We are starting to get a better idea of what happened in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. A lot of questions remain. The biggest: Why did it take at least 40 minutes to finally shoot and kill the gunman?
After encountering and wounding officers, the shooter entered that classroom… locked the door… and started shooting.
19 children were killed. Two teachers killed. Another seventeen were wounded.
Parents rushed to the scene as law enforcement gathered outside. They urged them to run in.
The Associated Press reports that people were shouting at police to go in. Others were heard saying they should go in themselves since law enforcement was not.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” said Javier Cazares. He lost his fourth grade daughter in the shooting. “More could have been done. They were unprepared,” said Cazares.
The AP reports that because the door had been locked by the shooter, law enforcement had trouble breaking it down. They finally made it in after someone from the school opened the door with a key.
There will be lots of inquiries about how this was handled.
President Biden will go to Texas today. Fox News reports that he may, once again, push for new gun control measures.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says there are talks behind the scenes for some type of action by Congress. Mental health is most likely what will be addressed. Florida Senator Marco Rubio says, “That sentiment of wanting to hurt people is the one we really need to focus on.”
Well, it’s a start.
Elon Musk is weighing in. Fox Business reports that in a tweet, Musk gave his opinion that “assault rifles should, at a minimum, require a special permit, where the recipient is extremely well vetted.”
Musk sent an email to CNBC. He also said, “I strongly believe that the right to bear arms is an important safeguard against potential tyranny of government.”
Something else Musk said in that email. He blames the media for giving murderers the attention he believes they crave by covering mass shootings.
“Regarding recent events, the shooters are obviously doing this to generate the most amount of attention possible. Why is the media doing exactly what the mass murderers want?”
He has a point. We have to cover the story. It’s news and it must be reported. What we don’t have to do is glorify the shooter. I try as little as possible to name their names. I avoided it in this blog post. Still, I told the story.