Beto O'Rourke, Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, rebuked the current Republican president of the state, Greg Abbott, on Wednesday for not having prevented the shooting at Robb Elementary School in which 19 children and two teachers died.
O'Rourke interrupted Abbott's news conference to tell him that the shooting had been "completely predictable" and that he had done "nothing to stop it."
Democratic candidate for governor of Texas Beto O'Rourke rebukes Republican Governor Greg Abbott, on May 25, 2022. Dario Lopez-Mills / AP
"This is your fault until you choose to do something different
," O'Rourke said.
Several officials silenced O'Rourke as he approached the stage, one of them calling him a "sick son of a b***h" as officers escorted him out of the arena.
Following O'Rourke's interruption, the governor said the discussion should be confined to the process of recovering the victims and "hope."
[The Texas school killer was bullied as a child and became increasingly violent. He thus acted during the shooting with 21 victims]
"I was about to say that there will be plenty of time to discuss and analyze what happened yesterday and
do everything in our power to prevent it from happening again
," Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said.
"But now is the time to focus on these families, as the governor just said," he added.
The father of one of the children killed at the school was present at the Abbott conference
May 25, 202201:42
Abbott reported during the news conference that the shooter, Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old, had posted several warnings on social media before Tuesday's shooting.
In one of these Facebook posts, Ramos said that he intended to shoot his grandmother.
In another message he assured that he had already done it.
The woman is hospitalized in critical condition.
In a third message 15 minutes before the shooting, Ramos openly declared his intentions:
"I'm going to shoot an elementary school."
[Irma García, Annabell Rodríguez, Xavier López... Here's what we know about the 21 victims of the Texas school shooting]
The governor claimed that Ramos had no history of mental health issues and, other than social media posts, "there was no significant warning of this crime."
New York considers raising the age limit to buy guns
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she wants to raise the age to legally buy the kind of guns used in the Buffalo and Texas massacres this month to 21.
Hochul, a Democrat, is one of several state leaders who have considered restricting access to firearms following the shootings at a supermarket and an elementary school that killed 31 people in 10 days, including several young children.
Buffalo massacre: City fires youngest shooting victim, 32-year-old woman
May 22, 202200:39
Hochul said Friday that he will ask the New York legislature to raise the minimum age to 21 to buy assault rifles like the one used by the Texas shooter and the one in Buffalo.
“How can an 18 year old buy an AR-15 in the state of New York, the state of Texas?
That person is not old enough to buy a legal [alcoholic] beverage,” the governor declared at a press conference.
“I want it to be 21 years.
I think it's just common sense,” she added.
[The partner of the murderer's mother says that the young man argued "for anything"]
“The horrific massacre of 19 children and two teachers in Texas, not even two weeks after the murder of 10 New Yorkers in Buffalo,
is yet another infuriating reminder of the plague of gun violence facing our nation
,” he added.
Hochul ordered that the flags remain at half-staff to continue honoring victims in Buffalo and now those in Texas.
He also announced a series of measures to beef up security after the latest shooting, including increasing visibility in schools and an emergency meeting on school safety in the state.
