May 25 Texas shooting news

By Travis Caldwell, Seán Federico-O'Murchú, Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Melissa Macaya and Mike Hayes, CNN

Updated 7:04 p.m. ET, May 26, 2022

What we're covering

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, the Texas Department for Public Safety said.
The 18-year-old gunman was on the school premises for up to an hour before law enforcement forcibly entered a classroom and killed him, officials said.
Just before the mass shooting, the gunman allegedly texted a teenage girl about his intentions to attack and authorities say he shot his grandmother. The woman remains hospitalized.
President Biden said he will travel to Texas to visit the victims' families "in the coming days." He called on the US to turn its collective pain into political action following the deadliest elementary school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012.
See full coverage of the Texas school shooting here.

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12:00 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022

Former classmate says shooter sent him photos of gun and ammunition before the attack

From CNN's Curt Devine and Jeff Winter

A former classmate of school shooter Salvador Ramos said the gunman texted him photos of a firearm he had and a bag full of ammunition days before the attack.

The friend, who did not want to be identified by name, said he was somewhat “close” to Ramos and would hear from him occasionally to play Xbox together.

“He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using … and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags.” “I was like, ‘bro, why do you have this?’ and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” the friend said. “He proceeded to text me, ‘I look very different now. You wouldn’t recognize me,’” he added.

The friend said Ramos was taunted by others for the clothes he wore and his family’s financial situation, and eventually was seen less in class.

“He would, like, not go to school ... and he just, like, slowly dropped out,” the friend said. “He barely came to school.”

He said that after his own graduation, he communicated with Ramos less. But every few months, Ramos would send a text or ask to play Xbox, he said.

12:00 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022

Father of Parkland school shooting victim: "We know the next one is going to happen because we haven’t done anything to fix it"

From CNN's Amir Vera

Fred Guttenberg's daughter, Jaime, was one of 17 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

He spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday, just hours after 18 children and one adult were killed in Uvalde, Texas.

“This has been a horrific day. It doesn’t matter how much time passes, it brings you right back to that minute. I can’t stop thinking about these families today who need to figure out how they’re going to bury their children, who need to figure out how they’re going to console their other children, who need to figure out how they’re going to deal with the reality that they had other children likely in that school who are going to have PTSD, who need to figure out a eulogy,” Guttenberg said.

Guttenberg said news of another shooting is infuriating "because all of these instances we know the next one is going to happen because we haven’t done anything to fix it."

“I’m just so broken. What’s even worse, it’s not like this country doesn’t want to fix this,” he said.

When asked what message he'd give to families in Uvalde, Guttenberg quoted something his rabbi told him at his daughter's funeral: "We don't move on, we move forward."

“I want everyone to know that they are loved and that they are going to go forward. It's what I call a 'new normal,'" he said. "But the next few minutes, hours, days are going to be brutal."

12:10 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022

Instagram account linked to gunman posted images of weapons just days before school massacre

From CNN Investigates

A photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account tied to the suspected Uvalde shooter just three days before Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School.

The photo was posted as a story under the username “salv8dor_.” Multiple classmates confirmed the account belonged to suspected gunman Salvador Ramos, who was shot dead by officers responding to the school shooting.

Ramos’ TikTok page has only a single post – a clip of a Subway Surfers mobile game. The bio under his profile picture reads: “Kids be scared irl” or in real life.

12:11 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022

Biden: "When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?"

President Biden addressed the nation from the White House on Tuesday, opening his remarks by saying, "I had hoped, when I became President, I would not have to do this, again."

He called today's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, "another massacre" in the US.

"Beautiful, innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witness what happened, see their friends die, as if they're on a battlefield for God's sake," Biden said.

The President said, "To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away." He said the feeling is "suffocating."

The President called on the nation to pray for the victims and "stand up to the gun lobby" in the wake of today's events.

"So tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel now. As a nation, we have to ask when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?"

12:00 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022

Mexico providing consular assistance in wake of school shooting

From CNN's Priscilla Alvarez

The Mexican government is providing consular assistance in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, which is located roughly 50 miles from the US-Mexico border.

In a statement from Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Relations, the government "condemns this act of violence that has cost children's lives and devastated families in a predominantly Hispanic town."

"The Mexican consulate in Eagle Pass is in contact with the police in order to identify any Mexican victims,” the statement said.
“In addition, the consulate in Eagle Pass and the Consulate General of Mexico in San Antonio are in communication with the hospitals to which the injured were taken to learn if there are any Mexican citizens among them."

11:59 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Republican senator warns against curbing gun rights in wake of Texas school shooting

From CNN's Ted Barrett

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina warned Democrats against having a “reflexive reaction” in the wake of the Texas school shooting that left 15 people dead, by trying to pass laws that would impinge on Second Amendment rights, saying he is confident in the coming days it will be learned that there were “signs” the 18-year-old shooter was “at risk.”

“It's horrible. And you know what we need to avoid is the reflexive reaction we have to say this could all be solved by not having guns in anyone's hands. We can always talk about reasonable measures, but we also have to talk about better situational awareness," the North Carolina Republican told CNN.
"I'm almost certain that in the coming days or weeks, we're going to find out that there were signs that this person was at risk, and we need to have an equal or greater attention on prevention and that's a key part of it,”

Asked if there was a component of guns that could be part of the solution for the problem of mass shootings in the country, Tillis said “no.”

“What people immediately want to jump to are red flag laws. Virtually everyone that I've seen here has been one that sweep up law abiding gun owners into what I consider to be an overreach. So the question is can we can we actually get to policy that could make a difference, but not deny people their Second Amendment rights and give them due process?
"That's what we talk about every time something like this comes up and that hopefully will be the discussion if we have one versus what could potentially be the plot of people going into their political corners, which I've seen every time something tragic event like this has happened and the seven and a half years I've been here.”

11:58 p.m. ET, May 24, 2022

Sen. Manchin refuses to eliminate filibuster to pass gun legislation

From CNN's Jessica Dean

Sen. Joe Manchin said Tuesday he would do anything he could to move “common sense” gun legislation forward, but he refused to eliminate the filibuster to get gun legislation through the Senate.

"You would think there’d be enough common sense," Manchin said when asked directly if he was open to getting rid of the filibuster to pass gun reform laws.
"The filibuster is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity," he added.

When asked by CNN what his message to outraged and frightened parents and grandparents is, Manchin noted he’s a grandfather, adding:

“It makes no sense at all why we can’t do common sense, common sense things and try to prevent some of this from happening.”