UVALDE, Texas — Some people are donating money, others are jumping in their vehicles, feeling the need to comfort the community of Uvalde after the shooting.

Crosses now stand in the heart of Uvalde. Each cross represents people that will be part of this community forever.

Bonnie Fear’s organization, Lutheran Church Charities, brought the crosses to Uvalde’s town square.

Each cross carries a name of a victim with a marker so people can leave a message.

"It could be for them to help express their grief, in the end, it ends up with the family our hope is our family can then get that heart and read the heartfelt messages for their loved one,” Fear says.

“I will always love you, my beautiful granddaughter,” a message reads on the sign of Laya Salazar, from her grandmother.

It is impossible to know what can heal a wound so permanent and deep.

“If they need to, they need any prayers or they need our support silently we just listen and be with them," Fear says.

Albert Villegas is one who felt he had to come to help those impacted by the shooting know they are not alone.

“Faith, you got to have faith when things are going good, and things are going bad," says Villegas.

Villegas and his wife drove from five hours away, through the night, to be in Uvalde to be with those who are suffering. They set up a prayer station.

"People are going to come by and need prayer, say a little prayer, Maybe they need a hug. Comfort them, you know?" Villegas says.

Fear's charity also brought Golden retrievers from Texas and Oklahoma as comfort dogs.

What it will take to heal this town is a question without a clear answer but those who have come are hoping they be part of the journey to find it.

UVALDE, Texas — The mother of the gunman who killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas says she wants people to forgive him.

“I have no words. I have no words to say. I don't know what he was thinking. He had his reasons for doing what he did and please don't judge him. I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me,” Adriana Martínez told reporters from Mexico.

Martínez said she believes her son had his “reasons” for the shooting.

“What reasons could he have had?” a Televisa reporter asked.

“To get closer to those children, instead of paying attention to the other bad things. I have no words, I don't know,” Martínez said.

Investigators say the gunman shot his grandmother at home before going to Robb Elementary School.

She survived and is still in the hospital.

CINCINNATI —

Update: 6:40 p.m.

The senate committee voted to advance House Bill 99 after hearing testimony from both sides of the issue during a four-hour session on Tuesday. The bill will be moved to the Rules and Regulations committee for further deliberation.

Original story:

Among those who think it's not a smart move to make it easier for Ohio teachers to carry guns is 15-year-old Katherine Hiland.

"More guns in schools only increases the access that students have to guns," Hiland said. "And I would know best. I'm a teenager. We get up to a lot of trouble even when we don't mean to."

Hiland testified before an Ohio Senate committee Tuesday in Columbus. The committee is considering House Bill 99, which would cut the training hours for school staff to be certified to carry guns in a school from 700 to 20.

"We were absolutely just sickened," Michelle Mueller said.

Mueller is part of a gun safety group called Moms Demand Action. She said having more teachers with more weapons would be a serious step backward for Ohio.

"Our teachers are not, didn't sign up for this job to be sharpshooters," Mueller said. "They will tell you in their own voice. They are there to educate our children."

Mueller said a better option is to expand background checks on gun buyers and to create a Red Flag law. Those are laws to keep guns out of the hands of people considered dangerous by loved ones and the legal system.

"The things that we know for certain is when these events happen in every school, there are certain staff who are going to give up their lives to buy these kids a few more seconds of life." Joe Eaton said.

Eaton, with Buckeye Firearms, is a big proponent of making it simpler for educators to carry a gun. He says an armed teacher can make a difference if an active shooter suddenly appears.

"Even if the staff is able to confront them, it changes their focus - from the innocent people to the person confronting them. And that, in and of itself, saves lives," he said. "Teachers are willing to do that. We need to give them the opportunity to go home to their families at the end of the night also."

Ohio's change in gun training is because of a state Supreme Court ruling. The justices ruled last year that because the General Assembly did not mandate specific requirements, that teachers would have to have the same training as police — about 700 hours. The bill being debated in Columbus lowers that number to 20 hours.

Miah Cerrillo recounted what happened when a gunman entered her classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last month killing 19 students and two teachers.

Miah, a fourth-grader at the school, was among a group of mass shooting survivors, families and advocates testifying before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The hearing was held as lawmakers debate new gun laws in the wake of a slew of recent mass shootings.

Miah told Congress that she covered herself with a classmate’s blood during the shooting.

“We were just watching a movie,” she said. “And then she heard something and went to lock the door. He was in the hallway and then he came in and attacked. And then (the teacher) went to the back of the room and she told us to go hide. And then we went to go hide behind my teacher’s desk and behind the backpacks and then he shot the little window. And then he went to the other classroom, and there was a door between our classrooms and he went through there and shot my teacher and killed my teacher and he shot her in the head.

“And then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard. When I went to the backpacks, he shot my friend that was next to me and I thought he was gonna come back into the room, so I grabbed the blood and I put it all over me. And I stayed quiet and then called 911.”

Miah said she told the 911 dispatcher that she “needed help.”

She added that she does not feel safe in school and believes it could happen again.

Dr. Roy Guerrero, who was also among those testifying on Wednesday, treated Miah at the hospital.

“As I entered the ER, the first casualty I came across was Miah Cerrillo,” he said. “She was sitting in the hallway with her face still, still in shock but her whole body shaking from the adrenaline coursing through it. The white Lilo & Stitch shirt that she wore was covered in blood and her shoulder was bleeding from the shrapnel injury. Sweet Miah I have known my whole life. As a baby, she survived liver surgeries against all odds, and once again, she is here is a survivor, inspiring us with her story today and her bravery.

“When I saw Miah sitting there, I remembered sitting her parents outside, so after seeing the parents outside, I raced outside to let her see that she was alive.”

Guerrero had parting words for the lawmakers in the room.

