On May 24, 2022, a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle walks into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and opens fire on two 4th grade classrooms, killing 19 children and two teachers, and critically wounding 17 others.
The Uvalde school shooting was the deadliest ever in Texas and the second-worst in American history after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that claimed the lives of 20 first graders and six school staff members.
The Uvalde shooter, Salvador Ramos, legally purchased two assault-style rifles within days of turning 18. Just over a week later, on May 24, he began his deadly shooting spree by shooting his grandmother in the head. Incredibly, she survived.
Ramos then drove his truck to Robb Elementary School, crashing into a drainage ravine behind the school. He entered the school through an unlocked door and began shooting into classrooms 111 and 112. He fired 142 rounds of hollow-point bullets designed to inflict maximum bodily harm.
While students inside the classrooms made frantic 911 calls, the police remained outside. For 78 interminable minutes, injured and traumatized students were held captive by Ramos before specially trained Border Patrol officers finally broke into the classrooms and killed the shooter.
The delayed police response to the Uvalde shooting drew uproar, and at least two police officers were indicted on multiple counts of “abandoning and endangering a child.” Families of the dead and wounded called for Texas lawmakers to ban or restrict the sale of semi-automatic rifles like the one used in the Uvalde shooting, but no gun control laws were passed at the state level.
