The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-25)

A6 EZ M2 THEWASHINGTONPOST.WEDNESDAY,MAY 25 , 2022

Department of HomelandSecu-
rity. OneU.S.BorderPatrolagent
was wounded.
Thegunmanwas identified by
Texas Gov. GregAbbott(R) as
SalvadorRamos, 18, aresident of
Uvalde.
An emotional PresidentBiden,
speakingto the nationTuesday
night fromthe White House,
urged lawmakers to pursue
tougherrestrictionsonguns. For
years, Bidenhas beenat the
forefrontof efforts to passsuch
restrictions, which have been
blocked by Republicans and
someDemocrats.
“Why are we willing to live
with this carnage?”heasked.
“Why do we keep letting this
happen? Wherein God’sname is
our backbone?”
Bidennoted thatmassshoot-
ingshave becomealmostcom-
monplacein the UnitedStates,
unlikeinothercountries. "It’s
timeto turnthis painintoac-
tion,”Bidenimplored.He con-
cluded his remarkswithaprayer
for the parentsof the victims.
Tuesday’stragedy carried
echoesof the devastating 2012
shooting at an elementaryschool
in Newtown, Conn., that left 26
victimsdead,mostofthemfirst-
graders.In 2018, 17 studentsand
staffwere killed at ahigh school
in Parkland, Fla.
TherampageinTexas cameas
the nationwas still reeling froma
massshooting earlier this month
in Buffalo,where agunman
killed 10 peoplein aracistattack
at agrocerystore.
In thefirsthours after the
school shooting in Texas,law
enforcement officialswere still
tryingtodeterminewhatthe
gunman's motive might have
been,according to people famil-
iar withthe casewhospokeon
the conditionofanonymityto
describethe earlystages of the
investigation.
Thepersonidentified as the
gunmanjustturned18, anddid
not have acriminalrecord,al-
though it is possiblethatifthere
werejuvenile arrests, those
wouldhave beenexpungedand
not immediately located,the peo-
ple said.
Thegunmanbought his weap-
ons immediately after his 18th
birthday, which was May16,
accordingto apersonbriefed on
the investigation’s early findings.
Witnessesdescribedasceneof
terror at Robb Elementary
School, hometo students in the
second, third and fourth grades.
Videosharedon social media
showed aperson cladin black
joggingtoward asidedoor of the
schoolcarrying whatappearedto
be arifle.
DerekSotelo, 26,who runsa
family-ownedautorepairshop,
said thatheand aco-worker were
heading to lunch Tuesdaywhen
theyheardaboutsix gunshots
coming fromthe school. As they
rounded the corner,theysaw
several womenwho workata
nearby funeral home,screaming,
“He’sshooting! He’sshooting!”
Thewomen said the gunman
had driven his gray Ford truck
intoaditch outsidethe school,
Sotelo said,and whentheyap-
proachedhim,thinking he need-
ed assistance,he shotat them.
Sotelo said thegunmanbarricad-
ed himselfinthe school for a
terrible45 minutes as anxious
parents gathered outside,a
crowdthatgrewtomore than
300 people.
Inside, Tamica Martinez’s10-
year-oldson heardgunfire from
the fourth-grade classroomnext
door.Her son sawtwo children
shot,Martinez said,and escaped
the schoolbycrawling out a
window.
She rushedto the schoolwhen
she heardaboutthe shootingbut
did not find outhewas safe until
twohourslater,whenshe re-
ceived atextfromher son’s
teacher.Her son madeit out with
onlyminorscrapeson his arm
fromthe window.“It couldhave
been my son whogot shot,”
Martinez said.
Sotelo said he sawseveral
teachersand childrenwhohad
beentrappedinsideduringthe
ordeallater exit theschool,in-
cluding alittle girlinapink and
whiteT-shirtcoveredin blood,
sobbingand injured.
“Wesaw alittle girl full of
bloodand theparents were
screaming,itwas an ugly scene,”
Sotelo said.“Theywere justlittle
kids.”
MarcelaCabralez’s 9-year-old
granddaughter was eating her
lunchwithotherthird-graders
when she heardnoise coming
from outside,including shots
andbreakingglass. Teachers
herded the children behind a
curtain, wheretheyall hid, trying
desperately not to makeany
noise.Cabralez’sgrandsonhid in
abathroom.
Cabralez,alocalpastor,re-
ceivedacall fromacolleague
whorunsthe funeral homenear
the school, asking for her help