"I chose to be a pediatrician, I chose to take care of children, keeping them safe from preventable diseases I can do," he said. "Keeping them safe from bacteria and brittle bones I can do. But making sure our children are safe from guns, that is the job of our politicians and leaders. In this case, you are the doctors and our country is a patient. We are lying on the operating table, riddled with bullets like the children of Robb Elementary and so many other schools. We are bleeding out and you are not there. My oath as a doctor means I signed up to save lives. I do my job, and I guess it turns out that I am here to plead. To beg, to plead, please do yours."

Guerrero wasn't the only person at the hearing calling for lawmakers to take action. The mother of Lexi Rubio, who was killed at Robb Elementary, urged lawmakers to prevent future mass shootings.

"We seek a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. We understand that for some reason, to some people, to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns, that guns are more important than children. So, at this moment we ask for progress," Kimberly Rubio said.

Related video above: Texas leader says Uvalde police response a "failure"A preliminary report by the Texas House investigative committee probing the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers outlines multiple failures by several entities, including the overall law enforcement response, the Uvalde school system, the shooter's family and social media platforms.CNN has obtained and is reviewing the report, which was made available to the victims' families Sunday morning. The families are expected to meet with the committee Sunday afternoon to discuss the report and its findings, which come more than a month after the committee began investigating the attack and law enforcement's response.The investigative committee's report and the video are expected to be released to the public concurrent with Sunday's meeting with family members. A news conference is scheduled for Sunday afternoon for members of the press to ask the committee questions. A source previously told CNN the report was expected to focus on the facts of the attack, include a chronological sequence of events, a timeline, a law enforcement manifest, and details on the shooter. It was also expected to clarify conflicting accounts of what happened, include verbatim quotes from sworn testimony, and show that the law enforcement failure that day was much greater than one person or one agency, one source has said.Members of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police chief and officers, the district superintendent, the school's principal, a teacher and custodial staff are among those who testified behind closed doors to the committee -- with roughly 40 people testifying, according to one source.Republican state Rep. Dustin Burrows, the committee chairman, said last month the group would do "everything in its power" to provide facts and answers about what happened "leading up to, during, and in the aftermath of this tragedy."Printed copies of the report were hand-delivered to Uvalde and Texas officials Saturday night out of fear the document might leak to the media before family members of the victims were able to read it, according to some of the officials who received the report.The surveillance footage was leaked and published by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper on Tuesday, sparking outrage from both local officials and families who said they were blindsided and disrespected by the unexpected release. The report comes nearly eight weeks after an 18-year-old gunman walked into Robb Elementary and began firing inside a classroom, killing 19 children and two teachers. Key questions about the police response to the shooting remain unanswered since. Principal among them: why authorities waited more than an hour in the school hallway before confronting and killing the gunman, a move that law enforcement experts say may have potentially cost lives.DPS Director Col. Steven McCraw has condemned the law enforcement response to the attack, calling it an "abject failure" in a hearing before a Texas Senate committee last month and placing the blame on the on-scene commander, who state authorities have identified as district police chief Pedro "Pete" Arredondo."The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering rooms 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children," McCraw said at the time.But Arredondo, who was placed on administrative leave by the school district, told the Texas Tribune last month he did not consider himself the incident commander and assumed that another official had taken control of the larger response. "He took on the role of a front-line responder," the paper wrote of the chief.Arredondo testified behind closed doors in Austin to the House investigative committee in June.

A mom on TikTok posted a video training her son on active shooter situations.

The video posted by Cassie Walton has over a million likes and comes after one of the deadliest elementary school shootings on record concluded the 2021-22 school years. In May, 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school.

The mom instructed her son on how to use his bulletproof backpack to shield his body. She also taught her son what to do if police arrive if the gunman is in the same room.

"In the back of your mind, you just are always worried about it. And it's never off the table," Walton told ABC News. "It's always possible no matter where you live, or what kind of school you go to, you just really never know."

The Uvalde district has received funds to help students purchase bulletproof backpacks, the Texas Tribune reported.

@thewaltonfamily1 Happy back to school season…. #foryoupage #backtoschool #foryou #needschange #PostitAffirmations #momiktok ♬ L$d - Luclover

LITTLETON, Colo. — On Monday morning, the National Association of Secondary School Principals' (NASSP) Principal Recovery Network met at the Columbine Memorial and shared its new Guide to Recovery, a resource for school leaders in the aftermath of a school shooting.

“Since 2013, there have been at least 943 incidents of gunfire on school grounds,” said Ronn Nozoe, CEO of NASSP. “But what happens to a school community in the wake of horrific events?”

The guide is a collection of best practices based on the lived experiences of the guide’s authors, who are all former and current school leaders.

During the event, the current principal of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and former Columbine High School Principal Frank DeAngelis talked about some of their experiences that were included in the guide.

“I remember walking into that building the Saturday after… and seeing standing water and food left on the table and I saw blood-stained carpets. And that was something I was never ever prepared for,” DeAngelis said.

DeAngelis, a founder of the network, has become a source of knowledge for his colleague.

DeAngelis highlighted three key elements that he said would have helped him in 1999, following the shooting at his school.

“We were dealing with burying 13 of our family members, and then all sudden we have graduation coming up. So the guide looks at what worked for us and what did not work,” DeAngelis said. “The other thing is the remembrance. You know, what do you do?... Returning to a building. How do you do that? Because there's a lot of trauma.”

DeAngelis said the recovery network is already sharing its guide with principals who never imagined themselves among this group.

“Uvalde — they're really struggling to go back in that building,” DeAngelis said. “One of my colleagues from an elementary school has reached out and they have started dialogue on that.”

Each member of the recovery network said they hope no school leader needs their guide. But as history shows, they might.

