Texas shooting – latest: Governor Abbott issues disaster declaration for Uvalde as funeral services begin

Families and community members have gathered to remember the 19 children and two adult teachers who were killed in last Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Many laid flowers and others were pictured holding candles following the first funeral visitations for shooting victims Amerie Jo Garza and Maite Rodriguez, both 10 years old.

Governor Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for the town, which allows the Texas Division of Emergency Management to provide critical assistance in the aftermath, including a family resource center for mental health services.

Recently released footage from outside the school captures a 911 dispatcher relaying information from a child who called emergency operators, “advising he is in the room, full of victims.” The call reportedly took place while law enforcement was surrounding the building, raising more questions about police inaction and response to the massacre within a critical hourlong gap between Ramos’ arrival and death.

The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that the chief of the school district’s law enforcement agency has not responded to requests for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers as investigators probe his response.

Key points

• Texas officials: Uvalde school police chief has not responded to follow-up interview requests

• Greg Abbott issues disaster declaration for grieving town

• Funeral services begin for first Uvalde victims

• Children were calling for help as police waited outside, 911 dispatch reveals

• Biden laments ‘devastation’ of US gun violence

Gunman’s grandmother was teacher’s aide at school where shooting unfolded

08:11 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The grandmother of Salvador Ramos, the gunman who killed 19 children and two adults in a mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last Tuesday, worked as a teacher’s aide there, a new report said.

Ramos first shot his grandmother Celia “Sally” Martinez Gonzales, 66, in the face before stealing the family truck and driving to the school just before midday.

“His grandmother worked in one of those classrooms a lot of the time,” the friend, who remained anonymous, was quoted as saying to The New York Post.“She knows a lot of the kids who died and was close to them.”

Sravasti Dasgupta has more.

Salvador Ramos’s grandmother was teacher’s aide at school where shooting unfolded

Gun control: Biden sees chance of ‘rational’ Republican approach

06:25 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

President Joe Biden on Monday said that the “second amendment was never absolute” and that, after the Texas elementary school shooting, there may be some bipartisan support to tighten restrictions.

“I think things have gotten so bad that everybody’s getting more rational, at least that’s my hope,” Mr Biden told reporters.

Faced with chants of “do something” as he departed a church service in Uvalde, Mr Biden pledged: “We will.”

“I’ve been pretty motivated all along. I’m going to continue to push and we’ll see how this goes,” the president said after returning to Washington.

Salvador Ramos’s family appeals for cash donations

05:47 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The family of Texas school shooter Salvador Ramos has sought help to pay the medical bills of his grandmother, who was the gunman’s first victim on 24 May.

Ramos’s aunt Natalie Salazar sought help for her mother Celia “Sally” Gonzales, who was “shot in the face and left to die alone in her home by her very own grandson”.

Ms Salazar has set up a fundraiser on GoFundMe to raise $30,000 (£23,770) to pay for the expenses of her mother who has already undergone four major surgeries and is expected to go through several more.

Shweta Sharma reports.

Salvador Ramos’s family appeals for donations after being ‘hit by all sides’

Police chief blamed for botched response ‘not be sworn in as council member’

05:24 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The school district police chief blamed for officers not storming the fourth-grade classroom where 19 children were killed last week in Texas will not be sworn into the council as scheduled.

Pedro “Pete” Arredondo was elected to Uvalde City Council with nearly 70 per cent of the vote on 7 May and was due to be sworn in on Tuesday after campaigning on community outreach, as the Uvalde Leader-News reported earlier this month.

In an announcement on Monday, however, Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin said Mr Arredondo would not be sworn in at a special council meeting on Tuesday

.Earlier on Friday, without identifying the police chief by name, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety Col Steven McCraw acknowledged during a press conference that the Uvalde police chief’s decision was “not the right” one.

“From the benefit of hindsight where I’m sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision,” Col McCraw said of the decision. “It was the wrong decision. Period. There’s no excuse for that.”

Gino Spocchia has more.

