e xpected to persist into

next year, the Congres-

sional Budget Office

projected. A

THE REGION

Police in the D.C.

r egion said they have

a lready implemented

many of the reforms

u nveiled Wednesday by

the president. B

The District’s Whittle

School, a private start-

up that opened with

global ambitions, is

struggling financially

and with ebbing

e nrollment. B

An MS-13 leader testi-

fied at the trial of five

Northern Virginia gang

members charged with

murder and kidnapping

in the killings of two

teens. B

The population of blue

crabs in the Chesapeake

Bay is at a record low,

according to the annual

count. B

A Maryland man who

attacked police officers

during the Jan. 6 insur-

rection at the Capitol

has been sentenced to

33 months in prison. B

The company that

owns subleasing rights

at Washington’s Union

Station is challenging

Amtrak’s bid to take

over the property via

eminent domain. B

Inside

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

BUSINESS NEWS........................A

COMICS.......................................C

OPINION PAGES.........................A

LOTTERIES...................................B

OBITUARIES................................B

TELEVISION.................................C

WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT © 202 2

The Washington Post / Year 145, No. 172

1

COURTESY OF THE MATA FAMILY

Tess Mata at home in Uvalde, Tex., with her mother, Veronica, and

big sister Faith before attending a family wedding late last month.

House hearing: Lawmakers blast

FDA and Abbott over shortage. A

Rematch: Abrams and Kemp face

off again in a different climate. A