This article was written by Micah Smith for KMGH.

ST. LOUIS —

At least two students were injured Monday morning in a shooting inside a St. Louis high school.

The shooting was reported just after 9 a.m. at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, prompting hundreds of students, faculty and staff to leave the building, many of them running. The school was immediately surrounded by dozens of police vehicles.

St. Louis Public Schools said on Twitter that the shooter was "quickly stopped" by police. A tweet from the police department said the shooter was in custody. No further details about the shooter were immediately released.

The FBI said in a statement later Monday morning that there was no longer an "immediate threat" at the school. The district said the injured students were on the way to a hospital but did not indicate how badly they were injured.

One student, 16-year-old Taniya Gholston, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch she was in a room when the shooter entered.

"All I heard was two shots and he came in there with a gun," Gholston said. "And I was trying to run and I couldn't run. Me and him made eye contact but I made it out because his gun got jammed. But we saw blood on the floor."

TV reports said officers entered the area with guns drawn shortly after 9 a.m. Crime tape was placed around the school and some parents arrived to pick up kids and check on their safety. The district, in a tweet, said students could be picked up at another school building or a nearby grocery store.

Central Visual and Performing Arts High School is a magnet school specializing in visual art, musical art and performing art. The district website says the school's "educational program is designed to create a nurturing environment where students receive a quality academic and artistic education that prepares them to compete successfully at the post-secondary level or perform competently in the world of work."

Two faculty members were shot at a Denver high school Wednesday morning and the suspect remained at large, authorities said.

Officers responded to the shooting at East High School at about 10 a.m., the Denver Police Department said in a social media post.

Two adult victims were located and taken to hospitals, and police said the suspect was no longer believed to be on scene.

East High School, not far from downtown near a busy street that cuts through the city, was placed on a lockdown as police investigated the shooting.

It was unclear if the shooting happened inside or outside the school. Denver Public Schools said the victims were faculty members.

Earlier this month students from the school skipped class and and marched to Colorado’s state Capitol to demand stricter gun laws, following the death of a fellow student who was shot while sitting in a car near school.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —

A female shooter wielding two "assault-style" rifles and a pistol killed three students and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday in what marks the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country growing increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.

The suspect also died after being shot by police following the violence at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school for about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade. Police said the shooter was a 28-year-old woman from Nashville, after initially saying she appeared to be in her teens.

Authorities were working to identify her and whether she had a connection to the school.

The killings come as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.

The Nashville victims were pronounced dead upon arrival at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. One officer had a hand wound from cut glass.

Other students walked to safety Monday, holding hands as they left their school surrounded by police cars, to a nearby church to be reunited with their parents.

"In a tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting," Mayor John Cooper wrote on Twitter. "My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you."

Jozen Reodica heard the police sirens and fire trucks blaring from outside her office building nearby. As her building was placed under lockdown, she took out her phone and recorded the chaos.

"I thought I would just see this on TV," she said. "And right now, it's real."

Video above: Jill Biden speaks after Nashville school shooting

On WTVF TV, reporter Hannah McDonald said that her mother-in-law works at the front desk at The Covenant School. The woman had stepped outside for a break Monday morning and was coming back when she heard gunshots, McDonald said during a live broadcast. The reporter said she has not been able to speak with her mother-in-law but said her husband had.

"In a tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting," Nashville Mayor John Cooper tweeted, thanking first responders and medical professionals. "My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you."

The Covenant School was founded as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in 2001, according to the school's website. The school is located in the affluent Green Hills neighborhood just south of downtown Nashville, situated close to the city's top universities and home to the famed Bluebird Café – a beloved spot for musicians and song writers.

The grade school has 33 teachers, the website said. The school's website features the motto "Shepherding Hearts, Empowering Minds, Celebrating Childhood."

The shooter entered the school through a side entrance and went to the second story, police spokesperson Don Aaron said during a news briefing.

Democratic state Rep. Bob Freeman, whose district includes The Covenant School, called Monday's shooting an "unimaginable tragedy."

"I live around the corner from Covenant and pass by it often. I have friends who attend both church and school there," Freeman said in a statement. "I have also visited the church in the past. It tears my heart apart to see this."

Another American community is reeling after a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville.

Video above: Peers and friends of Katherine Koonce share the type of person and educator she was

Monday's attack was the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a year and the 19th shooting at a school or university so far in 2023 that left at least one person wounded, a CNN count shows.

Some 562 such shootings have unfolded since 2008.

"Our community is heartbroken," The Covenant School, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, said in a statement, expressing thanks to first responders for their quick response and those showing support for the school.

"We are grieving tremendous loss and are in shock coming out of the terror that shattered our school and church. We are focused on loving our students, our families, our faculty and staff and beginning the process of healing," the school said.

Here's what we know so far about the victims:

Evelyn Dieckhaus

Evelyn was 9, police said. While her family appreciates all the love and support they've received, they're asking for space as they grieve, according to a family statement obtained by CNN affiliate KMOV.

"Our hearts are completely broken. We cannot believe this has happened," the statement said. "Evelyn was a shining light in this world."

Mike Hill

Hill, 61, was a beloved custodian at the school, police said, and a father of seven children.

Known as "Big Mike" to students, Hill was a member of the facilities/kitchen staff, according to the school website.

The staff member loved to cook and spend time with his family, according to a family statement obtained by CNN affiliate WSMV. He had 14 grandchildren.

"We would like to thank the Nashville community for all the continued thoughts and prayers. As we grieve and try to grasp any sense of understanding of why this happened, we continue to ask for support," the statement said.

"We pray for the Covenant School and are so grateful that Michael was beloved by the faculty and students who filled him with joy for 14 years," it added.

Related video below: How do schools respond to gun incidents?

