now reporting
david muir
good evening we're coming back on the
air because president biden is about to
address the nation after the horrific
and deadly mass shooting at rob
elementary school in uvalde texas about
80 miles outside san antonio tonight 18
elementary school children we have
learned were shot and killed and two
adults including a fourth grade teacher
we've now learned the teacher's name eva
morales the gunman suspected a 18 year
old at the school also dead the governor
identifying him as 18-year-old salvador
ramos
the governor said brahmos shot and
killed his own grandmother before going
to that school
president biden just returned to the
white house tonight after his trip to
asia he spoke with governor abbott while
on board air force one the white house
saying the president has promised any
and all assistance
the president again lowering flags to
half staff at the white house and of
course it was just 10 days ago he
ordered flags lowered following the mass
shooting in buffalo new york ubaldi is a
rural town of fewer than 20 000 people
if you look at the map there you can see
it's not far from the mexico border we
learned today as this was all unfolding
that some of the children were taken to
san antonio others were taken to the
uvalde memorial hospital right there in
that community we also watched as
parents in a familiar scene and all too
familiar scene in this country rushed to
the scene asking questions
one father rushing up to our reporter at
the scene and asking her did she know
where parents should go he even asked
her where the funeral is looking for any
information on his own child she said
many of the parents said they were
looking for their 10 year olds that was
her clue as to what the age might be of
the children
you can see the first lady dr jill biden
there and the president
approaching the microphone to address
the nation
good evening fellow americans
i'd
hoped when i became president i would
not have to do this
again
another massacre
uvalde texas
an elementary school
beautiful
innocent
second third fourth graders
and how many scores of little children
who witness what happened
see their friends die
as if they're on a battlefield for god's
sake
i don't know with the rest of their
lives
there's a lot we don't know yet
there's a lot we do know
the parents who will never see their
child again
never have them jump in bed and cuddle
with them
parents will never be the same
to lose a child
it's like having a piece of your soul
ripped away
there's a hollowness in your chest you
feel like you're being sucked into it
you're never going to be able to get out
suffocating
it's never quite the same
it's a feeling shared by the siblings
and the grandparents and the family
members and the community that's left
behind
scripture says
that jill and i have talked about this
in different contexts another context
the lord
is near to the brokenhearted
and saved the crushed in spirit
so many crushed spirits
so tonight
i asked the nation to pray for
them give the parents simply the
strength
and the darkness they feel right now
as a nation we have to ask when in god's
name
are we going to stand up to the gun
lobby
when in god's name
we do we all know in our gut needs to be
done
and so 340
3448 days
ten years since i stood up at
a high school in connecticut a grade
school in connecticut
or another gunman massacred 26 people
including 20 first graders at sandy hook
elementary school
since then
there have been over 900 incidents
of gunfire reported on school grounds
marjory stoneman douglas high school in
parkland florida
santa fe high school in texas
oxford high school in michigan
list goes on and on and well this grows
when it includes mass shootings at
places like movie theaters houses of
worship
as we saw just 10 days ago the grocery
store in buffalo new york
i am sick and tired of it
we have to act
and don't tell me
we can't have an impact on this carnage
i spent my career as a senator and a
vice president
working to pass common sense gun laws
we can it won't prevent every tragedy
but we know they work and have positive
impact when we passed the assault
weapons ban
mass shootings went down
when the law expired mass shootings
tripled
the idea that an 18 year old kid
can walk into a gun store and buy two
assault weapons
it's just wrong
what in god's name do you need a solvent
for except to kill someone
there aren't running through the
forest with kevlar vests on for god's
sake
it's just sick
and the gun manufacturers have spent two
decades aggressively marking assault
weapons which make them the most and
largest profit
for god's sake we have to have the
courage to stand up to the industry
here's what else i know
most americans support common sense laws
common sense gun laws
i just got off
a trip from
asia meeting with
asian leaders
and i learned of this while i was on the
aircraft
and what struck
me on that
17-hour flight
what struck me
was these kinds of mass shootings rarely
happen anywhere else in the world
why
they have mental health problems
they have domestic disputes in other
countries
they have people who are lost
but these kinds of masculinities never
happen with the kind of frequency that
happened in america why
why are we willing to live with this
carnage
why don't we keep letting this happen
we're in god's name is our backbone
to have the courage to deal with and
stand up to the lobbies
it's a time to turn this pain into
action
for every parent for every citizen of
this country
we have to make it clear to every
elected official in this country it's
time to act
it's time for those who obstruct or
delay
or block the common sense gun laws we
