At roughly 11:00 am CDT in Uvalde, Texas, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos shot his grandmother in their home before driving to Robb Elementary School, crashing a truck in a nearby ditch at 11:28 am. He entered the school through an unlocked side door, carrying with him an assault rifle and a backpack loaded with ammunition, and barricaded himself within a classroom of third and fourth graders where he began shooting indiscriminately. (Guardian) (KWQC) As details emerge regarding the timeline of events, police officers are being heavily scrutinized for their response to the shooting, with many parents of the victims claiming law officials did not act quickly enough to get inside the school to subdue the gunman (KWQC).
While three police officers immediately followed Ramos into the building, with at least 19 additional officers following within the next half hour, it would still be nearly 50 minutes later before officers would enter the classroom. “At 12:03 pm, a girl called 911 and whispered that she was inside the classroom with the gunman…A further 34 minutes passed before border patrol agents arrived, entered the classroom and killed Ramos, approximately 80 minutes after he had entered the school” (Guardian).
Investigations are still ongoing as of June 2, 2022, and no motive has yet been established.
Date of event: May 24, 2022
Impact:
- 21 people killed (19 students, 2 teachers)
- 18 injured (ABC News)
Related Resources:
- What Counties and Cities Can Do to Curb Gun Violence in Texas
- H. Rept. 117-307: School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act, Report Together with Minority Views, to Accompany H.R. 5428, May 6, 2022
- Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021
- Surging Gun Violence: Where We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We Go Next [Executive Summary]
- Managing High-Risk Adolescents in Community Contexts: The Averted Paw Paw High School and South Haven Pier Shooting in Michigan
HSDL Featured Topics: Active Shooters | School Violence
HSDL Search: School Shooting | Active Shooter | Gun Violence
Photo credit: Don Holloway, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons