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Texas Authorities Update School Shooting Massacre. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired May 25, 2022 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:02]

HAL HARRELL, SUPERINTENDENT, UVALDE, TEXAS, CONSOLIDATED INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: It's heartbreaking. It really is.

We have had a lot of support here from our community, surrounding counties, surrounding districts, and all over the state. And I appreciate you for thinking of us and sending that support.

I have to relay the heartbreak of our teachers at Robb campus. I met with him this morning. But as I looked across that room, there was a group of heroes in that room. If it weren't for them, along with the law enforcement that came, that were willing to cradle their kids, get them out of the classroom when it was safe, when they were guided, and the trust our kids had in their teachers, that says volumes for our staff here in Uvalde.

They are heroes. They did heroic things yesterday, and they are always very humble, but they are truly humbled heroes.

Yesterday, we lost two teachers. These two teachers, I would say, are the cornerstone of that campus to some great degree. They were two beautiful souls. They had taught on that campus for many years. They have kids in our district. And they poured their heart and soul into what they did in educating our kids in Uvalde -- 19 students, 19 precious students who came to school yesterday to enjoy the day, to enjoy the awards assembly.

And, as I look at their pictures, you can just tell by their angelic smile that they were loved, that they loved coming to school, and they were just precious individuals.

This is a difficult time for everybody. We are hurting. We are -- we have been cut deep here in our community. We will move forward. It's going to take some time moving forward. Our faith has been shaken. We ask you to continue to pray for these families, these kids in our community and our teachers.

I am a product of Uvalde. I'm born and raised here. I have worked for this district for 30 years. I never thought I would be sitting in front of you doing this today. But, please, pray for our teachers, pray for our community, and we will move forward.

Thank you, Governor.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Thank you.

We will take a few questions.

QUESTION: Governor, you have talked a lot about (OFF-MIKE) Do you think an 18-year-old should have been able to buy (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: So, the ability of an 18-year-old to buy a long gun has been in place in the state of Texas for more than 60 years.

And think about during the time over the course of that 60 years. We have not had episodes like this. And why is it that, for the majority of those 60 years, we did not have school shootings, and why is it that we do now?

The reality is, I don't know the answer to that question. However, what I do know in talking to the leaders here, as well as leaders in other locations around the state, and that is one thing that has substantially changed is the status of mental health in our communities.

What I do know is this, and that is, we, as a state, we, as a society, need to do a better job with mental health. Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period. We, as a government, need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Were the kids caught up in the gunfire or were all the kids shot by the gunman? (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: Director McCraw will have the best information on that.

STEVEN MCCRAW, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: We're in the process of doing the crime scene right now, the first one being the school, the second being the vehicle, and the third the grandmother's residence.

And I can tell, it's a detailed process, so I can't answer that. But, for right now, we believe that all the children were shot and killed by the -- by Ramos.

QUESTION: Director (OFF-MIKE)

You don't believe that there was any sort of a warning or any information that would indicate that he was posing some sort of danger, maybe not at precisely specific school, but weren't there warning signs that were available on social media (OFF-MIKE) platform (OFF-MIKE)

[14:05:19]

MCCRAW: We did see some. And I think one was of a concern.

And that concern was relayed to allegedly -- we haven't confirmed it yet -- to someone in California, who didn't report it. And we're in the process of working with the FBI right now to make sure she's interviewed and find out more about it.

There may be other clues out there right now we're not aware of. This is the preliminary part of the investigation. We're going to scour anything that find anything that what could have indicated in some way shape or form that this individual was a threat to the community?

QUESTION: So, nothing had come to local law enforcement that they could have acted?

MCCRAW: None, none at all.

In fact, this is -- we're astounded at the beginning of the investigation, because there's usually something out there, but, right now, it is as that reported on the timeline. If we find out something else, we will provide that information.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) What more could be done to assist school districts to operationalize (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: So, I'm going to answer in part, but we also have the TEA commissioner, Mike Morath, with us, who may be able to shed additional light.

But here is the information that we know. And you pointed out S.B.11 Listen, as you know, but others may not, people need to understand, in the aftermath of the Santa Fe shooting, I signed 17 laws to address school safety. And one of them dealt with threat assessment and preparation for threat assessment.

