A week after the massacre committed by a gunman at an elementary school in Uvalde, which shocked America, the small Texan town that still traumatized its first young victims on Tuesday, torn between pain and anger.
The funeral of 19 children and 2 teachers, who died on May 24 under the bullets of Salvador Ramos, nearly 18 years old, will last until mid -June.
The silver coffin of Amerie Jo Garza, a smiling girl who had just celebrated her tenth birthday when she was killed, was carried inside the Sacred Heart Church by six men wearing shirts decorated with red carnations.
Participants in the ceremony massed outside the building, surrounded by a large police presence.
Amerie Jo Garza, funny little diva “disgusted with clothes” at had a big heartdreamed of becoming an art teacher, his family described in his obituary.
That evening the funeral of another victim Maite Rodriguez, 10. The little girl, who wanted to be a marine biologist, was kind, charismatic, lovinghis mother Ana Rodriguez wrote on Facebook on Thursday. And most of all, he is my best friend.
This horrible and insane nightmare, where I would not wake up, was completely destroyed and weakened my life and heart.he added.
Selected by the local police
The pain of the bereaved loved ones mixed with anger at the delay in the police intervention, which was considered too long.
They can tell me: “We made a mistake. We made a wrong decision”. But my grandson will never come back to memoved Ruben Mata Montemayor, 78 years old.
It took about an hour before police intervened in the classroom where the shooter took refuge. The 19 agents at the site are waiting to be attacked by a special unit.
Texas authorities made their mea culpa on Friday, admitting that police should have entered faster. Soon, Uvalde and the school district’s law enforcement stopped cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the police response, according to ABC.
On Tuesday, actor Matthew McConaughey – a native of Uvalde who once flirted with the idea of becoming governor of Texas – went to a memorial dedicated to the victims.
After the tragedy, he called umartementioned an epidemic we can controlwhile taking care not to explicitly question the right to be armed.
The massacre, like its predecessors, has aroused calls for stricter control over access to weapons, in this country with more pistols and rifles than its inhabitants.
Joe Biden first heard them while traveling in Uvalde on Sunday; the voices sing: Make a way!.
Ricardo Garcia, 47, who worked at Uvalde hospital on the day of the tragedy, said he was unable to remove from [sa] the howl of the mothers where the bad news was announced.
We must stop selling weapons, periodhe said.
Biden will meet with Republicans
On Monday, Joe Biden vowed to “continue to push” for stricter gun regulation.
I believe things have gotten so bad that it all makes more sense about it, hopes the Democratic president. He was speaking after a weekend again marked by a series of shootings that left several dead and dozens injured, tragedies that have become commonplace in the United States.
But the transition from words to deeds would be difficult: his party’s narrow majority in Congress would not allow him to pass such a law alone.
On Tuesday, the president promised that he would meet with elected Republicans on this subject. Any text would require a compromise with these conservatives – traditionally more hesitant to legislate on the subject – to reach the required qualified majority.
Source: Radio-Canada