Nineteen children and two adults were killed on 5/24/22 in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas Transcript

Eric Yutzy: (00:00)
We begin this morning with that tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. A gunman opening fire at an elementary school, killing at least 19 children and two adults. We have live team coverage this morning. Local 10, Saira Anwar, standing by.

Eric Yutzy: (00:12)
She’s in Parkland with reaction from parents who certainly understand the pain being felt right now in Texas. And Gio Insignares is in the newsroom this morning with the political fallout from another school shooting tragedy.

Eric Yutzy: (00:23)
We begin this morning with exactly how all this happened. The families in this Texas town waiting for hours for news about their children. Those details were slow to come. And now, grief counselors are being called in for support, as investigators are calling this, “The deadliest school shooting in Texas history.”

Eric Yutzy: (00:38)
Families gathered overnight at Uvalde, Texas Civic Center, waiting and hoping to hear their children are safe. DNA now being used to identify those who did not survive the elementary school mass shooting.

Speaker 2: (00:48)
How long will you wait?

Adolfo Cruz: (00:50)
I’m going to wait all I can. I’m concerned.

Eric Yutzy: (00:56)
Hours after morning drop off at Robb Elementary on Tuesday, the alerts began, advising of an active shooter on campus.

Jordan Liges: (01:02)
We just hear all kinds of gunshots going off nonstop, constantly gunshots. And then we’re over here scared, on the ground fearing for our lives.

Eric Yutzy: (01:12)
Close to 11:30 AM local time, authorities say the shooting suspect, 18 year-old Salvador Ramos, made his way inside that school wearing body armor and carrying at least one AR-15 style rifle.

Eric Yutzy: (01:23)
Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, said, “It appears responding officers later shot and killed Ramos. As local and federal law enforcement look deeper into the investigation and Ramos, families are coming forward about their lost loved ones.

Eric Yutzy: (01:35)
The family of 10 year-old Xavier Lopez, say his mother was with him at the school award ceremony hours before the shooting. And another fourth grader, named Emery, just turned 10 two weeks ago. Her birthday was May 10th. Her father telling ABC News in a statement, “Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family, and tell them you love them.”

Eric Yutzy: (01:54)
Across the country, President Biden ordering American flags to fly at half staff in honor of the victims. From The White House, he and first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, joined the Uvalde families in mourning, while calling for common sense gun laws.

President Joe Biden: (02:07)
It’s time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, “It’s time to act.”

Eric Yutzy: (02:20)
Federal authorities now picking apart Ramos’s social media accounts. We’re told on the Instagram page linked to him, painted a picture of a troubled young man with access to an arsenal of weapons. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, said it has taken down the account and is cooperating with investigators.

Jacey Birch: (02:34)
The tragedy is hitting home for Parkland parents who know exactly what those parents in Texas are going through.

Eric Yutzy: (02:39)
Our team coverage continues this morning with Local 10, Saira Anwar. She is live in Parkland with how they’re weighing in on this shooting. Saira.

Saira Anwar: (02:47)
Jacey and Eric, such a painful reminder of what happened here in Parkland in 2018. We spoke to Parkland families. They took that time speaking with us to highlight the safety measures that have been put in place since then, partially thanks to the efforts they put in.

The pain felt in Texas, all too familiar in South Florida.

Lori Alhadeff: (03:08)
I know that pain because my daughter, Alyssa, was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Fred Guttenberg: (03:14)
Sadly, it brings us right back to the day that Gina was murdered at her high school.

Speaker 9: (03:18)
I can’t believe there’s going to be 18 families planning funerals, along with all the other collateral damage. Did they have other kids in the school who experienced this? I mean, why do we let this happen? This isn’t normal.

But changes have been made to school safety in Florida. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Public Safety Act, requires an officer inside every school and creates new requirements for mental health assessments.

Ryan Petty: (03:48)
There’s reason to be optimistic in Florida, but that does not mean we should stop being vigilant.

Lori Alhadeff: (03:54)
As a school board member, my priority is to make sure that schools are safe.

Tony Montalto: (04:00)
Schools are definitely safer now than they were in 2018. Here in Florida, we’ve passed a school safety bill each session for the last five years. That’s impressive.

Speaker 13: (04:09)
Hey, we’re getting a couple of guys going to that scene.

Also, in the wake of Parkland, a new specialized Miami-Dade police unit called The Priority Response Team. Local 10 rode along with them in 2019. Miami-Dade schools police also at the ready. Telling Local 10, “Our law enforcement personnel are trained to mitigate all types of critical incidents in our schools.”

Now, last night here in Broward County, the Broward Sheriff’s Office did assign extra patrols to schools within their district. And the school superintendents of both Broward Counties and Miami-Dade counties did put out statements regarding the shooting in Texas.

You can read those statements by heading to our website at Local10.com. Reporting live in Parkland this morning, Saira Anwar, Local 10 News.

Eric Yutzy: (04:55)
And our team coverage now turns to the political fallout from this national tragedy.

Jacey Birch: (04:59)
Lawmakers demanding action, but several new potential gun laws are stalled out on Capitol Hill. We have Geo Insignares in the newsroom with what’s now being discussed.

Geo Insignares: (05:09)
Jacey, Eric, the shooting at this Texas elementary school, the latest in a long history of gun violence here in the United States. Before it happened, there had already been at least 39 shootings in kindergarten through 12th grade schools, colleges, and universities so far this year. The gunfire resulting in at least 10 deaths and 51 injuries.

Right now, several proposals to overhaul gun laws stalled in Washington. They include a ban on assault style weapons or high capacity magazines, and closing the loopholes that allow some licensed gun sales to go through before a required background check is complete. Both face steep odds at the federal level, but there are some areas of bipartisan support.

Speaker 15: (05:47)
We are seeing way too many of these.

Speaker 16: (05:50)
We have another Sandy Hook on our hands. What are we doing?

Vice President Kamala Harris: (05:55)
I would normally say in a moment like this, we would all say naturally that our hearts break. But our hearts keep getting broken.

The violence in Uvalde, coming less than two weeks after 10 people were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The FBI are reporting 212 mass shootings in the U.S. in the first 144 days of this year.

Now, over the past 10 years, Congress has tried and failed to pass gun control legislation. The house recently managed to pass bills that would expand the review period for gun buyers and require background checks for sales at gun shows. But those efforts are expected to be blocked by the Senate. For now, in the newsroom, I’m Geo Insignares, Local 10 News.

Eric Yutzy: (06:34)
We will have continuing coverage on the Uvalde school massacre. Local 10s Bridgette Matter is traveling to Texas. Look for her live reports later on today.

Nineteen children and two adults were killed on 5/24/22 in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas Transcript

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