And there are certain standards that schools are required to comply with to make sure that they are addressing threat assessments. I have no information as we speak at this particular time about the status of this particular elementary school or the ISD about what the status was concerning threat assessments.

However, to make sure that your broader question is answered sufficiently, Mike, you want to come up?

This -- the person coming up is Mike Morath, who is the commissioner for the Texas Education Agency.

MIKE MORATH, COMMISSIONER, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY: So, there's significant appropriations to provided to ensure that the local school systems around the state have resources for this.

One of the components of Senate Bill 11 was a school safety allotment. There was additional up-front funding for that. The Texas School Safety Center and our agency work in collaboration to provide technical assistance and training to school district leaders, counseling team leaders, others to ensure that the threat assessment protocols and these procedures, including threat response plans and the operational multihazard plans, are practiced on a recurring basis.

So there have been essentially fairly significant efforts to bolster those managerial practices and these detective or preventative practices in schools all over the state of Texas. We will continue to do more.

After any incident like this, of course, you reflect on lessons learned to ensure that we can prevent this kind of situation in schools going forward.

LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK (R-TX): If I can just add to that...

ABBOTT: One second. I will call on you next. One second.

PATRICK: If I can just add to that briefly, in '19, the House and Senate worked together, put $100 million into trying to give the schools all the tools that they needed to try and protect the students, the marshals program, the guardian programs, to arm teachers where schools want it.

We left a lot of those programs optional, up to the parents and the school boards, and the school districts. And they're doing the best they can. And you're always going to have -- again, no matter what you do, there's going to be someone to find another area that's vulnerable.

But the legislature did act. The governor signed those bills. But we can and need to do more. And the area of mental health, we have also been working on that as well, but need to do more. We have got to in our smaller schools, where we can get down to one entrance, one entrance might be one of those solutions.

If he had taken three more minutes to find an open door, police were there pretty quickly. But this school district has been doing a really good job in trying to protect their students. And those teachers died yesterday protecting their students. And this is a continued work for us.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Governor, last night, you were at a fund-raiser in Walker County.

Why did you not cancel that event? And your press office stated that you plan on canceling all future political events going forward until further notice. Does that include the NRA Convention here in Houston on Friday?

[14:10:07]

ABBOTT: So, first, with regard to yesterday, I was actually in Taylor County responding to a different disaster, the disaster of fires that had ripped through Taylor County and destroyed 20 homes.

And that is when I learned about the shooting that was taking place pretty much at that time here. On the way back to Austin, I stopped and let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go, and I wanted them to know what happened, and get back to Austin, so that I could continue my collaboration with Texas law enforcement to make sure that all the needs were being met here in the Uvalde area. As far as future plans are concerned, listen, I'm living moment to

moment right now. My heart, my head, and my body are in Uvalde right now. And I'm here to help the people who are hurting.

QUESTION: Director, can you confirm (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: I can't.

It's going to be within minute -- like, 40 minutes or so, within an hour. But I don't want to give you a particular timeline.

But bottom line is that law enforcement was there. They did engage immediately. They did contain him in the classroom. And they put the tactical stack together in a very orderly way, and, of course, breached and assaulted the individual.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) that initial engagement (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: The initial engagement?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: No, I mean, yes, it was just -- yes, it confronted him, and wanted to find out -- because he was -- he sees the report, heard the accident, and was out trying to check on that particular crash when he saw it.

So he followed him right in immediately, OK, and when rounds were exchanged. And, of course, then also we had two Uvalde police officers previously described that went in, and was involved in also the shooting with the subject, and were wounded. And, of course, they were also responsible for containing him within that area.

ABBOTT: Go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Where was he positioned when he got (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: The front of the -- well, I don't know where he was in the community, but, obviously, in the Uvalde area, because they got there so quickly and in force.

And, of course, I will let them answer that question. But they were there in force. And, of course, they were -- importantly, they had some members of their tactical team there on the BORTAC team, and they took the lead on that stack.

But I will defer to -- I think I have a Border Patrol uniformed...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so, first off, the U.S. Border Patrol Del Rio Sector has a station in Uvalde.