Nashville parents set up a GoFundMe page to help support Hill's family with funeral expenses.

"Per his family, he took great pleasure and found tremendous joy in his job and through those students," the GoFundMe added.

His daughter, Brittany Hill, said in a Facebook post on Monday that her dad "absolutely loved" his job.

"I have watched school shootings happen over the years and never thought I would lose a loved one over a person trying to solve a temporary problem with a permanent solution," she said. "I am so sorry for the loss of those children," she added.

"Please keep my family in your prayers tonight. Hug your parents and children a little tighter."

Katherine Koonce

Koonce was 60, police said, and head of the school, according to the website.

She attended Vanderbilt University and Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville and got her master's degree from Georgia State University, it added.

Jim and Monica Lee, friends and former co-workers of Koonce, spoke Tuesday with reporters about her dedication.

"She gave her life because she was trying to protect students, protect faculty," said Jim Lee.

They said the educator had a great sense of humor and was confident. Koonce exhibited humility and made each person she interacted with feel important, Jim Lee said.

"She could be on her knees talking to a preschool student, than she could turn around and be talking to a board member and then turn around and meet with an angry parent and then turn around and meet with the teacher that is having a bad day," he added.

Cynthia Peak

Peak, 61, was believed to be a substitute teacher at the school, according to police.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee talked about the close relationship his wife Maria had with Peak.

The teacher was supposed to come over to the Lee home Monday evening for dinner.

"Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends," said Lee.

"Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce were all teachers at the same school and have been family friends for decades," Lee said.

"There will be a time to talk about the legislation and budget proposals we've brought forward this year. And clearly, there's more work to do," he said Tuesday night.

"There is hope in the midst of great tragedy because God is a redeemer. What is meant for evil can be turned for good. May we grieve in the days ahead, but not without hope. May we also act with wisdom, discernment, and grace. And may we love, especially those who have lost," Lee said in his video message.

Louisiana state Rep. Charles Anthony Owen told CNN he's known Peak his whole life. Her hometown of Leesville, Louisiana, is grieving, Owen said.

"She and my sister were the closest of friends growing up and it seems like Cindy was around for all of my childhood," he said Tuesday in a Facebook post. "She and Mae Ann had birthdays one day apart and her family lived across the street from us for a period of time. Cindy and Mae were always together."

Owen wrote that when Mae passed, Peak was one of the first faces he recalled seeing. "She was right here to grieve her old friend," he said.

Hallie Scruggs

Hallie was 9, police said, and the daughter of Covenant Presbyterian Church Lead Pastor Chad Scruggs, according to a statement by Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, a sister church Scruggs formerly served.

"We love the Scruggs family and mourn with them over their precious daughter Hallie," the Texas congregation's Senior Pastor Mark Davis said. "Together, we trust in the power of Christ to draw near and give us the comfort and hope we desperately need."

One other life taken

Also slain was William Kinney, 9, police said.

U.S. authorities on Thursday said they arrested a Washington state man who made more than 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses to his fake reports of bombs, shootings or other threats.Video above: Several Massachusetts schools receive hoax threat callsAshton Connor Garcia, 20, of Bremerton, used voice-over-internet technology to conceal his identity as he placed the calls last year — and he treated them as entertainment, broadcasting them on the social media platform Discord, federal prosecutors said.He faces 10 felony counts filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, that could bring up to a decade in prison. Court records did not immediately indicate if Garcia had an attorney who might speak on his behalf.“Every time Mr. Garcia is alleged to have made one of his false reports to law enforcement, he triggered a potentially deadly event — sending heavily armed police officers to an address where they mistakenly believed they would confront someone who was armed and dangerous,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news release. “Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the unpredictable and terrifying dynamic these calls created for Mr. Garcia’s alleged victims cannot be overstated."Garcia's arrest came as a spate of threats and false reports of shooters have been pouring into schools and colleges across the country, unnerving officials, parents and students who are already on edge about actual school shootings — including at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, this week.Computer-generated calls on Wednesday made hoax claims about active shooters in Pennsylvania, and a day earlier, nearly 30 Massachusetts schools received fake threats.Garcia is not accused of having sent SWAT teams to schools. Instead, prosecutors say, in several cases he collected personal information about his victims and threatened to send emergency responses to their homes unless they turned over money, credit card information or sexually explicit images.Law enforcement entered some of the homes with guns drawn and detained people inside, authorities said.In other cases, he called in fake bomb scares for the Fox News station in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 28 and for a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles on Aug. 23. In another instance, he is accused of threatening to bomb an airport in Los Angeles unless he received $200,000 in Bitcoin.The indictment does not indicate how investigators identified Garcia as a suspect.Garcia placed the calls to agencies in California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oho, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, the indictment said.Authorities have warned that such hoaxes can prove deadly. In 2017, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call. This month, the city agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit, with the money to go to the two children of 28-year-old Andrew Finch.

UVALDE, Texas —

Slowly, purposefully, they came to see the white crosses.

A substitute teacher on a camping trip. A grandfather taking his afternoon walk. A couple in a pickup truck with their caramel-colored Labrador Retriever in the back. A group of female bikers that rode into town with flowers in hand.

With few words, they stood at the corner of Old Carrizo and Geraldine, gazing somberly at the memorial to the murdered: 19 crosses for the children, two for the teachers at Robb Elementary School. Twenty-one killed in America’s worst school shooting of 2022.

Nearly one year to the day later, the mourners continue to visit a campus where students will never learn again.

“I knew it would be moving,” said Kelly Mitchell, a substitute teacher from San Antonio, who stopped by the school recently while returning home from a camping trip.

"It makes it very real. It's not some faraway thing. It makes it very personal,” Mitchell said.

