Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference Wednesday to inform reporters about the events at Robb Elementary School, Uvalde. Two teachers and 19 children were killed in the attack. Border Patrol agents shot the gunman, aged 18, to his death. Shortly before the attack, he had killed his grandmother.
He provided additional details about the incident as well and addressed questions concerning the government’s plans to stop future atrocities. He opened the conference by expressing outrage at the killer’s violent act. “It is intolerable and it is unacceptable for us to have in the state anybody who would kill little kids,” he fumed.
Abbott continues:
“Children are a blessing. God has taught us this. They’re filled with laughter, innocence, and joy. They love their parents so much that they give them a present every day. The demented stole that gift from Uvalde’s parents. Some of these kids were being awarded for their perfect attendance days before. They will not return to school. It’s not the best. Uvalde was shaken to her core. Family relationships are fractured. Broken hearts will never be the same again. All Texans are grieving with the people of Uvalde, and people are rightfully angry about what has happened.”
Governor also applauded law enforcement in stopping the gunman from taking additional lives. “But the reality is as horrible as what happened, it could have been worse,” he said. “The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do. They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives.”
Abbott then provided a timeline of the events leading to the shooting. He told reporters that the gunman first “shot his grandmother in the face” and then fled. Soon after, his grandmother called law enforcement. After that, the shooter was involved in a car accident just outside Robb Elementary. The shooter ran inside the school and met a number of officers from his school who were engaged in a gunfight.
“The gunman then entered a back door and went down two short hallways and then into a classroom on the left-hand side,” Abbott explained.
He added, “Border Patrol Consolidated ISD officers, police, sheriffs, and DPS officers converged on that classroom and a Border Patrol officer killed the gunman.”
The governor then described the killer and his background, noting that he was a high school dropout with “no criminal history” that has been identified. “He may have had a juvenile record, but that is yet to be determined,” Abbott said, also noting that “there was no known mental health history of the gunman.”
One weapon was used by the shooter: An AR-15 that fired.223 bullets. Abbott explained that “there was no meaningful forewarning of his crime” except a post on Facebook that the gunman posted 30 minutes before beginning his rampage. Abbott explained:
“The first post … he said, ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother.’ The second post was ‘I shot my grandmother.’ The third post, maybe less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school, was ‘I’m going to shoot an elementary school.’”
The governor said the mayor of Uvalde told him that they “have a problem with mental health illness in this community,” and described the “magnitude of the mental health challenges that they are facing in the community.”
The Governor. Abbott gave the microphone to Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke disrupted the conference ostensibly to take the officials to task for not doing enough to prevent the shooting. He was immediately escorted from the conference as officials and members of the public berated him.
O’Rourke’s outburst was the latest example of how Democrats are blaming the mass shooting on a lack of more restrictive gun control laws. High-profile leftists have been calling for a ban on “assault weapons” and universal background checks since the news broke about the shooting yesterday. President Joe Biden has been working with congressional Democrats to get federal guns restrictions passed, but they’ve met resistance from Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer recently told his colleagues on the Senate floor that they would not be bringing gun control proposals to the floor because there won’t be enough GOP support for any to pass at this time.