Although authorities haven’t publicly identified any of the victims, Lydia Martinez Delgado said her niece was killed.
Delgado also gave a statement to CNN affiliate KSAT.
“I’m furious that these shooting continue, these children are innocent, rifles should not be easily available to all. This is … my hometown a small community of less than 20,000,” she told KSAT. “I never imagined this would happen to especially to loved ones. … All we can do is pray hard for our country, state, schools and especially the families of all.”
According to Mireles’ profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website, she had been an educator for 17 years.
In her off time, she enjoyed running, hiking, biking, and spending time with her family, according to the website.
7:22 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022
Scenes of anguish as families asked to give DNA samples to match with victims of the school shooting
From CNN's Nicole Chavez in Uvalde
SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center (Nicole Chavez/CNN)
Less than two miles away from Robb Elementary School, where at least 19 children and two adults were killed by a mass shooter on Tuesday, the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center has become the epicenter for families looking for their children.
For more than 12 hours, families gathered in silence outside the center — which was serving as a polling place for the runoff election on Tuesday —waiting for updates.
At least four families told CNN that parents had been asked for DNA swabs to confirm their relationship with their children and instructed to wait for an hour for an answer.
A father, who had just received the news that his child was dead, fought back tears as several of his cousins embraced him.
A few yards away, a grandmother who had driven from San Antonio said she would not stop praying for her 10-year-old granddaughter as they waited for the results of the DNA swabs.
Inside the civic center, city workers were handing out pizza, snacks and water to families. Some parents waited in silence or were sobbing quietly as a group of children sat on the floor playing with teddy bears. Later, a group of local pastors and chaplains arrived to offer their support to the families.
Zinna Aguilera, a 61-year-old bookkeeper who lives in front of the elementary school, said she first learned about the shooting when a friend called her, asking if her granddaughter stayed home on Tuesday.
“It’s sad. You would have never imagined that this was going to happen in Uvalde, Texas. I’ve lived here 32 years, I went to this school, my sisters, my brothers, my grandkids, my daughters, everybody. If you lived in this area, you went to this school,” Aguilera says.
People in this largely Hispanic neighborhood sat outside their homes after the shooting, some with their families while others gathered with neighbors.
"We’ve been in this neighborhood forever, We have cousins, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews who live in the same streets or within a couple of blocks,” Aguilera said.
Across the street from the school, Adolfo Cruz waited for word about his 10-year-old granddaughter.
Adolfo Cruz (Nicole Chavez/CNN)
The 69-year-old air conditioning contractor answered calls from worried family members and friends while watching local and state law enforcement officers walk inside the school building.
Cruz, a cancer survivor, said he couldn’t lose hope but questioned how no school resource officers were able to stop the shooter from walking into the campus.
“Where were they (officers)? How did he get across the school fence?” Cruz said.
Adela and Paul Martinez (Nicole Chavez/CNN)
Adela Martinez and her husband Paul Martinez, a former city council member and former furniture store owner, spoke about the grief spreading across this town of 16,000 people.
“We are like a big family here. You can expect something like this (shooting) in big cities like New York, but in Uvalde? If this happened here, now I believe it can happen anywhere,” Adela Martinez said.
2:48 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022
Analysis: Gun legislation is stalled in Congress. Here's why that won't change anytime soon
The shooting is the latest entry in the long history of gun violence in the United States. Before Tuesday, there had been at least 39 shootings in K-12 schools, colleges and universities in 2022, resulting in at least 10 deaths and 51 injuries.
While proposals to overhaul gun laws -- such a ban on assault-style weapons or high-capacity magazines -- face steep odds at the federal level, there are some areas of bipartisan agreement. Whether that's enough to break congressional gridlock is yet to be seen.
Golden State Warriors' Damion Lee: "It's easier to get a gun than baby formula right now"
From CNN's Travis Caldwell
Following Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on Tuesday, Golden State Warriors guard/forward Damion Lee said of the Uvalde school mass shooting: “It’s sad the world that we live in.”
“Guns shouldn't be as easily accessible. Like it's easier to get a gun than baby formula right now. That's unbelievable in this country that we live in,” Lee said to reporters.
Noting there have been more mass shootings in 2022 than the number of days, Lee added, “We need to be better than that. It's supposed to be, you know, the greatest country in the world, and it's just ridiculous. This is senseless, losing our lives.”
The game, in which the Mavericks defeated the Warriors 119-109, was played in Dallas. Game 5 will be played Thursday night in San Francisco.
Some context: Prior to Tuesday’s game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters "basketball questions don't matter" right now, referencing the mass shooting, adding, "When are we going to do something?"
A fiery Kerr called out "50 senators who refuse to vote on HR-8," a House bill that strengthens firearm background checks, claiming, "They won't vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power."
"50 senators in Washington are going to hold us hostage," Kerr said. "It's pathetic, I've had enough."