Bob Estrada, who said a relative died in the shooting, paused at the memorial while walking his grandson. He said he visits the site several times a week. "I just come down here and imagine what happened,” Estrada said. “I always wondered what those kids went through."

VIDEO ABOVE: WATCH MARK ALBERT AT ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEARLY ONE YEAR AFTER UVALDE, TEXAS, MASSACRE

School shootings after Uvalde

Since the shooting at Uvalde, more kids have gone through it, too, because the bullets have not stopped, killing more kids and more teachers at more schools, in Texas and around the nation.

From May 25, 2022 — the day after the Robb Elementary massacre — until April 30, 2023, 25 more schools reported gun violence on campus, according to The Washington Post's school shooting database, killing 13 people and injuring 41.

In all, there have been 105 incidents of gunfire at K-12 schools since the Uvalde school shooting, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

More than a dozen states have taken action in response in that same time frame.

New gun laws passed after massacre

One month after the Uvalde shooting, in June 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. It expanded background checks for gun buyers ages 18 to 21, provided $2 billion for school safety, and will help pass 'red flag' laws to temporarily take guns away from people in crisis.

At least 74 gun control laws have passed in 13 states since the Robb Elementary killings, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, including new bans on assault weapons in California and Washington.

One of the states not on the list: Texas, where a former student used an AR-style rifle to shatter the community of Uvalde.

In the 365 days since the killings, the Republican-controlled state legislature has sent no new laws to the Texas governor restricting the type of firearm that was used to take 21 lives at the school, where Kelly Mitchell, the substitute teacher, recently came to mourn her fellow teachers.

"Every person had to know somebody that was affected by it,” she said.

READ THE FULL RESULTS FROM THE EXCLUSIVE SCHOOL SAFETY QUESTIONNAIRE SENT TO EVERY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IN ALL 50 STATES.

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington, D.C. Tamika Cody, Reid Bolton and Pingping Yin contributed to this report.

If you know of school security concerns you want us to investigate or unique district safety initiatives you’d like to share for our ongoing ‘Securing Our Schools’ investigation, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.

WATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT’S ONGOING SECURING OUR SCHOOLS SERIES:

A student was shot and killed just outside of their high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, authorities said.

Police believe the student had just exited the school Friday morning and got into an altercation where they were shot.

The student's name and age have not been released.

No one has been taken into custody, but police say they have identified a potential suspect.

Students were ordered to shelter in place after the shooting. However, police said there is no longer a threat to the public and students have been dismissed for the day.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller asked the community to help stop gun violence.

"If you think another student has a gun, please say something," Keller said. "This is a related conversation that's been happening all across America, and now we're seeing it in Albuquerque."

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) —

A judge imposed a combined $1 million bond Saturday for the parents of the Michigan teen charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, hours after police said they were caught hiding in a Detroit commercial building.

James and Jennifer Crumbley entered not guilty pleas to each of the four involuntary manslaughter counts against them during a hearing held on Zoom. Jennifer Crumbley sobbed and struggled to respond to the judge's questions at times and James Crumbley shook his head when a prosecutor said their son had full access to the gun used in the killings.

Judge Julie Nicholson assigned bond of $500,000 apiece to each of the parents and required GPS monitoring if they pay to be released, agreeing with prosecutors that they posed a flight risk.

Defense attorneys for the Crumbleys still argued Saturday that they never intended to flee and had made plans to meet their lawyers early that morning. Attorney Shannon Smith accused prosecutors of "cherry picking" facts to release publicly, including that accusation that their teenage son had unrestricted access to the handgun prosecutors say his father purchased for him days before the shooting.

"Our clients are just as devastated as everyone else," Smith said, adding that the gun "was locked." She didn't provide more detail during Saturday's hearing.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s office filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the Crumbleys on Friday, accusing them of failing to intervene on the day of the tragedy despite being confronted with a drawing and chilling message — "blood everywhere" — that was found at the boy’s desk. They could each face up to 15 years in prison, according to a spokeswoman for McDonald's office.

The Crumbleys committed "egregious" acts, from buying a gun on Black Friday and making it available to Ethan Crumbley to resisting his removal from school when they were summoned a few hours before the shooting, McDonald said Friday.

Authorities had been looking for the couple since Friday afternoon. Late Friday, U.S. Marshals announced a reward of up to $10,000 each for information leading to their arrests.

Smith, the Crumbleys’ attorney, had said Friday that the pair left town earlier in the week "for their own safety" and would be returning to Oxford to face charges.

During Saturday's hearing, Smith said they were in touch by phone and text on Friday evening and blamed prosecutors for failing to communicate with her and fellow defense attorney Mariell Lehman.

"Our clients were absolutely going to turn themselves in; it was just a matter of logistics," she said.

But McDonald said on Saturday that the couple took $4,000 out of an ATM on Friday morning in Rochester Hills, not far from the courthouse where they should have appeared that afternoon.

"These are not people that we can be assured will return to court on their own," she said.

A Detroit business owner spotted a car tied to the Crumbleys in his parking lot late Friday, Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said in a statement. A woman seen near the vehicle ran away when the business owner called 911, McCabe said. The couple was later located and arrested by Detroit police.

Detroit Police Chief James E. White said the couple "were aided in getting into the building," and that a person who helped them may also face charges.

On Friday, McDonald offered the most precise account so far of the events that led to the shooting at Oxford High School, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit.

Ethan Crumbley, 15, emerged from a bathroom with a gun, shooting students in the hallway, investigators said. He’s charged as an adult with murder, terrorism and other crimes.

Under Michigan law, the involuntary manslaughter charge filed against the parents can be pursued if authorities believe someone contributed to a situation where there was a high chance of harm or death.

Parents in the U.S. are rarely charged in school shootings involving their children, even as most minors get guns from a parent or relative’s house, according to experts.