Uvalde mayor postpones meeting to swear in police chief

Ten-year-old held for threatening school shooting in Florida

05:11 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

In the wake of the Uvalde massacre, a fifth-grade student was arrested after he allegedly threatened to conduct a mass shooting in Florida.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said they were tipped off about a threatening text message sent by a 10-year-old student at Patriot Elementary School in Cape Coral on 28 May.

“The School Threat Enforcement Team was immediately notified and began analytical research. Due to the nature of the incident, the Youth Services Criminal Investigations Division assumed the case,” the statement said.

Police then interviewed the child and subsequently arrested him. He was charged with “making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting”.

Uvalde police have ‘stopped cooperating’ with school shooting probe

04:52 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Uvalde’s police department and Independent School District police force have reportedly stopped cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the 24 May massacre.

Officials at both agencies decided to pull their assistance last week after Texas DPS Director, Colonel Steven McCraw, said that officers made “the wrong decision” in waiting outside the classroom rather than immediately storming it, says ABC News.

Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style assault rifle to murder 19 children and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School, while police waited in a corridor outside before eventually forcing entry and killing him.

Graeme Massie reports.

Under-fire local police have ‘stopped cooperating’ with Uvalde school shooting probe

Uvalde teacher did not leave door propped open for gunman, attorney says

04:00 , Alex Woodward

An Uvalde teacher did not leave a door propped open that allowed the gunman to enter Robb Elementary School, her lawyer told The San Antonio News-Express, despite claims to the contrary from Texas law enforcement.

On Friday, Colonel Steve McCraw with theTexas Department of Public Safety said that a door to the school was left ajar by the teacher who ran outside when she heard the gunman crash his truck nearby.

Lawyer Don Flanary says that the teacher had initially propped the door open to get food from a car, but actually closed it shut after realising the heavily armed gunman was heading towards the school.

Uvalde teacher did not leave door propped open that gunman used, says lawyer

Girl Scouts award Amerie Jo Garza with posthumous honour

03:00 , Alex Woodward

Amerie Jo Garza, whose funeral services were held in Uvalde on Tuesday, one week after she was killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre, was posthumously awarded the Girls Scouts’ bronze cross, which recognises a scout’s attempt to save lives at the risk of their own.

Amerie, who turned 10 years old just two weeks before she was killed, was one of the students who called 911 from her fourth-grade classroom.

“On May 24, Amerie did all she could to save the lives of her classmates and teachers. It was our honor as Amerie’s council to present the Bronze Cross to her family, and Girl Scouts will continue to pay tribute at her funeral services today with a Presentation of Color,” Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas said in a statement.

“We will carry her story with us always and ensure her brave actions will endure for generations,” the organisation said.

The organisation is collecting notecards and donations; information for how to help is available at this link.

Can New York require ‘microstamping’ on bullet casings?

02:00 , Alex Woodward

New York officials unveiled several gun reform proposals on Tuesday in the wake of the massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde, including one long-gestating measure that would require handguns to be equipped with “microstamping” technology, which would etch a unique code into each bullet casing as its fired.

A similar proposal in 2010 failed to pass. Now Governor Kathy Hochul and Demcoratic leadership in the state’s legislature are backing another attempt.

If it passes, the state would be the second in the US to mandate microstamping on firearms.

More student-led demonstrations demanding gun reform across US

01:30 , Alex Woodward

Students in California and Minnesota on Tuesday joined nationwide demonstrations demanding gun reform legislation in the wake of the latest massacre in Uvalde.

Hundreds of teenagers staged classroom walkouts and rallied in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday to demand a statewide advisory group composed of students and teachers from every school district in Minnesota to discuss “actionable steps to reduce gun violence in schools,” among other proposals, according to The Star-Tribune.

Student activists from Miguel Contreras Learning Center also crowded outside Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday to protest gun violence and demand stricter gun control measures.

Texas governor declares disaster in Uvalde to help deploy resources ‘needed to heal’

Wednesday 1 June 2022 00:45 , Alex Woodward

Greg Abbott’s declaration for a state of disaster provides broad executive authority to direct the governor’s response to the mass shooting and expedites critical state and local resources to the grieving town, including mental health facilities and other aid.