SHOOTINGFROMA

withthe children who had taken

shelter there. Inside,Cabralez

found traumatized students.

Somewererocking themselves,

holding each other,covering

theirears or screaming.Some

stared blankly ahead. Oneby

one,the children toldCabralez

whattheyhad seen: bullets flying

through the windows, glass

breakingall aroundthem,class-

mates bleeding.

Cabralez said she sponta-

neouslybeganto pray.“Itriedto

letthemknowtheywere safe,"

she said.

Studentsweretaken to acivic

centeraboutamile from the

school.Forsomeparents, it was

wheretheywere reunitedwith

theirchildren after an agonizing

wait.For others,it was the place

wheretheyfacedan irreversible

loss.

Erika Escamilla, 26, was

amongthe luckyones. She said

thatwaitingfor news abouther

nieceand twonephews who

attendthe elementaryschoolwas

torture, but shelearned they

weresafe withinafewhours.Her

10-year-oldniecetold Escamilla

thatthe shootinghappenedin

the classroom next doorjustafter

students camein from recess.

Hearinggunshots, her niece’s

teacherpushedher students into

the classroom,told thechildren

to getdown,turnedoff the air

conditionerandthe lightsand

started to cover the windows

withpaper.

Escamillasaidher niecesaw

bloodeverywhereasshe was

evacuated fromthe school.“She’s

traumatized,”Escamilla said.

“Shesaidshe felt likeshe was

having aheartattack.”

City officials in Uvalde, a

small, predominantly Latino

community of 15,000people at

the junctureof twostate high-

ways, struggledto comprehend

the horrorof whathad occurred.

“All Iknowis we have atragedy

right now,”said Uvalde City

CouncilmemberEverardoZamo-

ra,who represents the district

thatincludesRobb Elementary.

Hisniecesand nephews are stu-

dentsatRobb,which he de-

scribedas “justaregularschool.

...There’s no words to explain

whathappened.”

Ramos, the alleged gunman,

had attendedUvalde High

School, said SantosValdez Jr., 18,

who has known Ramos since

childhood. Ramoslivedwithhis

motherand sometimes his

grandmother,who was ateacher

at adifferentlocal elementary

school,Valdez said.

Thetwo werefriends,Valdez

said,until Ramos’sbehavior be-

gan to changeindisturbing ways.

Once,Ramospulledup to apark

wheretheyoften played basket-

ball withcuts all overhis face.He

said he’d gotten intoafight.

“Thenhe toldme thetruth,

thathe’dcut up hisface with

knivesoverand overand over,”

Valdezsaid.“Iwas like, ‘You’re

crazy,bro,why wouldyoudo

that?” Ramos’s response: He said

he did it for fun, Valdez recalled.

Ramosegged people’scars,

Valdez said,and started wearing

blackclothes,leatherand mili-

tary-style boots. Aboutayear

ago, Ramosposted photos on

socialmediaof automatic rifles

that“he wouldhaveonhis wish

list,”Valdezsaid.Four days ago,

he posted aphoto of tworifles he

said he owned.

Valdez said his lastinteraction

withRamoswas abouttwohours

beforethe shooting,when they

messaged eachotheron Insta-

gram. Valdez had reshared a

memethatsaid “WHY TF IS

SCHOOL STILLOPEN”Accord-

ing to ascreenshot of theirex-

change,Ramosresponded:

“Facts” and “That’sgood tho

right?”