School officials became concerned about the younger Crumbley on Monday, a day before the shooting, when a teacher saw him searching for ammunition on his phone, McDonald said.

Jennifer Crumbley was contacted and subsequently told her son in a text message: "Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught," according to the prosecutor.

On Tuesday, a teacher found a note on Ethan’s desk and took a photo. It was a drawing of a gun pointing at the words, "The thoughts won’t stop. Help me," McDonald said.

There also was a drawing of a bullet, she said, with words above it: "Blood everywhere."

Between the gun and the bullet was a person who appeared to have been shot twice and is bleeding. He also wrote, "My life is useless" and "The world is dead," according to the prosecutor.

The school quickly had a meeting with Ethan and his parents, who were told to get him into counseling within 48 hours, McDonald said.

The Crumbleys failed to ask their son about the gun or check his backpack and "resisted the idea of their son leaving the school at that time," McDonald said.

Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting subsequently occurred.

In a written statement released Saturday, Oxford Community Schools Superintendent Tim Throne for the first time detailed the school's response to Crumbley's behavior. At the first meeting with a counselor and a staff member, Crumbley said shooting sports were a hobby for his family, Throne said.

During the second meeting with guidance counselors, Crumbley claimed the drawings were part of a video game design and said he wanted to pursue a career in that field, the letter said. According to guidance counselors, Crumbley was calm and worked on homework while staff tried to reach his parents and they traveled to the school.

The parents did not notify counselors that they had purchased a gun for their son recently during that meeting, Thorne said.

"Given the fact that the child had no prior disciplinary infractions, the decision was made he would be returned to the classroom rather than sent home to an empty house," he said.

Throne had not spoken publicly aside from a video message to the community Thursday.

The prosecutor, McDonald, also previously argued that Crumbleys’ parents should have told counselors their son had access to a gun when they were called in for a meeting about his behavior.

Jennifer Crumbley texted her son after the shooting, saying, "Ethan, don’t do it," she said on Friday.

James Crumbley called 911 to say that a gun was missing from their home and that Ethan might be the shooter. The gun had been kept in an unlocked drawer in the parents’ bedroom, McDonald said.

Ethan accompanied his father for the gun purchase on Nov. 26 and posted photos of the firearm on social media, saying, "Just got my new beauty today," McDonald said.

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Jennifer Crumbley wrote on social media that it is a "mom and son day testing out his new Christmas present," the prosecutor said.

Asked at a news conference if the father could be charged for purchasing the gun for the son, McDonald said that would be the decision of federal authorities.

McDonald was asked about the decision to keep Crumbley in school.

"Of course, he shouldn’t have gone back to that classroom. ... I believe that is a universal position. I’m not going to chastise or attack, but yeah," she said.

Asked if school officials may potentially be charged, McDonald said: "The investigation’s ongoing."

___

Foody reported from Chicago Associated Press journalists Ed White and Mike Householder in Detroit; David Eggert in Lansing, Mich., and John O'Connor in Springfield, Ill., also contributed to this report.

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. —

Ethan Crumbley, who is accused of killing four fellow students at a Michigan high school, will be tried as an adult and faces murder, assault and weapons charges.

He will also face one count of terrorism causing death, a rare charge for a school shooting.

The events unfolded Tuesday at Oxford High School when, law enforcement officials say, the 15-year-old shot at people in a school hallway, firing more than 30 shots at people and through classroom doors. Three people died Tuesday and another passed away at a hospital Wednesday.

Seven others -- six students and a teacher -- were wounded, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

The county's top prosecutor addressed the terrorism charge.

"There is no playbook about how to prosecute a school shooting and candidly, I wish I'd never even had -- it didn't occur so I wouldn't have to consider it, but when we sat down, I wanted to make sure all of the victims were represented in the charges that we filed against this individual," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald told CNN. "If that's not terrorism, I don't know what is."

She said there is a lot of digital evidence in the case -- video and things on social media.

"But you probably don't even need to see that to know how terrifying it is to be in close proximity of another student shooting and killing fellow students. I mean, it's terror," she added.

"Like every other child that was in that building, and I address that about the terrorism charge, we must have an appropriate consequence that speaks for the victims that were not killed or injured but also, they were affected, how do they go back to school?"

She said many students can't eat or sleep.

"Their parents are sleeping next to them and we shouldn't ignore that," she told CNN. "There are obviously four children who were murdered and many others injured but over 1,000 were also victimized as well."

At Crumbley's arraignment Wednesday, prosecutor Marc Keast said Crumbley came out of a school bathroom and started firing. Crumbley walked down the hall at a "methodical pace" and fired more shots.

This continued for another four or five minutes and he went to another bathroom, Keast said. When deputies arrived, Crumbley put the gun down and surrendered, the prosecutor said.

The judge entered a plea of not guilty per his attorney's request.

Michigan law defines an act of terrorism as a "willful and deliberate act that is all of the following:"

"An act that would be a violent felony under the laws of this state, whether or not committed in this state.

"An act that the person knows or has reason to know is dangerous to human life.

"An act that is intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence or affect the conduct of government or a unit of government through intimidation or coercion."

The criminal complaint against Crumbley refers to the third condition and says the act was committed against the Oxford High School community.

Charging an accused school shooter with terrorism is rare. In 2018, an Ocala, Florida student who shot through a door and wounded another student, was charged with terrorism and later pleaded no contest to that count and other charges.

That incident occurred two months after gunman Nikolas Cruz shot more than 30 people as he moved for more than 10 minutes through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Cruz was charged with 34 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder. He did not face a terrorism charge. He recently pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Someone opened fire at a high school north of Detroit on Tuesday and shot four to six people, though none were confirmed dead, authorities said.Police responded at around 12:55 p.m. to a report of an active shooter at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, a suburb north of Detroit.The suspected shooter was arrested and a handgun was recovered, according to officials the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, which added that it doesn't think there was more than one attacker.Four to six people were wounded, but no fatalities have been reported, the sheriff’s office said.It wasn't immediately clear if the wounded were students.

