UVALDE. Ten-year-old Jacklyn was shot to death in the classroom.
At the same time, her father stood outside the school and heard the shots.
– She had the biggest heart, says Jacinto Cazares about her daughter.
Jacinto Cazares picks up his mobile phone and shows a picture of his daughter. A soft smile, with the black hair over his shoulders. The photo has been edited so that Jacklyn has angel wings.
– We are completely devastated, says Jacinto.
Both his daughter and her cousin, Annabelle Rodriguez, went to fourth grade at Robb Elementary.
With only two days left until the summer holidays, the girls were killed in one of the worst school shootings in US history.
They turned ten years old.
Dad Jacinto fights back tears behind his sunglasses. It has only been a day since the tragedy at the primary school when he tells about his daughter before a massive press rally.
During the shooting, he and several other anxious parents stood outside the school building, hearing the bangs.
– We were maybe 50 meters away. We were ready to storm in. We just wanted to know where our children lived, says Cazares.
Messy press conference
He has just stepped out of the auditorium at the city’s high school. A dramatic press conference was held there under the chairmanship of Texas Governor Gregg Abbott.
– Evil swept through Uvalde yesterday, he began.
In the middle of the press conference, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke stood up and interrupted the event on stage, in loud protest against the Republican’s arms policy.
In the crowd, with locals and affected family members, a screaming match erupted.
– Let him speak! He has a lot to say, said one woman.
– It’s not the right time for this !, replied a man.
The massacre lasted 40 minutes
The police also told what they know so far about the shooting. On Tuesday morning, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos is said to have first shot his grandmother. Then he crashed the car outside the school.
Half an hour earlier, the suspected perpetrator is said to have posted messages on Facebook.
First: “I’m going to shoot my grandmother.”
And later: “I’m going to run an elementary school.”
Ramos is said to have entered through a back door of the school, and barricaded himself in the room with fourth-graders and teachers, according to US authorities.
The massacre is said to have lasted for 40 minutes.
No one came out alive. The perpetrator was shot by police.
With 19 students killed and two teachers, it is the deadliest school shooting in the United States in ten years.
Once again, an American society is in shock, all flags waving at half mast.
The event is also part of the country’s worst mass shootings: Over 200 so far – more than one per day in 2022.
“Friends’ children did not make it”
Yellow barrier bands remain around the elementary school Robb Elementary. A flower mountain is slowly being built on the school’s welcome sign. Families with children hold each other.
Marcel Valdez, 63, approaches with a bouquet and stuffed animal with his daughter. He knew one of the killed teachers. 48-year-old Irma Garcia. Marcel sits on the district school board and was present when she was hired once upon a time.
– We have been told that she died when she tried to protect her students. It is very moving, he says.
Jackie Garcia, 51, and her daughter Emily Saiz, 17, are also squeezing through the world’s collective press corps to lay flowers at the schoolyard.
– My best friend’s son was here when it happened, but came out. Other friends’ children did not survive. It’s heartbreaking. These innocent children, Jackie sighs.
– We never thought that something like this would happen here. He’s a devil, she continues about the shooter.
Barricaded around his home
Five minutes walk from the school is a simple single storey villa, surrounded by steel fences. In the driveway, chickens are cackling. A wooden cross hangs next to the front door.
When Aftonbladet is in place, feverish activity can be seen. Several police officers are moving in the rooms where Ramos lived with his grandmother, 66-year-old Celia Martínez.
This is also where he is said to have shot her in the face.
“My heart is broken”
A couple of kilometers away, the city has set up a reunion center, for families who were looking for their children during the first 24 hours.
Here sits 46-year-old David. He has not been able to go to work the day after the school massacre.
The thoughts just spin.
– My two nieces are injured in the hospital. One is shot in the shoulder. The other in the face, he says.
– But they will manage. Thank goodness, he continues.
The girls are ten and nine years old. They like volleyball and hanging out with friends. David puts his hand over his forehead.
– My heart is broken by seeing them forced to go through this.
Society is so small that “everyone knows everyone”, he says. His own son was familiar with the 18-year-old shooter. They went to the same school a couple of years ago.
– My son has told me that he used to be like in another world.