The disaster declaration will allow, among other things, for the Texas Division of Emergency Management to continue running a family resource centre that was established last week at the Uvalde County Fairplex, where victims’ families can connect with mental health services and other resources.

Texas governor declares disaster in Uvalde to help deploy resources ‘needed to heal’

Texas officials: Uvalde school police chief has not responded to follow-up interview requests

Wednesday 1 June 2022 00:10 , Alex Woodward

Pete Arredondo, the chief of the Uvalde Independent School District police and incident commander at the scene of the massacre, initially cooperated with law enforcement officials probing the response but has since not responded to follow-up interview requests from Texas Rangers, according to the Texas Deparment of Public Safety.

Last week, officials revealed that Arredondo made the “wrong decision” to withhold law enforcement from entering the school while believing that the incident was no longer an “active shooter” situation but one in which the gunman was “barricaded” in a standoff with police.

That critical hourlong lapse, during which children called 911 for help, not only falls against active shooter training protocol but may have led to more bloodshed.

Who is Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo?

The parents of these Uvalde victims want to ban AR-15s. Will America listen?

Wednesday 1 June 2022 00:00 , Alex Woodward

An extremely popular rifle has been used for mass death in schools and in massacres across the US, including the recent attacks in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.

But many parents in Uvalde and legislators around the country are trying to get AR-style rifles off the street after the Texas massacre, the second deadliest school shooting in US history.

Josh Marcus reports:

The parents of these Uvalde victims want to ban AR-15s. Will America listen?

Texas teachers demand gun control action from Ted Cruz

Tuesday 31 May 2022 23:30 , Alex Woodward

Teachers union members and advocates marched to the office of Republican Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday to demand that he support “sensible gun regulation” in the wake of the Uvalde massacre.

The Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers called the senator’s response to the killings “abominable” while he continues “beating a drum promoting the status quo.”

“Cruz’s response to the slaughter of children – pushing for more armed school staff – is not only opposed by a vast majority of teachers, but also is an illogical idea that has not proven to be effective,” the group said in a statement.

The senator was among several high-profile speakers who addressed the NRA’s conference in Houston just days after the massacre, despite several attendees dropping out, including the state’s other Republican Senator John Cornyn.

In his remarks, Senator Cruz called for stronger school security measures and baselessly claimed that “elites” and Democratic lawmakers are using the massacre as pretext to “disarm Americans.”

After the convention, he dined at an upscale sushi restaurant in Houston where he was confronted by diners.

“Nineteen children died! That’s on your hands!” one person captured in a viral social media clip told him.

Report: Uvalde police and school district are not cooperating with Texas probe

Tuesday 31 May 2022 23:21 , Alex Woodward

Uvalde’s police department and Independent School District have stopped cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the massacre, according to ABC News, citing “multiple law enforcement sources.”

Uvalde police and school district stops cooperation with Texas probe, says report

Greg Abbott issued disaster declaration for Uvalde to send resources to grieving town

Tuesday 31 May 2022 22:38 , Alex Woodward

Governor Greg Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for Uvalde, which will allow state and local agencies to deploy resources to the grieving town, including mental health services and other aid.

“The community of Uvalde has been left devastated by last week’s senseless act of violence at Robb Elementary School and should not have to encounter any difficulty in receiving the support needed to heal,” Governor Abbott said in a statement. “All of Texas stands with Uvalde, and we are prepared to provide support through all available means.”

New York officials propose 10 gun control measures in wake of massacres

Tuesday 31 May 2022 22:30 , Alex Woodward

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Democratic leadership in the state legislature have introduced 10 bills to “tighten New York’s gun laws, close loopholes and directly address the gaps in our laws exposed by the horrific shootings” in Buffalo and Uvalde, the governor announced on Tuesday.

“New York already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country but clearly we need to make them even stronger,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “New Yorkers deserve to feel safe in schools, in grocery stores, in movie theaters, in shopping malls, and on our streets – and we must do everything in our power to protect them.”

The bills would make threats of mass shootings a crime; create a taskforce for online extremism and requirs social media platforms to provide “clear and concise” policies for responding to hateful conduct; ban the sale of bulletproof vests for people who are not in law enforcement; and require a license to buy all semi-automatic rifles, among other measures.