Golden State's Steph Curry said at a postgame press conference he appreciated Kerr's leadership and comments, and that the shooting "was on everybody's mind coming into the game."
"I can't even imagine the pain for Coach to say what he said, and every word he said was powerful, was meaningful," Curry said.
CNN's Jill Martin contributed reporting to this post.
1:36 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022
Analysis: Media coverage of Texas school massacre invokes Sandy Hook
Analysis from CNN's Oliver Darcy
"Mass shootings have become America's copy and paste tragedy," Politico's Tyler Weyant wrote Tuesday evening. "We change the place, the town, the number of dead and injured. But the constant is lives lost, people who cannot be brought back, and the nation is left in a numb daze."
At least, until, it happens again. In this case, it only took 10 days from the last slaughter for another spasm of senseless violence and terror to force the nation to go through the motions once again.
It's all so predictable and formulaic at this point. First come the initial reports of a shooting, then details about fatalities and injuries, then details about the shooter and motive, and finally the tributes to the dead. All the while, there are widespread calls for the US to take some -- any -- action to stop these regular massacres from occurring while Fox personalities and GOP leaders insist the shooting shouldn't be "politicized."
"Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us," the 52-year-old actor said in a statement.
"The true call to action now is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, 'What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state, and neighborhood tomorrow?' We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo," he said on Instagram.
McConaughey called on all Americans to "renegotiate our wants from our needs," adding that "we have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue."
"This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured. "To those who dropped their loved ones off to school not knowing that today was goodbye, no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort, we will keep them coming."
Some background: The star of movies such as "Dallas Buyers Club" and "The Lincoln Lawyer" has maintained a close relationship with his home state -- and last year weighed a run for governor.
"As a simple kid born in the little town of Uvalde, Texas, it never occurred to me that I would one day be considered for political leadership. It is a humbling and inspiring path to ponder. It is also a path that I'm choosing not to take at this moment," he said.
12:47 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022
Archbishop of San Antonio: Mass shootings cannot be considered "the new normal"
From CNN's Paradise Afshar
The Archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo Garcia Seller, comforts families outside of the Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24. (Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)
In response to the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Antonio called on elected officials to work with citizens toward preventing such attacks in the future.
“When will these insane acts of violence end; it is too great a burden to bear. The word tragedy doesn’t begin to describe what occurred. These massacres cannot be considered ‘the new normal,’" Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, said in a statement. “The Catholic Church consistently calls for the protection of all life; and these mass shootings are a most pressing life issue on which all in society must act — elected leaders and citizens alike. “We pray that God comfort and offer compassion to the families of these little ones whose pain is unbearable. They must know that we are with them and for them. May the Lord have mercy on us all.”
12:14 a.m. ET, May 25, 2022
Here's what we know about the deadliest US elementary school shooting since Sandy Hook
Members of the community gather at the City of Uvalde Town Square for a prayer vigil on Tuesday, May 24, in Uvalde, Texas. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images)
At least 19 students and 2 adults were killed Tuesday in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, roughly 80 miles west of San Antonio, authorities said.
The gunman, identified by officials as Salvador Ramos, is dead and is believed to have acted alone. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the 18-year-old suspect had attended Uvalde High School.
The shooting was the deadliest at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.
Here are the latest developments:
Suspect shot grandmother before going to the school: Ramos is believed to have shot his grandmother before heading to the elementary school, three law enforcement sources tell CNN. The grandmother is hospitalized in critical condition, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Erick Estrada said.
Gunman wore body armor, crashed his vehicle before the attack: The suspect crashed his vehicle in a ditch near the school before attempting to enter the premises, Estrada told CNN. Law enforcement engaged the suspect but he was able to get inside, where he "entered several classrooms and started shooting his firearm," Estrada said.
Responding officers faced gunfire, DHS says: At least one Border Patrol agent was wounded by gunfire from the shooter who had barricaded himself inside, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. “Risking their own lives, these Border Patrol Agents and other officers put themselves between the shooter and children on the scene to draw the shooter’s attention away from potential victims and save lives,” spokesperson Marsha Espinosa said.
Photo of guns posted on social media: A photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account linked to the gunman just three days before Tuesday's shooting. His TikTok page has only a single post of a mobile game, yet the bio under his profile picture reads: “Kids be scared irl” or in real life.
Rest of school year is canceled: Dr. Hal Harrell, superintendent of Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, said the rest of the school year, which was supposed to conclude on Thursday, has been canceled. The district will provide "grief counseling and support at the civic center for our students” on Wednesday morning, he said.
Biden calls for Americans ‘to turn this pain into action:’ President Joe Biden called on the US to turn its collective pain into political action following Tuesday’s shooting. “Where in God's name is our backbone, to have the courage to deal with and stand up to the lobbies? It’s time to turn this pain into action,” he said.
There have been more mass shootings than days in 2022: Tuesday, May 24, was the 144th day of the year. There have been at least 212 mass shootings in 2022, according to the nonprofit organization Gun Violence Archive. CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.
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.