So we have about 150 or so agents permanent that are permanently assigned to Uvalde. We have several agents in other stations that choose to live here in this community as well. So, we had folks that came from off-duty. We had folks that came from training.

We had folks that were in the field and responded, so a multitude. Some 80 in total Border Patrol agents responded. So, as to where that particular individual came from, don't have that yet. The investigation will bear out. But we have a large presence permanently here in Uvalde.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) his name.

ABBOTT: Could you...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not going to release his name just yet.

ABBOTT: Go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: We began talking about it in there.

I'm -- I will just tell you one thing that we talked about, which is something we have heard in other regions of Texas also, and that is, in approximately a -- maybe as much as a 40-county region around the area where we gather right now, there is no mental health hospital.

And there's a shortage of beds for mental health in this region. If someone is suicidal, if someone has a mental health problem, they oftentimes would have to go to someplace like San Antonio. And with the growing population in this region, with the profound mental health challenges that were discussed with us, one takeaway I had was, there is a greater need for a physical mental health care facility in this region.

But we know that buildings don't treat people. People treat people. And so there needs to be more personnel, more strategies, a greater understanding by the mental health care provider community about what the needs are. And they will be best equipped to know the best way to provide or, let's say, meet those needs.

[14:15:05]

The bottom line is this, and I think it's a fair statement, that legislative leaders understand about health challenges in the more rural settings in the state of Texas. And we have a genuine commitment to help address those mental health care challenges.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) mental health care and (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: It's one of those issues that was widely discussed in the last several sessions, and, in particular, in the 2019 session.

And pretty much every issue was raised by one legislator or another about potential ways to address shootings like this. And the consensus arose around those 17 bills that I did sign that they hardened schools, they made schools safer, they addressed mental health. And issues like that were the solutions that were agreed upon by legislators at that time. And that is going to be the similar approach that I perceive legislators will continue to focus on.

We consider that what we did in 2019 to be one of the most profound legislative sessions not just in Texas, but we have seen in any state, in addressing school shootings.

That said, to be clear, we all understand our work is not done. Our work must continue. And we will continue to discuss with legislators about all the potential avenues and pathways that we can take to make sure that schools will be even safer going forward.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: I know people like to try to oversimplify this.

Let's talk about some real facts. And that is there are -- quote -- "real gun laws" in Chicago. There are -- quote -- "real gun laws" in New York. There are real gun laws in California.

I hate to say this, but there are more people who are shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas. And we need to realize that people who think that, well, maybe if we could just implement tougher gun laws, it's going to solve it, Chicago and L.A. and New York disproved that thesis.

And so if you're looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you're talking about is not a real solution. Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement.

QUESTION: Governor Abbott, those 17 laws that you say you signed, in the context of those laws -- and I agree with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick about (OFF-MIKE)

So, in the context of those laws, is there a plan to secure schools more readily and with fencing and security -- security guards? Because the fences around hear are very low. (OFF-MIKE) said about one-point entries, I know where -- in the district where my children go to school, we have a one-point entry in Harper, Texas.

And I have family down here that were affected by this yesterday. And so that's why I'm here today. And so, within the context of those 17 laws, is there a plan to address (OFF-MIKE) to apply to that?

ABBOTT: So, the last thing first.

And that is, all together, we allocated more than $600 million, so, more than a half-a-billion dollars, to address school safety. As it concerns the first parts of your question, the answer is, with the laws that we passed in 2019, which is three years ago, all of those measures that you were talking about were included in those laws.

Let me give you several examples. An entire platform that was addressed is what's called school hardening or hardening schools. Some of those strategies reduce the number of entrances. Other strategies provide things like school marshals or having DPS officers or others fill out their paperwork in schools, so that there will be a law enforcement presence in school.

[14:20:11]

They involve different type of strategies that will make it -- should make it more difficult for a shooter to get into a school. That said, I can tell you what we all agree upon. We're all going to go back and look at both exactly what was passed, any shortcoming in what was passed, any shortcoming in implementation.