Officials have reportedly mulled whether to raze Robb Elementary. Here is what happened to school buildings from other mass shootings

Tuesday 31 May 2022 22:00 , Alex Woodward

Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez said President Biden told him that "we're going to look to raze that school, build a new one” in the wake of last Tuesday’s massacre.

This is what happened to school buildings at other mass shootings, according to CNN:

• Columbine High School in Colorado closed for the remainder of the school year in 1999, and most of the school reopened for the following school year, except for a library where most of the violence took place. It was demolished and replaced with a new building called the Hope Library.

• After the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the entire school was demolished and rebuilt.

• One of the buildings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida remained closed after the 2018 shootings. A new building later replaced the use of temporary classrooms.

Video appears to capture police radio call of child reporting ‘I got shot’

Tuesday 31 May 2022 21:33 , Alex Woodward

A chilling video reportedly captured during the Uvalde massacre includes a radio message in which a voice that appears to be a Robb Elementary School student tells an adult that they have been shot.

CNN obtained the video from an anonymous individual who was recording the day of the shooting and had been listening to radio communications between Border Patrol agents responding to the scene.

Video captures moment Uvalde student tells Border Patrol agent they had been shot

Girl Scouts award Amerie Jo Garza with posthumous honour

Tuesday 31 May 2022 21:05 , Alex Woodward

Amerie Jo Garza, whose funeral services are being held in Uvalde today, one week after she was killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre, was posthumously awarded the Girls Scouts’ bronze cross, which recognises a scout’s attempt to save lives at the risk of their own.

Amerie, who turned 10 years old just two weeks before she was killed, was one of the students who called 911 from her fourth-grade classroom.

“On May 24, Amerie did all she could to save the lives of her classmates and teachers. It was our honor as Amerie’s council to present the Bronze Cross to her family, and Girl Scouts will continue to pay tribute at her funeral services today with a Presentation of Color,” Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas said in a statement.

“We will carry her story with us always and ensure her brave actions will endure for generations,” the organisation said.

The organisation is collecting notecards and donations; information for how to help is available at this link.

Funeral mass begins for Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Tuesday 31 May 2022 20:25 , Alex Woodward

A funeral mass is underway at Sacred Heart Catholic Church for 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, among the first of 19 Uvalde children to be laid to rest following last week’s massacre.

Amerie had just turned 10 two weeks before she was killed with her classmates at Robb Elementary School.

She is remembered as a “kind, caring, blunt, loving, sweet, sassy and of course funny little diva who ‘hated dresses’ but nonetheless; she truly had a heart of gold,” according to an obituary.

It reads: “She loved to eat at Chick-Fil-A and vanilla bean frape from Starbucks. Her favorite hobbies were swimming, drawing, and most of all spending time with family. [Amerie’s] biggest dream was to become an Art teacher due to her ambitions for creativity. A protector of her brother and as we now know her classmates. This world will never have another Amerie. She will truly be missed. “

Nine dead and 60 injured in Memorial Day weekend mass shootings

Tuesday 31 May 2022 20:15 , Alex Woodward

At least 14 mass shootings across the US from early Saturday until late Monday have left nine people dead and more than 60 injured.

A tracking of mass shootings from the Gun Violence Archive – which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which “four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter” – shows that there have been 230 mass shootings in 34 states and Washington DC within the first 150 days of the year.

The organisation reports that at least 156 people were killed and 412 were injured in all gun-related violence over the Memorial Day weekend.

Teacher who reported gunman did not leave door open, attorney claims, contrary to police narrative

Tuesday 31 May 2022 20:00 , Alex Woodward

A teacher that Texas law enforcement officials claimed had left a door propped open that allowed the gunman to enter Robb Elementary School had closed the door, her San Antonio lawyer told The San Atonio Express-News.

Last week, Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told reporters that the door to the school was propped open by a teacher who ran outside after hearing Salvador Ramos crash a truck nearby.

Her attorney said she ran back inside to get her phone to call 911, then came back out while on the phone with 911, and ran back inside after witnesses at the funeral home next to the school shouted out that Ramos was armed.

