Man interrupts Texas school shooting press conference to confront governor

A press conference for the Texas school shooting erupted in wild scenes as Governor Greg Abbott was accused of “doing nothing”.

Texas politician Beto O’Rourke erupted with anger on Thursday (AEST) as he interrupted a press conference to call out Governor Greg Abbott for “doing nothing” to prevent mass shootings like the one that left 19 children and two teachers dead at an elementary school.

“The time to stop the next shooting is now and you’re doing nothing!” Mr O’Rourke shouted at Mr Abbott during the televised briefing with a slew of other Texas officials.

Don McLaughlin, the mayor of Uvalde, Texas, where the shooting happened on Tuesday, yelled back angrily at Mr O’Rourke from the dais where officials were giving their talk.

“I can’t believe that you’re a sick son of a b**ch that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue,” Mr McLaughlin said, according to the Texas Tribune.

At one point, Mr O’Rourke, a Democrat who is running for governor of the state, also said that the shooting was “totally predictable”.

Mr O’Rourke was then escorted out of the building, where he blasted his political rival to reporters.

“The majority of Texas is not reflected by that Governor or those people around the table who talk about mental health care and say that this is pure evil but that it is completely unpredictable,” said Mr O’Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, Texas, who has been vocal about gun control since a 2020 mass shooting there.

“This is predictable. It will happen and it will continue to happen until we change course.”

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Beto O'Rourke interrupts Texas Governor Greg Abbott during a press conference at Uvalde High School. Picture: Allison Dinner/AFP

The Democrat is a vocal supporter of gun control. Picture: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

Details emerge of events leading up to shooting

Meanwhile, new details have emerged about gunman Salvador Ramos’ final movements before he shot and killed 19 young children and two primary school teachers.

Mr Abbott said the 18-year-old posted on Facebook “approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school”.

“The first post … said: ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother.’ The second post was: ‘I shot my grandmother,’” Mr Abbott said. “The third post, maybe less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school, was: ‘I’m going to shoot an elementary school.’”

The Governor also said Ramos had no known mental health history or criminal record before the violent shooting.

He shot his grandmother in the face, leaving her clinging to life.

Mr Abbott also confirmed that officers had first “engaged with the gunman” after he crashed a pick-up truck outside the school.

Despite that, the teen was able to get in through a back door and into a classroom, where he killed 21 people with an AR-15 rifle and a handgun.

Officers from numerous departments then “converged on that classroom” and a “Border Patrol officer killed the gunman”.

An aerial view of Robb Elementary School. Picture: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

A sheriff’s deputy was among those who lost a child in the rampage, Mr Abbott also revealed.

“It could have been worse,” Mr Abbott said.

“The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do. They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives.

“They were able to save lives. Unfortunately, not enough,” he said.

Wednesday’s update came as the US attempted to grapple with the deadliest school shooting since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

It also came just 10 days after 10 people were shot to death in a racially motivated shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, by a white supremacist man targeting black shoppers.

Earlier on Wednesday, officials confirmed that Ramos had legally bought his weapons just days after turning 18 on Monday last week.

An undated screenshot from the Instagram account of Salvador Ramos.

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, has been confirmed as one of those killed in Uvalde, Texas. Picture: Facebook

He had posted images of two AR-15 style rifles on social media, along with chilling hints at his plans for violence.

On Tuesday, he shot and wounded his grandmother at the home he shared with her and his grandfather – a convicted felon who is forbidden to be around guns – before going to Robb Elementary School.

After a shootout with law enforcement, he still made it into the school, where he “began shooting anyone that was in his way,” Lieutenant Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told NBC’s Today.

Ramos entered a classroom and “barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom,” Lietenant Olivarez said, with all the victims in the same room.

“It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter,” the officer said.

Officers found one of the rifles in Ramos’ truck, the other in the school, according to a briefing given to politicians.

Ramos was wearing a tactical vest, but it had no hardened body-armour plates inside, politicians were told. He also dropped a backpack containing several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance.

US President Joe Biden ordered flags flown at half-mast daily until sunset on Saturday in observance of the tragedy.

“I am sick and tired of it,” the President said. “We have to act.”

This article was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission