On Wednesday, Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference early in the afternoon in Uvalde, Texas, where he was joined by other officials to release detailed information on Tuesday’s shooting at the Robb Elementary School. He opened the conference saying, “It is intolerable and it is unacceptable for us to have in the state, anybody who would kill little kids in our schools.”
Abbott then offered a long list of victim assistance agencies, but it wasn’t long into the conference when former Texas congressman and gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke interrupted, saying that the crowd was getting nothing substantial. An angry guard returned his exchange, saying O’Rourke was out of line and asking him to leave the auditorium.
“We need to focus not on ourselves and our agendas,” said Governor Abbott. “We need to focus on the healing and hope to those who have suffered unconscionable damage to their lives and loss of life.”
Lt. Governor chimed in, asking, “Can we not be a nation that can stand together for at least a day or a week or a month?”
Governor Abbott continued to detail the events, revealing that shooter Salvador Romas, an 18 year old, posted on Facebook that he would shoot his grandmother. After fulfilling the dead, Romas posted he would shoot an elementary school.
Using his grandmother’s car, the shooter drove a mile away before crashing. He continued on foot, carrying his assault rifle and a backpack. On the property, Romas was stopped by district police officers before he used the back door to enter the building.
Two officers were wounded in the attempt to enter before a Border patrol agent got into the classroom to kill the shooter. However, it was too late to save the nineteen children and two teachers.
Questions were raised and the biggest one that was on everybody’s mind came up, asking the governor about loose gun purchasing laws in Texas. Abbott countered, saying other blue states also had tough gun laws.
“People who think that maybe we just implement tougher gun laws is going to solve it, Chicago and L.A. and New York disprove that thesis,” he said. Rather than discuss gun control, Abbott proposed additional school security.
