Uvalde Elementary School Mass Shooting – A vigil for the deceased was held at a community arena in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday night as the town mourned the deaths of 19 pupils and two teachers at an elementary school.
Following two earlier mass shootings in a two-week span — at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a church in Laguna Woods, California — the mass shooting on Tuesday has sparked statewide and national discussions about gun regulation.
According to a top Customs and Border Protection official, more than 100 federal police reacted to the shooting, and the head of the Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector told CNN that the crime scene was unsettling. Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens said, “I took my agents back to the Uvalde sector, and I had to bring new uniforms for them to change them.” Owens said, “Why?” when asked why “He was drenched in blood. This person’s actions were heinous.”
Judge Lalo Diaz said that the bodies of nine victims will be handed to funeral homes on Wednesday, and the remaining 12 bodies will be released on Thursday. The shooter’s body is in another county’s morgue, according to Diaz.
Officials claimed Wednesday that the shooter stayed on the premises for up to an hour before police enforcement forcibly entered a classroom and killed him. Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district contains Uvalde, said that the gunman was engaged in a standoff with police and had barricaded himself for approximately a half-hour as the rest of the kids and faculty were evacuated.
The incident on Tuesday, which left 21 people dead and 17 others injured, was the bloodiest school shooting in over a decade and stunned a nation still reeling from a horrific shooting just 10 days prior.