Zürcher Nachrichten - Grief turns to anger after gunman murders 21 at Texas school

EUR -
AED 4.290911
AFN 80.85846
ALL 97.719372
AMD 448.492261
ANG 2.090776
AOA 1071.264525
ARS 1472.842786
AUD 1.779331
AWG 2.10573
AZN 1.988019
BAM 1.953588
BBD 2.35823
BDT 142.01922
BGN 1.955881
BHD 0.440428
BIF 3479.96033
BMD 1.168227
BND 1.494508
BOB 8.087844
BRL 6.502468
BSD 1.167978
BTN 100.124649
BWP 15.593347
BYN 3.822173
BYR 22897.25797
BZD 2.346044
CAD 1.598515
CDF 3371.504319
CHF 0.931426
CLF 0.028914
CLP 1109.553872
CNY 8.374496
CNH 8.375397
COP 4673.902783
CRC 589.033154
CUC 1.168227
CUP 30.958027
CVE 110.14031
CZK 24.670652
DJF 207.98454
DKK 7.46203
DOP 70.330379
DZD 151.938447
EGP 57.873638
ERN 17.523412
ETB 160.910133
FJD 2.622323
FKP 0.863384
GBP 0.866836
GEL 3.166031
GGP 0.863384
GHS 12.146249
GIP 0.863384
GMD 83.50455
GNF 10133.527814
GTQ 8.971843
GYD 244.353367
HKD 9.170626
HNL 30.552412
HRK 7.533896
HTG 153.296453
HUF 399.954228
IDR 19031.651758
ILS 3.926523
IMP 0.863384
INR 100.509733
IQD 1529.96792
IRR 49196.975746
ISK 142.383199
JEP 0.863384
JMD 186.768559
JOD 0.828299
JPY 172.109692
KES 150.938227
KGS 102.161678
KHR 4682.698708
KMF 491.998303
KPW 1051.404847
KRW 1613.351326
KWD 0.356835
KYD 0.973298
KZT 610.239147
LAK 25170.504423
LBP 104647.428444
LKR 351.232369
LRD 234.17489
LSL 20.826622
LTL 3.449472
LVL 0.706649
LYD 6.309857
MAD 10.519791
MDL 19.773614
MGA 5174.142343
MKD 61.500912
MMK 2453.276952
MNT 4187.166314
MOP 9.443709
MRU 46.460402
MUR 53.04951
MVR 17.993613
MWK 2025.207259
MXN 21.827688
MYR 4.971391
MZN 74.719358
NAD 20.826622
NGN 1788.475025
NIO 42.981341
NOK 11.828531
NPR 160.199638
NZD 1.950794
OMR 0.449184
PAB 1.167978
PEN 4.141511
PGK 4.828534
PHP 66.180162
PKR 332.132992
PLN 4.259252
PYG 9051.752494
QAR 4.25788
RON 5.079517
RSD 117.159249
RUB 91.705072
RWF 1687.689364
SAR 4.381209
SBD 9.727231
SCR 17.148706
SDG 701.522993
SEK 11.224569
SGD 1.497148
SHP 0.918043
SLE 26.286212
SLL 24497.15007
SOS 667.444385
SRD 43.46682
STD 24179.94952
SVC 10.219431
SYP 15189.276012
SZL 20.833414
THB 37.864001
TJS 11.288121
TMT 4.100478
TND 3.417131
TOP 2.7361
TRY 46.98317
TTD 7.935017
TWD 34.261729
TZS 3027.872681
UAH 48.797157
UGX 4186.260726
USD 1.168227
UYU 47.226535
UZS 14756.294371
VES 133.491622
VND 30511.180359
VUV 139.775099
WST 3.043825
XAF 655.21523
XAG 0.029925
XAU 0.000347
XCD 3.157193
XDR 0.814877
XOF 655.21523
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.535648
ZAR 20.899063
ZMK 10515.445814
ZMW 27.037391
ZWL 376.168761
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Grief turns to anger after gunman murders 21 at Texas school
Grief turns to anger after gunman murders 21 at Texas school / Photo: allison dinner - AFP

Grief turns to anger after gunman murders 21 at Texas school

Grief at the massacre of 19 small children at an elementary school in Texas spilled into confrontation Wednesday, as angry questions mounted over gun control -- and whether this latest tragedy could have been prevented.