“She kicked the rock away [that was propping the door open] when she went back in. She remembers pulling the door closed while telling 911 that he was shooting. She thought the door would lock because that door is always supposed to be locked,” her attorney said, according to the newspaper.

Biden laments ‘devastation’ of US gun violence in meeting with New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern

Tuesday 31 May 2022 19:30 , Alex Woodward

Ahead of a White House meeting between President Biden and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the president said her leadership has helped galvanise a “global effort” to curb online extremism and gun violence in the wake of the Christchurch massacre.

“I want to work with you on that effort,” he said. “ And I want to talk to you about what those conversations were like, if you’re willing.” He added: “There’s an expression by an Irish poet that says, ‘Too long a suffering makes a stone of the heart.’ Well, there’s an awful lot of suffering. ... I’ve been to more mass shooting aftermaths than, I think, any president in American history, unfortunately. ... Much of it is preventable, and the devastation is ... is amazing.”

He said the “pain is palpable” in Uvalde, where he visited over the Memorial Day weekend alongside First Lady Jill Biden.

George W Bush’s attorney general signals support for banning AR-15 ‘killing machines’

Tuesday 31 May 2022 19:15 , Alex Woodward

Former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who served under former Republican President George W Bush, condemned AR-style rifles as “killing machines” and echoed comments made by Joe Biden a day earlier saying there was “no rational basis” for owning such a weapon.

George W Bush’s attorney general signals support for banning AR-15s

Children were calling for help as police waited outside Uvalde school, 911 dispatch reveals

Tuesday 31 May 2022 18:40 , Alex Woodward

Recently released video appears to capture a 911 dispatcher alerting law enforcement that emergency operators were receiving desperate calls from schoolchildren reporting that their classroom was “full of victims” after a gunman opened fire inside Robb Elementary School.

The footage reportedly took place at 12.13pm on 24 May, when officers had surrounded the building and waited inside a hallway, raising more questions about law enforcement’s delayed response, and whether their inaction led to more bloodshed.

Children called for help as police waited outside Uvalde school, 911 call reveals

As Uvalde mourns in funeral services beginning this week, a Texas artist is painting caskets

Tuesday 31 May 2022 18:17 , Alex Woodward

Trey Ganem of SoulShine Industries in Edna, Texas, along with his son Billy, have painted caskets to reflect the lives of the children killed in the Robb Elementary massacre in Uvalde.

“No family should have to bury a child,” he told NBC’s affiliate in Dallas.

“We don’t just paint caskets here, we represent the lives of the people who have passed,” he said.

Uvalde police chief blamed for botched response will not be sworn in as council member amid funerals

Tuesday 31 May 2022 18:00 , Alex Woodward

Pedro “Pete” Arredondo was elected to Uvalde City Council with nearly 70 per cent of the vote on 7 May and was due to be sworn in on Tuesday after campaigning on community outreach, as the Uvalde Leader-News reported earlier this month.

In an announcement on Monday, however, Uvalde mayor Don McLaughlin said Mr Arredondo would not be sworn in at a special council meeting on Tuesday.

The ceremony will be postponed as the community holds funeral services and memorials for the 19 children and two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary massacre.

Uvalde mayor postpones meeting to swear in police chief

Who is police chief Pete Arredondo?

Tuesday 31 May 2022 17:31 , Alex Woodward

Uvalde’s school district police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo is under intense scrutiny over his agency’s response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School last Tuesday.

Who is Uvalde police chief Pete Arredondo?

Justice department probe will likely consider who had authority

Tuesday 31 May 2022 16:30 , Gino Spocchia

The US Department of Justice’s decision to review the police response to the Uvalde school shooting is a relatively rare phenomenon, even in the case of deadly school shootings.

The probe could take months and extend to hundreds of pages if like a review completed following the 2015 shooting in San Bernidino, California, the Associated Press reports.

Among the biggest questions to be asked of the Uvalde school district police force are why it’s chief – Pedro Arredondo – had the authority to call shots the day.