At least one person has died and multiple others were injured in an on-campus shooting early Sunday morning during a homecoming event at Grambling State University in Louisiana.

Multiple shots were fired around 1:15 a.m. local time in the quad area of the university's campus, according to Tisha Arnold, a spokesperson for the university. Several people were injured, including at least one enrolled student who was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.

One victim who was not a student died as a result of the shooting, Arnold said.

"At the time of the incident, a homecoming event was underway in McCall Dining Center. All persons present sheltered in place and were released once the all-clear was given by University Police," Arnold told CNN in an email Sunday, adding that a suspect has not been identified at this time.

An active investigation by the Louisiana State Police is underway, Arnold said. The university has canceled all homecoming events Sunday and classes on Monday, according to a post on Twitter.

CNN has reached out to state police for more information about the shooting at Grambling University, which sits about 60 miles east of Shreveport.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —

Video above: Parkland victims honored on anniversary of shooting

The gunman who killed 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland, Florida, high school will plead guilty to their murders, his attorneys said Friday, bringing some closure to a South Florida community more than three years after an attack that sparked a nationwide movement for gun control.

The guilty plea would set up a penalty phase where Nikolas Cruz, 23, would be fighting against the death penalty and hoping for life without parole.

Attorneys for Cruz told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that he will plead guilty Wednesday to 17 counts of first-degree murder in the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The pleas will come with no conditions and prosecutors still plan to seek the death penalty. That will be decided by a jury, but that trial has not been scheduled.

Cruz will also plead guilty to 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder and to attacking a jail guard nine months after the shooting. He was not present during the hearing.

The trial has been delayed by the pandemic and arguments between the prosecution and defense over what evidence and testimony could be presented to the jury. Some victims’ families had expressed frustration over the delays, but the president of the group they formed expressed relief that the case now seems closer to resolution.

"We just hope the system gives him justice," said Tony Montalto of Stand With Parkland. His 14-year-old daughter, Gina, died in the shooting.

The decision by Cruz and his attorneys to plead guilty came unexpectedly. Preparations were being made to begin jury selection within the next few months. He had been set to go on trial next week for the attack on the Broward County jail guard.

Cruz and his lawyers had long offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but prosecutors had repeatedly rejected that deal, saying the case deserved a death sentence.

Cruz’s rampage crushed the veneer of safety in Parkland, an upper-middle-class community outside Fort Lauderdale with little crime. Its educational crown jewel is Stoneman Douglas, a campus of 3,200 students that is one of the top-ranked public schools in the state.

Cruz was a longtime, but troubled resident. Since preschool he had been treated for emotional problems and was known by neighbors for torturing animals. Broward sheriff’s deputies were frequently called to the home in an upscale neighborhood he shared with his widowed mother and younger brother for disturbances, but they said nothing was ever reported that could have led to his arrest. A state commission that investigated the shooting agreed.

Cruz alternated between traditional schools and those for troubled students. In one year of middle school, he averaged three disciplinary incidents per month.

He attended Stoneman Douglas starting in 10th grade, but his troubles remained — at one point, he was prohibited from carrying a backpack to make sure he didn’t carry a weapon. Still, he was allowed to participate on the school’s rifle team.

He was expelled about a year before the attack after numerous incidents of unusual behavior and at least one fight. He began posting photos online of himself with guns and made videos threatening to commit violence, including at the school. It was about this time he purchased the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle he would use in the shooting.

When Cruz’s mother died of pneumonia in November 2017, four months before the shooting, he began staying with friends, taking his 10 guns with him.

Someone, worried about his emotional state, called the FBI a month before the shooting to warn agents he might kill people. The information was never forwarded to the agency’s South Florida office and Cruz was never investigated or contacted.

Another acquaintance called the Broward Sheriff’s Office with a similar warning, but when the deputy learned Cruz was then living with a family friend in neighboring Palm Beach County he told the caller to contact that sheriff’s office.

In the weeks before the shooting, Cruz began making videos proclaiming he was going to be the "next school shooter of 2018." Shortly before the massacre, he made one where he said, "Today is the day. Today it all begins. The day of my massacre shall begin."

The shooting happened on Valentine’s Day, minutes before the end of the school day. Students had exchanged balloons, flowers and other gifts and many were dressed in red.

Cruz, then 19, arrived at the campus that afternoon in an Uber, assembled his rifle in a bathroom and then opened fire on students and staff members, the smoke from his rifle setting off the fire alarm.

Outside the building, sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson, the school’s longtime resource officer, heard the shots but did not enter the building — he drew his gun and hid behind a column and wall, video shows. He told investigators he did not know where the shots were coming from, but they said his radio transmissions show he did.

Peterson has been charged with felony child neglect for allegedly failing to protect the students and perjury for allegedly lying to investigators. He has pleaded not guilty and proclaimed his innocence in interviews. He resigned shortly after the shooting before he could be fired.

Cruz eventually dropped his rifle and fled, blending in with his victims as police officers arrived and stormed the building. He was captured about an hour later walking through a residential neighborhood. Later that night, he confessed to detectives.

A state investigation found numerous security lapses not just at Stoneman Douglas but at schools statewide. The shooting led to a state law that requires all Florida public schools to have an armed guard on campus during class hours.

___

Associated Press reporter Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, contributed to this story.

A former student who allegedly shot and injured a principal at a school in Houston has been charged.

In a news release on Saturday, Houston police said that Dexter Harold Kelsey, 25, was charged with aggravated assault against a public servant and deadly conduct in the shooting of 36-year-old Eric Espinsosa on Friday at YES Prep Southwest Secondary.

