Texas AG Ken Paxton, Parkland dad demand more school security in wake of Texas massacre: ‘Armed guard, single point of entry, teacher training’



In the aftermath of a horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday that left 19 elementary-aged students and three adults dead, some — including a father who lost his teenage daughter in a separate school shooting — are calling on the government to ramp up school security.

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died during a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, issued a plea for enhanced security measures and funding at schools across the country Tuesday evening.

"Armed guard, single point of entry, teacher training," he wrote in a tweet, adding, "We send out $Billions to other countries all the time. Why not fund school safety in America?"

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) made similar remarks during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

"Look, we just spent $40 billion on Ukraine to help protect another nation," Paxton said. "It seems like the least we could do is fund a police officer or at least a program because obviously there are thousands and thousands of schools in this country."

"A program that trains people in the school, so that when this does happen, because it will happen again, we know what's going to happen. So if we know what's going to happen, let's do everything we can to prevent it from turning into the situation we just had yesterday," he added.

Others, including conservative political commentator Dana Loesch, lamented the lack of serious investigation following the tragic shooting.

"Not a single politician is asking: 1) How did this murderer get into the school? 2) What security did this school have and how can we protect schools like we protect our concerts, banks, museums? 3) WHERE WERE HIS PARENTS AND THE ADULTS IN HIS LIFE? 4) How did he buy a handgun? 5) Did he pass a background check? 6) No one in his house saw what was going on?" she tweeted.

After shooting and critically wounding his grandmother, troubled 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School late Tuesday morning wearing a tactical vest and brandishing at least one firearm.

According to CNN, Ramos was engaged by police but was able to flee and get inside the school, where he barricaded himself inside a classroom and started shooting. All of the children killed in the attack were inside that classroom.

The Austin American-Statesman added that authorities said Ramos overpowered a school officer on his way into the building, though that claim has not appeared in reports from other outlets.

"The shooter was able to make entry into a classroom, barricaded himself inside that classroom, and again just began shooting numerous children and teachers that were in that classroom, having no regard for human life. Just a completely evil person," Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told NBC's TODAY on Wednesday.

"[He] just began shooting anyone that was in his way. At that point we had a tactical law enforcement team arrive — made up of multiple federal officers, local officers, as well as state troopers — that were able to able to make forcible entry into that classroom. They were met with gunfire as well but they were able to shoot and kill that suspect," Olivarez added.

Frightening details emerge about Texas school shooter's rough home life, strange behavior leading up to elementary massacre



As neighbors and classmates continue to share more information about Salvador Ramos in the aftermath of the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, an all-too-familiar portrait of the killer has begun to emerge.

Ramos, 18, allegedly shot and critically wounded his grandmother in a rage moments before going on a shooting rampage at nearby Robb Elementary School. At the school, he senselessly murdered at least 19 students and two adults and injured several others before he was fatally shot by police. Ramos was reportedly wearing body armor during the shooting spree and was armed with a handgun and a rifle.

The mass killing immediately gripped the nation and caused widespread mourning. Many of the victims were just 10 years old.

What are the details?

Those who knew Ramos described him as a loner who endured a rough home life with a drug-abusing mother. He was reportedly the frequent target of bullying as a teenager due to his lisp and stutter and social awkwardness. But, they said, Ramos responded to his circumstances by violently lashing out at "peers and strangers" and engaging in lawless behavior, often leading to run-ins with local law enforcement.

Speaking with the Washington Post, a childhood friend of Ramos who used to play video games and sports with him said he would often exhibit strange behavior, even cutting up his own face for "fun" on one occasion. That same friend said Ramos would often drive around town with another friend at night, shooting random people with a BB gun and egging people's cars.

Another former friend told the Post that Ramos was bullied incessantly in middle school and junior high before he eventually stopped going to school. One time, he posted a picture on social media wearing black eyeliner. The post garnered a slew of negative comments. Ramos was not on pace to graduate with his peers this year.