“The key question for me is, who designated him to be in charge?,” said Maria Haberfeld, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Trump Jr complains about gun ban calls in ‘tasteless’ video

Tuesday 31 May 2022 15:30 , Gino Spocchia

Donald Trump Jr has been attacked for “tasteless” comments made in a video about the massacre in Uvalde, which has seen renewed calls for bans on AR-15 guns.

The son of former Republican president Donald Trump complained that guns were blamed for the mass shooting and remarked: “He wouldn’t have done the exact same thing with a bat, or a bomb, or some sort of improvised device – or a machete?”

As Rachel Sharp reports, he echoed Republican lines on mass shootings being solely about mental health rather than weapons that an 18-year-old was able to buy:

Donald Trump Jr suggests Uvalde shooter could have murdered 21 with a ‘bat’

Volunteers helping Uvalde funeral homes prepare

Tuesday 31 May 2022 14:30 , Gino Spocchia

Volunteer embalmers and morticians have arrived in Uvalde following last week’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary school to help prepare for the 21 funerals of victims.

The head of Texas Funeral Directors Association, Jimmy Lucas, told NBC News he had been overwhelmed by support for the community, with many coming from outside the small town to help.

“People, funeral directors, embalmers, caskets — anything,” Mr Lucas said of the help needed. He added that some volunteers have also been helping with facial reconstruction as families prepare for the funerals.

One funeral home in nearby San Antonio also sent a pizza to the two funeral homes in Uvalde, Mr Lucas said, to make sure staff had something to eat.

He explained that towns of Uvalde’s size often have only one or two funeral directors, requiring outside help when a mass shooting event or similar tragedy occurs.

He added that Tuesday will see the first of the funerals for the 21 victims from last week’s massacre, with 12 due to take place this week.

Debate on AR-15 ban continues amid Biden comments

Tuesday 31 May 2022 13:30 , Gino Spocchia

The discussion on AR-15 guns and whether the US could ban such a ‘military style’ weapon follows the withdrawal of US firearms manufacturer Daniel Defense from the National Rifle Association (NRA) conference in Houston, Texas, at the weekend.

One of the company’s AR-15 semi-automatic rifles was found to have been used by the 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last Tuesday, leading to that withdrawal.

Joe Biden has said those who say they need AR-15 rifles to “take on the government” are “wrong” because the weapons they would need aren’t legal to own, but who are Daniel Defense?

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Who are Daniel Defense, the makers of Salvador Ramos’ AR-15?

Joe Rogan condemned for gun control remarks

Tuesday 31 May 2022 12:30 , Gino Spocchia

Joe Rogan has once again been condemned after he suggested he doesn’t think it’s “wise to take all the guns away” following the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

“No one knows how to stop that,” Rogan said on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, when asked how to stop another atrocity.

The 54-year-old was speaking with scientist Lex Fridman when he added that gun control would “give all the power to the government” and “criminals”.

As Peony Hirwani writes, those comments came despite the shooting deaths of 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School last week. As have other countries been able to reduce gun violence with weapons bans...

Joe Rogan branded a ‘moron’ after claiming it’s ‘wise’ to take guns away from owners

Uvalde prepares for funerals this week as mourners gather

Tuesday 31 May 2022 11:30 , Gino Spocchia

Twelve funerals are planned this week for some of the child victims and their teacher Irma Garcia, who were all killed last Tuesday in Uvalde.

On Monday, mourners gathered at the Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home for 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza.

Another was also held for 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez, the Associated Press reported, and other memorial services are planned ahead of the funerals.

Canada announces handgun ban legislation following Uvalde

Tuesday 31 May 2022 10:31 , Gino Spocchia

Canada’s Justin Trudeau announced plans to ban handgun ownership in the country following last week’s tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.

The proposals, which are expected to pass, will also force owners of “military-style assault weapons” to sell their guns to the government under the newly-introduced legislation.

“As a government, as a society, we have a responsibility to act to prevent more tragedies,” Mr Trudeau said at a news conference on Monday.

As Josh Marcus writes, the Canadian buyback plan is modelled on other successful initiatives in the wake of similar tragedies:

Canada proposes freeze on handgun sales and buying back assault rifles after Uvalde