hundreds of people have attended a vigil
in texas after 19 children and two
teachers were killed in a mass shooting
at a primary school in the town of
ivaldi the attack has reignited the
debate over gun laws in the united
states from texas here's our
correspondent nomia iqbal
they came for the thoughts and prayers
families held each other tightly to try
and make sense of the unimaginable they
sang and prayed the mood was somber and
their grief palpable we're just grieving
of this horrific tragedy
so
coming together to show the support for
each other for the families you know
this couple told us their eight-year-old
grandson made it out of the school alive
i went and checked on my grandson as
soon as he saw me he hugged me he was so
scared
and i cried with the muscle so i told
him it'll be okay
let me check on your on your classmates
and your teacher i know that everybody's
scared but you all will be like
this is a community that's dealing with
profound grief and people came here
inside the arena in their hundreds
usually rodeo shows happen here
but tonight there was a prayer vigil and
people say this
is their way of healing
the murder of 19 children and their two
teachers has left this country reeling
xavier lopez was in his fourth year at
primary school as was el garcia and
emery joe just 10.
their teacher ava morelles died jumping
in front of her students they had all
been barricaded in one classroom
the man who cruelly took their lives was
this local teenager 18 year old salvador
ramos he sent out messages on social
media saying he was going to attack an
elementary school he was killed by
police
it's the worst school shooting in a
decade the death of small children has
reignited the polarizing issue of gun
control in america
and whilst politicians unite in grief
they quickly divide on the politics when
in god's name will we do what needs to
be done
to not completely stop fundamentally
change the amount of the carnage that
goes on in this country
to state the obvious and cory and a lot
of other people here i'm sick and tired
i'm just sick and tired
of what's going on it continues to go on
at a press conference texas governor who
is a republican has loosened gun laws
here he was ambushed by his democratic
opponent who accused him of doing
nothing about gun violence he's right
now and you're doing nothing no he needs
to get his ass out here
republicans here say this isn't about
guns they say strict gun control
infringes on american people's
constitutional right to bear arms it
divides america deeply and even after a
horrific shooting that divide deepens
not too much into politics but um
i mean something something needs to
change you know
whether it's
something needs to change because it's
ridiculous you know it's very ridiculous
that we're putting children's lives in
danger and
you know it's just not right
this is not about politics it's you know
we're americans the second amendment is
a part of
the second amendment is a part of our
our liberties to even be here in america
this is not about politics the gun
control is not about politics
guns don't kill people people kill
people
president biden says he will visit the
city in the coming days
will this be a turning point in america
when it comes to tougher gun laws the
grim expectation is either little or
nothing will change
nomirikpal bbc news ivaldi in texas
we're hearing more from the families of
the victims here's the father of
jacqueline cazares who is 10 speaking
about his daughter's love of life
she's full of love and full of life
and she would do anything for anybody
and
to me she's in the firecracker when
she's using it
it comforts me a little bit just to
think that she'd be the one to help
her friends and me there and then
when we were at the hospital about two
and a half hours i mean
it sat in the sad because you know
there's other people that took longer
luckily my niece was able to
be there and see her come out of the
hospital i mean out of the ambulance
and
of course she notified us and
were at the school still and you know my
father you know just
booked it and i wanted to be there as
soon as i could
she was there you know
they couldn't confirm that it was her
but my knees saw firsthand they pulled
her up
a year ago i mean she brought us
together
and uh something beautiful
and uh
she probably has been together
that's just into cazares well more
details are coming to light about the
shooting for example the gunman posted
about his intentions on facebook
here's our north america correspondent
david willis
we now know this is the deadliest school
shooting in this country in nearly a
decade since the sandy hook massacre in
newtown connecticut 19 killed and two
adults as well as those school children
and as you say we know as well
that the gunman 18 year old salvador
ramos posted a number of messages on
online before he embarked on this
murderous rampage he said that he was
going to kill his grandmother he
reported then that he'd done so and he
said then that he was going to embark on
a shooting a rampage at an elementary
school which of course he did
after uh taking a car crashing it and
then entering the school through a back
door now um the officials are saying
that they're trying to pinpoint what
actually happened during
the early part of that
incident when he was confronted by an
official at the school gate they're
trying to find out why there wasn't some
sort of standoff at that point but it
appears that salvador bramas then ran
into the building
and started shooting with his rifle
president biden of course has been
vociferous once again in calling for
enhanced gun controls in this country it
is not a matter on which rival
republicans agree republicans believe
that the answer to shooting incidents of
this kind lies in
more police
tougher mental health checks and so on
but both sides
are accusing the other of politicizing
this debate and it's starting to look
once again as though very little will be
achieved in terms of legislation