One high school classmate said that in recent months, Ramos posted videos on Instagram "where the cops were there and he’d call his mom a b***h and say she wanted to kick him out." The classmate added that in the videos, "He’d be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively."

He worked at a local Wendy's restaurant, where co-workers remembered him as a mostly quiet kid with "an aggressive streak," according to the Daily Beast.

"He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes, and one of the cooks, threatening them by asking, 'Do you know who I am?' And he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies," said one former co-worker, adding, "At the park, there’d be videos of him trying to fight people with boxing gloves. He’d take them around with him."

Here’s what we know about the 18-year-old shooter who officials say killed 19 students, 2 adults... www.youtube.com

What else?

In the weeks before the massacre, and right after he turned 18, Ramos appears to have purchased two semi-automatic rifles. He reportedly posted photos of the guns online along with cryptic messages.

An unidentified former classmate said that days before the attack, Ramos texted him a photo of a firearm and a bag of ammo, CNN reported.

"He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using ... and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags," the classmate said, "I was like, 'Bro, why do you have this?' and he was like, 'Don’t worry about it.'"

A since-deleted TikTok account that authorities believe belonged to Ramos featured only a short clip of a mobile game and the line, "Kids be scared IRL."

Then, on Tuesday, the day of the attack, he posted another photo of the rifles on Instagram and tagged a random girl who lives in California, the New York Post reported.

He then messaged the girl, urging her to repost the image. She responded confusedly.

Early Tuesday morning, Ramos messaged her again, saying, "I’m about to." The girl asked "about to what" to which he answered, "I’ll tell you before 11."

"I got a lil secret I wanna tell u," he wrote in another message, accompanied by a smiley-face emoji covering its mouth. He never shared the secret, but sent one last message at 9:16 a.m., saying, "Ima air out."

Shortly after, alerts of an active shooter in Uvalde hit the news.

Both the Instagram and the TikTok accounts in question were taken offline on Tuesday.

Anything else?

National news reporter John Mone, of Newsy, paraphrased an alleged eyewitness of the moments prior to the attack. He said the eyewitness, Eduardo Trinidad, claimed that Ramos "got into an argument with the grandmother and she was screaming, 'He shot me! He shot me!' and then he got in the car, zoomed down the street, there was some kind of crash."

"The suspect got out, he had two weapons, and then started engaging gunfire. From that point on, apparently, according to Mr. Trinidad, the suspect walks into the school and unfortunately the rest is history," Mone said.

Democratic lawmaker calls Republican Sen. Ted Cruz a 'f[***]ing baby killer' in the wake of a deadly Texas school shooting



On the heels of a deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona blasted GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, calling him a "baby killer."

"F[***] you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless," Gallego tweeted.

Gallego made the comment in response to a tweet that quoted Cruz as saying "when there's a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens."

"Just to be clear fuck you @tedcruz you fucking baby killer," Gallego added in another post.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and others pounced in response to a tweet in which Cruz said that he and his wife were praying for kids and families in the wake of the shooting.

"Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde. We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly," Cruz tweeted.

Ocasio-Cortez replied by tweeting, "Aren’t you slated to headline a speaking gig for the NRA in three days - in Houston, no less? You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead."

"Their blood, your hands," George Takei declared in response to Cruz's tweet.

Roland Martin called Cruz "trash."

Rob Reiner took to Twitter after the mass shooting to blame the GOP for children being killed by guns. "The blood of every child that dies of gun violence in this country is on the hands of the Republican Party," Reiner tweeted.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California said that anybody who proposes additional firearms as a solution to the problem of shootings is "a sociopath."

"We’ve had 2 decades of doing things the GOP-NRA way, maybe it’s time we tried something else because this sure as s[***] is not working and the body count is only growing. If you’re response to these mass shootings is “we need more guns,” you’re a sociopath," Swalwell tweeted.