need to let you know that we will not
forget
we can do so much more
we have to do more
our prayer tonight
for those parents
lying in bed trying to figure out
will i be able to sleep again
what do i say to my other children
what happens tomorrow
may god bless the loss of innocent life
on this sad day
and may the lord be near the
brokenhearted
and save those
crushed in spirit
because they're going to need a lot of
help
a lot of our prayers
god love you
president biden in the roosevelt room
with dr jill biden the first lady
speaking to the nation after the deadly
mass shooting at an elementary school in
uvalde texas today
the president speaking of his time is
vice president traveling to sandy hook
some 10 years ago when 26 people were
killed including
20 first graders at the time he talked
about the children who survived this
today saying how many scores of little
children witnessed what happened it was
as if they were in a battlefield he said
they'll know that and remember that
moment and the terror their entire lives
he talked about the crushed spirits the
lives that were lost their families
heartbroken who were left behind and you
saw for a moment he turned behind him to
the first lady who also tweeted about
tweeted out her own heartbreak at the
news here today and she pushed
the president pushed for action from
congress saying it's time to act i want
to bring in our chief white house
correspondent cecilia vega cecilia he
said right at the top he hoped when he
became president he would not have to
address the nation like this and in the
last week and a half he's had to talk
about buffalo
california and now texas addressing the
nation two times in one week over a mass
shooting david lowering the flags here
at the white house and on federal
buildings
twice in the last few days because of
these horrific mass shootings we are
seeing a president
who is clearly grieving of course a
president speaking about the hollowness
that comes from losing a child he of
course is speaking from personal
experience on that front but this is a
president who is frustrated this is a
president who is angry to use the words
of the first lady who was also by his
side there tonight a teacher herself who
tweeted this afternoon that she is
stunned heartbroken and angry lord
enough the president saying that he is
sick and tired that we have to act he is
calling renewing these calls that we
have heard from him particularly for a
ban on assault weapons david we have
talked about this after these shootings
time and time and time again
gun control remains stalled even 10
years after that horrific tragedy at
sandy hook to this day it remains
stalled on capitol hill congress is not
acting on that front the democrats do
not have the votes even needed to to
move forward on any kind of assault
weapons ban so we said again i will say
this david we have seen this president
in a week's time just unthinkable in a
week's time addressing this nation in
the wake of a mass shooting and here we
are asking this administration and
lawmakers in this city when is enough
going to be enough and they still don't
have that answer and cecilia it's always
interesting when you see the
juxtaposition of a president in this
case now president biden as presidents
have done so before him
he talked about sandy hook he talked
about parkland and the scores of other
schools that have have come afterward
where the public polling stands on some
sort of action to try to cut down on
these mass shootings moving forward that
the public polling is in one place and
yet as you point out the votes on
capitol hill simply aren't there
yeah
that's exactly right david in some ways
as journalists i think it feels very
simple when you point it out that way
that the american public wants to see
some kind of action on gun control and
yet this city lawmakers this
administration republicans and democrats
are completely stalled i'll give you
just a quick example we heard from
republican senator ted cruz of texas say
today inevitably when there's a murder
of this kind you see politicians try to
politicize it you see democrats and the
media he says trying to restrict
constitutional rights of law-abiding
citizens we're back at square one on the
basis of this debate over gun control
cecilia vega live at the white house
tonight cecilia thank you for being here
with us uh tonight hearing the president
address the nation tonight saying he was
hoping he would not have to do this as
president and as cecilia points out he's
now done it a couple of times in just
the last week and a half i want to bring
in our investigative reporter aaron
katurski who's been reporting this out
with me all afternoon and into the
evening what we're learning now
about the suspect 18 years old believed
to be a student at the high school in
that small tight-knit community
we have the name of the fourth grade
teacher now eva morelles
but we'd also be remiss if we didn't
mention that authorities revealed pretty
early on today
that they believe the suspect there's
the teacher right there the fourth grade
teacher that they believe the suspect
also killed his grandmother before going
to that school
that began what you heard president
biden called the battlefield there in
uvalde texas killing his grandmother
before this 18 year old salvador ramos
went inside the elementary school and
turned the gun on kids we believe mainly
third and fourth graders 18 of whom
authorities now say were killed david
this battlefield was both outside the
school and inside the school we're told
the suspect was engaged by police
officers outside from the uvalde
independent school district they were