StephenGarcia, 18, described

Ramosashavingbeen his best

frienduntilafew yearsago. “He

juststarted being adifferent

person,”said Garcia—also not-

ing Ramos’swardrobechanges

and thathehad cutoff contact

withGarcia.

Garciawas in algebraclass

Tuesdaywhenaslewoftexts

started hittinghis phonewith

the news of whathad happened

in Uvalde.Whenhesaw Ramos

identified as the gunman, he

didn’tbelieveitatfirst.“I

couldn’t even think, Icouldn’t

even talk to anyone. Ijustwalked

out of class,really upset, you

know,bawling my eyes out,”he

said.“Because Inever expected

him to hurtpeople.”

Tuesday’smassacre was one at

least24actsofgun violence

committed on K-12 campuses

during regular hours in 2022,

accordingto aWashington Post

database. Those shootingshave

left at least28peopledead—

making this yearalready the

third-worstsince 1999.

Thespate of incidentsfollows

adeadlytrendthatbeganim-

mediately after schoolsreturned

to in-personlearninglastyear

after closures prompted by the

pandemic. In 2021,therewere 42

acts of campusgunviolence,a

tallythatsmashed theprevious

recorddespite mostschoolsre-

mainingclosed for the firsttwo

months of the year.

In total,more than 311,00 0

students have now beenexposed

to gun violence on theircampus-

es since the 1999 Columbine

High School shooting in Colora-

do.

It’s impossible to knowwith

certaintywhathas driventhe

surgeoverthe past 15 months,

though researchers have specu-

lated thataspikeingun sales,

soaring rates of overall violence,

the pandemic and the chaosof

the pastyear all played some

role.

Theshootingcameaday after

the FBI released areportsaying

thatthe number of active-shoot-

er attacksnationwidehad risen

sharplylastyear,doublingthe

numberseenjusttwo yearsearli-

er.

In its report, the FBI defined

an active shooter attack as one in

whichapersonor peopletriedto

kill othersin apopulated area.

TheFBI did not includecasesit

said weredue to factors suchas

gangviolenceor“contained resi-

dential or domestic disputes.”

There were61 active shooter

attackslastyear,including ram-

pages thatkilled10peopleat a

Boulder,Colo., grocerystore,

eight peopleat threeAtlanta-ar-

ea spasand four dead at an

Oxford,Mich., school.

Thenumber was up from 40

the yearbefore and doublethe 30

suchincidentsseenin both 2018

and 2019, the twoyearsbefore

the pandemic. Most of these

attackswere not masskillings,

whichis federally defined as one

withat leastthree victims.

EvaRuth Moravec, Meryl Kornfield,

MarkBerman,Annie Gowen, Karin

Brulliard, JohnWoodrow Cox, Alice

Crites, Ashley Parker,Tyler Pager,

MattViser,Steven Rich, Hannah

Thacker andLinda Chong

contributed to this report.

In latest American horror, Texas gunman kills 19 children

50 MILES

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Uvalde

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U.S.

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Texas

HANNAHDORMIDO/ THE WASHINGTONPOST

SERGIOFLORESFOR THE WASHINGTONPOST

MARCOBELLO/REUTERS

TOP:Community membersgatherinside aUvalde, Tex.,churchfor prayer afterTuesday’s shooting.

ABOVE:Apolice vehicle is seen parkednear atruckthought tohavebeendriven by theshooter.

MARCOBELLO/REUTERS

Peoplegatheroutside aciviccenterinUvalde,wherestudents from RobbElementarySchool went

afterTuesday’sshooting.Someparents reunitedwiththeir children. Othersfacedan irreversibleloss.

“Wesawalittlegirlfull

ofblood,andthe

parentswere

screaming,it was an

ugly scene. Theywere

just little kids.”

DerekSotelo,auto repairshop

employeewho said he heard

gunshotsfrom the school