Espinsosa was treated at a nearby hospital and was later released.

No students were harmed.

Police said Kelsey had fired a rifle at the glass entry door to the school to gain entry.

While attempting to alert teachers and students, Espinosa was struck in the lower back by a bullet, police said.

Police said Espinosa continued to help students and teachers flee the school when officers arrived and arrested Kelsey.

According to jail records, Kelsey's bond has been set to $5.25 million.

Authorities in Memphis say a child was shot and wounded at school, and the alleged juvenile shooter has turned himself in.

According to Memphis Police, officers responded to Cummings Elementary School at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, where they found a 13-year-old boy had been shot.

The student was transferred to a nearby hospital in critical but stable condition, police said in a press conference.

Police said the alleged suspect was another student at the school who fled the scene in a vehicle after the shooting.

Police later confirmed the male juvenile suspect had turned himself in and was in custody.

Shelby County Schools said the shooting occurred at Cummings K-8, which houses grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

School officials said on social media that the school is on lockdown, and parents have been notified of the situation.

Police said the school was evacuated.

Officials said the motive of the shooting is unknown, and the investigation is still ongoing.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —

Shannon Williams experienced a tragedy this week, losing her teenaged son, William.

On Friday, Shannon Williams thanked the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, community for its support after the shooting inside Mount Tabor High School that took the life of her son, William, on Wednesday.

She shared the grief and heartache of losing her oldest son so suddenly.

She says Sept. 1 started with William waking up late for school and constantly replays that morning in her mind.

"I said, 'William, why you going? It's 10 o'clock?' He said, 'Mom I can still make it to second period.' I said, 'No don't go.' I kept all my kids at home... I felt it," Shannon recalled. "I kept all of them out and he wanted to go to school."

After learning about the shooting, she said she became worried when William didn't answer his phone.

"Hug your babies," Shannon said. "Hug them tight. Tell them you love them every chance you get."

About 100 people paid tribute to William Chavis Raynard Miller Jr. at a local park. Balloons were released in his memory and a prayer service was held.

The community also put on an event Saturday morning called "Guns Down, Lives Up" which addressed gun violence.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— New Mexico authorities say one student was killed and another was taken into custody following a shooting at a middle school near downtown Albuquerque during the lunch hour Friday.

Police said that the shooting was an isolated incident between two Washington Middle School students who were believed to be about 13 years old.

A witness told KOB4, the NBC affiliate in Albuquerque, that an earlier fight led up to the shooting.

The school was locked down and parents were asked to pick up their children.

Albuquerque is on pace to shatter its homicide record this year. This year, the city has seen 80 homicides, which matches its record in 2019.

Our city is experiencing a tragedy. My condolences go out the the families involved in today’s shooting.

— APD Chief of Police (@ABQPoliceChief) August 13, 2021

Video above: SCOTUS Will Allow Sandy Hook Families to Sue Remington

In the volume of pretrial data turned over by bankrupted Remington to nine Sandy Hook families suing for wrongful marketing, lawyers said they found 18,000 random cartoons and 15,000 irrelevant pictures of people go-karting and dirt-biking.

“Having repeatedly represented to the (families) and this court that it was devoting extensive resources to making what it described as “substantial” document productions … Remington has instead made the plaintiffs wait years to receive cartoon images, gender reveal videos, and duplicate copies of catalogues,” reads a complaint filed by the families’ lawyers in state Superior Court last week. “There is no possible reasonable explanation for this conduct.”

The complaint, the latest in the 7-year battle by the Sandy Hook families to hold accountable the maker of the AR-15-style rifle used in the 2012 shootings, does not allege that all 46,000 documents turned over by Remington are irrelevant.

“When the seemingly random cartoons, images, videos, duplicates, and other items noted are accounted for, Remington, it would seem, has spent the better part of seven years producing 6,606 potentially useful documents in response to the plaintiffs’ requests,” the court complaint reads.

Reached on Tuesday for comment, Remington’s lead attorney did not respond specifically to the cartoons, some of which the families submitted to the judge — including images of Santa, a farmer, a weightlifter, and a bowl of ice cream.

“(Remington) will respond to this motion in the coming weeks, and point out what it believes are incorrect representations, numerous half-truths, and important omissions by (families’) counsel,” Remington lead attorney James Vogts said Tuesday.

The families’ attorneys argued that Remington’s purpose seemed clear.

“Remington’s … effort to lard its document production with cartoons and duplicate catalogues sends a strong message about the real motive here,” the families’ attorneys wrote. “Remington is desperate to avoid a true review of the internal and external communications detailing its abusive marketing practices.”

From the start of the lawsuit in 2014, Remington has argued that it manufactured a legal firearm that was distributed lawfully and sold legally to Nancy Lanza, who left the rifle in an unlocked closet. It was her son, Adam Lanza, not the gun-maker, who was responsible for the murders of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Remington said.

Remington made national news last summer when it declared bankruptcy for the second time in two years and was sold for $159 million to Fairfield-based Sturm Ruger and six other companies. A federal bankruptcy judge assured the Sandy Hook families that some of the sale proceeds would be dedicated to keeping the gun-maker’s insurance intact.

The families’ lawsuit, which has been thrown out of state Superior Court, reinstated by Connecticut Supreme Court and turned down for review by the U.S. Supreme Court is back in trial court after Remington’s bankruptcy, with jury selection scheduled for September.

For the moment, the families’ attorneys want a court order compelling Remington to abide by its agreement to turn over all the marketing data they’ve requested.

“Remington has treated discovery as a game,” the families’ lawyers said. “Unwilling to have this case decided by a jury on the merits with a full record, Remington has sought delay and obfuscation at every turn.”