Text size:

The tight-knit Latino community of Uvalde on Tuesday became the site of America's worst school shooting in a decade, committed by a disturbed 18-year-old armed with a legally-bought assault rifle.

Wrenching details have been steadily emerging since the tragedy, which also claimed the lives of two teachers.

Briefing reporters, Governor Greg Abbott revealed that teen shooter Salvador Ramos -- who was killed by police -- shot his 66-year-old grandmother in the face before heading to Robb Elementary School.

Ramos went on social media to share his plan to attack his grandmother -- who though gravely injured was able to alert the police.

He then messaged again to say his next target was a school, where he headed clad in body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle.

Pressed on how the teen was able to obtain the murder weapon, the Texas governor repeatedly brushed aside suggestions tougher gun laws were needed in his state -- where attachment to the right to bear arms runs deep.

"I consider this person to have been pure evil," Abbott said, articulating a position commonly held among US Republicans -- that unfettered access to weapons is not to blame for the country's gun violence epidemic.

Abbott's stance was echoed by the powerful NRA gun lobby, which issued a statement labeling the shooter as "a lone, deranged criminal."

But the governor was called out by a rival Democrat, who loudly interrupted the briefing to accuse him of deadly inaction.

"This is on you," heckled Beto O'Rourke, a fervent gun control advocate who is challenging Abbott for his job come November.

"You are doing nothing!" Beto charged. "This is totally predictable when you choose not to do anything."

O'Rourke's interruption came a day after President Joe Biden, in an emotional address to the nation, called on lawmakers to take on America's powerful gun lobby and enact tougher laws.

"When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?" Biden, who plans to soon visit the scene of the shooting, asked.

- 'Horror and pain' -

In the shattered community of Uvalde, a small mainly Hispanic town about an hour from the Mexican border, there was anger, too, at how such a tragedy could have occurred.

"I'm sad, and I'm angry at our government, for not doing more about gun control," Rosie Buantel, a middle-aged local resident, told AFP.

"We've gone through this one too many times. And still there's nothing done."

Aida Hernandez, a local woman in her 60s who knew the victims, was weeping as she left mass at Uvalde's Sacred Heart church.

"I'm still in shock," she said, describing her "horror and pain."

As broken families shared their news on social media, the names of the murdered children, most of them of Latino heritage, began coming out: they included Ellie Garcia, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Uziyah Garcia.

"My little love is now flying high with the angels above," Angel Garza, whose daughter Amerie Jo Garza had just celebrated her 10th birthday, posted on Facebook.

"I love you Amerie Jo," he wrote. "I will never be happy or complete again."

More than a dozen children were also wounded at the school, attended by more than 500 students aged around seven to 10 years old, most of them economically disadvantaged.

- 'Carnage' -

There was little movement Wednesday around the school, in a neighborhood of modest single-story homes, with small yards and often a swing set and an outdoor grill for barbecues.

Wearing black, Ramos drove his grandmother's vehicle a little over two miles (3.2 kilometers), before crashing it near the school.

There, he was confronted by a school resource officer, but was able to enter through a back door and made his way to two adjoining classrooms.

"That's where the carnage began," said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Details have emerged of Ramos as a deeply troubled teen -- he was repeatedly bullied over a speech impediment that included a stutter and a lisp and once cut up his own face "just for fun," a former friend, Santos Valdez, told The Washington Post.

In the days after turning 18 this month, Ramos purchased two assault rifles and several hundred rounds of ammunition, and a week later he staged his attack.

- 'Horrible nightmare' -

There have been more mass shootings -- in which four or more people were wounded or killed -- in 2022 than days so far this year, according to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive.

Despite that, multiple attempts at reform have failed in Congress, leaving states and local councils to strengthen -- or weaken -- their own restrictions.

The Uvalde school shooting was the deadliest since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 young children and six staff were killed.

"This town is heartbroken, devastated," Adolfo Hernandez, whose nephew was at school when tragedy struck, told AFP.

"We feel like there's a black cloud above this town," he said. "You just want to pinch yourself and wake up from that horrible nightmare."

T.L.Marti--NZN