Beto O’Rourke, Democratic candidate for Texas governor, interrupted a conference about yesterday’s deadly Uvalde school shooting, arguing that what happened was ‘totally predictable’ and that officials ’chose to do nothing’.
At least 21 people, including two teachers, were killed after teenage gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in the city of Uvalde yesterday, 24 June.
In the wake of the tragic mass shooting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference to provide an update on the investigation into the attack.
He had been speaking about how mental health problems within the community were the cause of the shooting – as opposed to widespread gun control issues in the US – when O’Rourke approached the stage.
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As he came closer, Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, told him: “You're out of line and an embarrassment.”
While O’Rourke’s full argument could not be heard, at one point he could be heard saying to the officials before him: “You are doing nothing.”
He added: "You said this was not predictable. This is totally predictable, and you chose not to do anything."
Another man continued to shout down at O’Rourke: “Sir, you’re out of line. Please leave this auditorium. I can’t believe you’re a sick son of a b***h, that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue.”
People in the crowd could also be heard shouting at the line of officials to ‘let him talk’.
O’Rourke was eventually escorted out of the room by security, but at one point he stopped to turn back and address the stage again, as someone on the stage branded him an ‘a**hole’.
Before O’Rourke interrupted the press conference, Abbott had placed blame on mental health problems in Uvalde, a Texan city with a population of around 16,000.
He said: “Before coming out here we had a long discussion with the law enforcement at all levels. I asked the sheriff and others an open-ended question, I got the same answer from the sheriff as well as from the mayor, ‘What is the problem here?’
“They were straight forward and emphatic. They said we have a problem with mental health illness in this community.
“Then they elaborated on the magnitude of the mental health challenges they are facing and the need for more mental health support in this region."
Abbott had also revealed that Ramos shared a post to his social media page just minutes before murdering almost two dozen people.
The 18-year-old wrote: "I'm going to shoot my grandmother."
Ramos then posted: "I shot my grandmother."
And less than 15 minutes after that, he posted again: "I'm going to shoot an elementary school."
According to Abbott, this was the only information known about Ramos before the shooting.
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Topics: US News
Jess Hardiman