Joe Biden meets with those left behind on Sunday in Uvalde, Texas, where a school shooter killed 21 people on Tuesday. Anger at the actions of the police, who waited a long time before they intervened, grew there. Kamala Harris offered comfort to family members Saturday in Buffalo after a racially motivated killing spree at a convenience store.
A girl cries as she lays flowers for the victims of the bloodbath at Robb Primary School in Uvalde on May 28.
(dpa) After the killing spree at an elementary school in the state of Texas on Tuesday, American President Joe Biden wants to visit the affected community of Uvalde this Sunday (local time). Biden had announced that he would travel to Texas with his wife Jill and meet with families there.
An 18-year-old gunman shot dead 19 children and two teachers at a primary school in the small town of Uvalde. Investigations revealed significant omissions by the police during the operation. Relatives therefore raised serious allegations against the emergency services. Prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have called for more guns in schools in response to the attack.
Biden previously said he wanted to show his sympathy to the affected families during his visit to Texas and offer some comfort to the community at a time of shock, grief and trauma. The feelings of the relatives are now increasingly mixed with anger.
The shooter locked himself in the school with children and teachers in two connected classrooms on Tuesday and caused the bloodbath there. 17 people were injured.
The director of the Texas Public Safety Agency, Steven McCraw, presented new findings on Friday that caused bewilderment. According to this, 19 police officers were already present in the hallway in front of the classroom in which the gunman had holed himself up at an early stage. However, the officers made no attempts to enter the room for more than 45 minutes, but waited for special forces to reinforce them.
“It was the wrong decision. Period,” McCraw said. “There is no excuse for that.” He reported that several children had called the police from the classroom, sometimes several times, to get help. But the officials in the hallway didn’t intervene for a long time.
In view of the new findings, relatives raised serious allegations against the police. “They could have saved some lives,” the Washington Post quoted the grandfather of a student who was killed as saying. “You could have saved her,” he said, looking at his granddaughter. The father of a child who was killed also told CNN that his daughter might still be alive if the police had acted differently. The mother of another student complained: “You waited too long”.
Renewed debate about gun laws
The Uvalde killing spree has fueled the debate about tightening gun laws in the United States. Many Republicans have been opposed to stricter regulations for years. Republican ex-President Trump also defended the lax gun laws in many places in the USA in an appearance before the powerful gun lobby NRA (National Rifle Association) on Friday and instead called for more guns in schools. “The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens,” he said. Armed teachers and armed security guards could prevent horrific acts like those in Uvalde, Trump argued.
The annual NRA meeting was held in Houston, Texas, just three days after the school massacre in Uvalde, some 450 kilometers away. Some politicians and musicians canceled their participation in the NRA event, but not Trump. According to media reports, thousands of people protested against gun violence and the NRA in front of the event site.
Harris travels to Buffalo
Vice President Kamala Harris lays flowers in front of the supermarket May 28 where a racist gunman opened fire.
Just ten days before the Uvalde massacre, a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing ten people and injuring three others. According to investigators, the act was racially motivated – 11 of the 13 victims were black. Buffalo has a mostly black population.
US Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Buffalo on Saturday to visit the crime scene. Harris attended the memorial service for one of the fatalities, an 86-year-old woman, with her husband, Doug Emhoff. She also visited the crime scene and laid flowers there. President Joe Biden traveled to Buffalo a few days after the attack and condemned the act as racist terrorism.