'Do something now:' mourners demand action after US school shooting

Crosses sit outside the Robb Elementary School in remembrance of those killed in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas

A distraught Texas grandmother of a girl killed in the massacre in Uvalde pleaded Thursday for urgent action by US authorities to prevent future school shootings, as the country plunges again into the roiling debate over guns.

Ten-year-old Amerie Garza -- a fourth-grader who loved her classes, drawing, and playing with clay -- was one of 19 children murdered by a teen gunman at Robb Elementary School in an act of evil that has forever changed this small Texas town.

But the 63-year-old, who lived with Amerie and saw her at an end-of-year ceremony Tuesday just hours before she was killed, quickly made clear she wanted US officials like President Joe Biden and Texas Governor Greg Abbott not to shy away from working together on reforms.

"They shouldn't just wait for... tragedy to start," she said. 

"Do something about it, I beg you. I beg you!" she wailed. "All the cries and all these little innocent babies... we don't know what they went through."

Among the mourners was Yaritza Rangel, 23, who brought her four children to lay flowers.

But Rangel, while avoiding politics, did point to three reforms she wants enacted: an expansion of background checks for gun purchases, tightening of security in schools, and raising the minimum age for buying firearms.

Rangel, whose young nephew was in a Robb Elementary classroom that the shooter tried but failed to enter, and has been traumatized by the attack, is now worried about her own children.

"What if it happens again?"

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