Ana is still in shock. In a large decorations store near the main street of Uvalde, leaning with her colleague on the trade counter waiting for customers, she is still trying to find meaning in Tuesday’s events. “We don’t understand why it happened. Why ? »
“What went through his head? You may be angry, but why go to a school and attack innocent children? “launches the fiftieth during the passage of Devoir, Wednesday afternoon, in the emotion and the most total incomprehension.
The day before, the deaths of 19 children aged 9 and 10 and two teachers in a classroom at Robb Elementary School gripped the small Texas town of 16,000. Salvador Ramos, 18, burst into the building shortly after 11:30 a.m., assault weapon in hand, and killed many people before dying from police bullets. A little earlier, the killer had written on Facebook Messenger that he would attack his 66-year-old grandmother, with whom he lives, then an elementary school.
The identity of the children began to emerge in the media on Wednesday. All of the victims have been identified and their families have been notified, said Lt. Chris Olivarez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“Everyone is in shock. We see this happening in other cities, but we never thought it would happen here,” Ana slips, echoing the general sentiment. She can’t believe it’s the deadliest school shooting since 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Like a whirlwind
Robb Elementary School is hard to reach since the drama. Yellow ribbons block the passage and officers are posted on the grassy field opposite. On the surrounding street corners, masses of cameras are trained on the building and journalists wait. The small brown brick wall on which is inscribed the name of the school, on which many wreaths have been placed, is barely visible because of the crowd.
Robert Caldwell, in his 50s and a dishwasher at a nearby restaurant, is dazed by the whirlwind that has suddenly descended on his previously uneventful town. “We suddenly became famous, we weren’t known before,” he slips to the To have to. “Everyone makes a mistake when pronouncing the name of our city,” he adds, smiling despite everything.
Twenty-seven shootings have already taken place in 2022 in American schools, according to Education Weekwhich has been compiling data on this subject since 2018. The independent organization Gun Violence Archive lists 212 mass shootings since the beginning of the year.
The Uvalde shooting has once again reignited the gun control debate in the United States, with many taking aim at Texas Governor Greg Abbott for relaxing gun control rules last year by allowing the carrying of handguns without a licence.
“The shooter had bought two rifles and 375 cartridges, there is something that does not work. We don’t need assault weapons,” Robert thinks. But others are quick to blame the killer’s mental state and a culture of violence instead.
time to heal
The political contest and the tensions on this subject already annoy more than one.
Raven Vasquez, 21, holding a sign that reads “Remember their names” in big red letters, and that The duty met on the corner of two busy downtown streets, had enough. “I don’t want to involve politics in that,” she replies when asked about it.
“I don’t want us to start a debate. I want to remember the victims and the people who were affected, she said. The whole town is shattered now. People don’t know what to do, people don’t know what to think. »
A sign that it will take time for the city to recover from the tragedy, several businesses in Uvalde closed their doors on Wednesday. “Due to recent events in our community, we will be closed until Saturday,” reads a sign taped to the door of a restaurant. Support between members of the community “is the first step to healing”, it is written below.
A few blocks away, the doors of the Juvenile Probation Department of Texas’ 38th Judicial District are locked. “For security reasons,” reads a poster inviting people who had an appointment to call.
“Things will never be the same again,” predicts Diego Esquivel, 20. There are so many mourners, so many people who are connected in one way or another to the teachers and the children who were killed. Everyone knows each other. »
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.