simply outgunned we're told that he was
carrying an ar-15 style rifle that
authorities have recovered at the scene
he was able to move inside the school
where he opened fire in at least one if
not more classrooms and there was an
awful lot of gunfire exchanged with law
enforcement david for some of the
responding officers this was deeply
personal a number of agents from customs
and border protection have kids who go
to that school they were there
responding to this mass shooting david
and erin we're just learning from our
team that you work very closely with
that the shooting took place as soon as
the suspect entered the school and that
all of the victims at the school died
quote in the same location inside that
school
we know from our team on the scene that
many of the parents who were showing up
today were asking
where they could find information on
their loved ones and in many cases they
pointed out that their loved ones were
10 years old which gave us an idea of
what grade this might have been
mainly third and fourth graders david
nine ten years old just heartbreaking to
to think of of those victims and the the
anguish
the crushed spirits as the president
called it of their parents tonight that
have to now figure out how to go on with
their lives after having their kids
gunned down inside a school and the
president ticked off the numerous
shootings that have happened inside
schools this one by an 18 year old
police say they're now going through his
social media accounts they're seeing a
number of images of guns and other
violent content trying to figure out why
this happened david aaron katowski with
us all afternoon and evening erin our
thanks to you
and the numbers are just chilling it's
hard to wrap your head around this but
again
we're now at 18 elementary school
children who were shot and killed today
along with that teacher again eva
morales a fourth grade teacher we're
also learning from our team that the
gunman was quickly confronted by law
enforcement inside that building after
these shootings were underway
the spokesperson would not say if that
meant that this 18 year old was
confronted inside a classroom or in fact
inside a hallway but that the shooter
did not move throughout the school from
classroom to classroom as we have seen
in some of these past shootings so it
would appear at this point and again
it's still early in this investigation
that the shooter targeted a specific
classroom uh
in taking these lives these precious
lives and as you heard
the president talk about the crushed
spirits of these families who waited at
that civic center this afternoon for
word
i want to bring in mariah variol who is
our texas reporter she got to the scene
uh very quickly today and maria we were
on the air this afternoon and i still
can't get it out of my mind when you
reported in the father who got to the
scene and was looking for answers as
parents always do in these communities
coming up to you and asking
if you could at least tell them where
the funeral home was maybe he could get
information there
there definitely was a lot of chaos
david uh when this all started to unfold
even in the afternoon i mean this
happened at 11 30 in the morning
and parents were showing up at about two
or three in the afternoon still
unsure about what had happened to their
children and that father yes asking me
if i knew where the funeral home was
because he didn't know where his child
was at the time still missing hadn't
found that person at the civic center or
the local hospitals we've heard from a
number of parents since then that have
said the same exact thing and
grandparents who are still here
you know waiting on curbsides to try and
find out more information about their
child and how this could have happened
now a number of people are asking us how
is it possible that this young man was
able to buy this type of gun these types
of guns and on top of that the questions
still remain about how he was able to
get in to this school some of the
parents have told us that there may have
been some sort of graduation service
happening for some of the younger
children and that might have been why he
was able to slip in but still a number
of people coming to the aid of of the
victims trying to subdue this particular
suspect and in the process like we've
seen even midelas losing her life trying
to protect some of the students inside
this school right now just want to
repeat we have been able to confirm with
the texas dps troopers here on scene
that 18 children lost their lives today
and two adults so a very heartbreaking
situation but still a lot of details
still left unknown
and with just a few moments left maria
let me just ask you one quick question
here you pointed out the grandparents
that you said are still sitting curbside
there so just reinforcing this notion
that many families are still waiting for
official word on their loved ones on
these children
they are and i think a lot of that has
to do with the scene you see behind me a
lot of stuff is still happening here
texas rangers now taking the lead here
on this investigation they still have to
go inside and they have to process all
of this before they can come out and
completely identify the victims that is
just heartbreaking maria via ariel there
in uvalde texas for us tonight again the
toll just staggering and one more
community here in this country in uvalde
texas 18 elementary school children shot
and killed including a teacher a fourth
grade teacher whose name is eva morelles
i'm david muir in new york thank you for
watching i'll see you tomorrow good
night
this has been a special report from abc