I want you to know also that included in those laws were requirements by school districts across the state of Texas to work with the school safety commission to make sure that all the strategies would be used and employed and tested, including active shooter strategies, for schools to be ready to be prepared to employ as needed.

And so, yes, from pretty much every angle, it was debated. And let me go back in time. This is something where I began working up the governor's plan to respond to this a year in advance, and legislators had an entire year to be looking at that, to be debating that, to getting prepared for.

Then I made it an emergency item during the session, which meant that everyone was going to be focusing on it. And they did. So, my point in saying that, and that is that this took the time, effort, and mental involvement of all legislators during the course of that session to put what they consider to be the best solutions on the table.

Many of them were adopted. Some were not. But we adopted what we considered to be the best plans that session. Again, we will always and especially in this coming session evaluate what more needs to be done in our schools to make them even safer.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: Yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: We understand that.

And we're looking at the -- now we're getting the surveillance video, so we can go frame by frame and track that every minute. So, that's part of the -- obviously, investigation. And I would wait until we completed that part before we provide that information.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: Yes, right now, I don't want to -- I don't want to say, because I think we have an answer, but we haven't confirmed it yet.

QUESTION: Was he chased from the (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: No, he was not. He was not chased, no, not at all. QUESTION: What's the status (OFF-MIKE). But have the victims all been

identified? Have the bodies been (OFF-MIKE) evidence? What is going on?

MCCRAW: All the victims have been identified. And all the notifications have been made.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Is recovery going on or (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: Yes, there's an ongoing recovery team. We have got certainly a company of Texas Rangers with a forensic background are conducting it. And we have got the FBI's evidence response team. And, of course, ATF is helping as well.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: Can we get you to speak up a little bit?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: No, there's limited information. We don't see a motive or catalyst right now. We're looking for it, scouring, and we will continue to do so.

QUESTION: How public were those postings?

MCCRAW: They were public, like anything else. They were out there.

And it's not -- it -- he was trying to communicate. And, of course, some of the information is -- we're going to have to continue to do interviews with people that he'd been in contact with. So, we're not even close to being done yet.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCCRAW: Yes, I can't -- I can't comment on that right now.

QUESTION: Governor, you said yesterday evil visited this town, something to that effect.

But then you also are saying this is a mental health issue, and that's what you addressed. Is this some -- I don't believe evil is a mental health classification.

Do you see this as a mental health issue or some kind of biblical battle between evil that's always going to be out there? (OFF-MIKE) I'm a little -- I'm having trouble reconciling this idea of evil and mental health issues.

ABBOTT: So -- and, very interestingly, in the meeting that we had before coming out here, I raised that exact issue, because we talked about mental health.

And, to me, someone who is as demented as it takes to kill little kids, it goes beyond, it seems to me, a mental health issue. That is the sheer face of evil itself. [14:25:08]

And so, listen, I'm not a doctor. I can't classify these things, and I don't know the extent to which mental health would be able to address someone who has the challenges that they would shoot their grandmother and then shoot and kill all these babies, all these young kids.

Kind of what was pointed out at the time in our discussion earlier is there could have been a time earlier in his life when it was a more typical mental health issue that could have been addressed. I don't have any information about that. And maybe others don't either.

But is there a difference between a mental health challenge that can be addressed and evil? I don't know. It's a big...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) you're saying that you think it's evil (OFF- MIKE) shouldn't we be keeping guns out of evil people's hands?

Because if it's not fixable through mental health, what you're saying, on one hand, that it's fixable through mental health (OFF-MIKE) started straight out mental health, mental health. So, you know...

ABBOTT: And this -- this is...

QUESTION: And that oversimplifies things (OFF-MIKE) oversimplify this, but to just say it's evil seems to oversimplify it.

ABBOTT: Well, it obviously is a meaningful characterization.

And the point is this. If you know someone more evil, I want to see what they did. But I consider this person to have been pure evil. Go ahead.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: Say again?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) mental health issue (OFF-MIKE)

ABBOTT: Well, it's the answer to that I was giving to this gentleman back here earlier.

And that is, it's something we did talk specifically in our meeting before coming out here. And that is, for one, not just this community, but the surrounding geographic area, is lacking in a mental health hospital or other physical facility.

And there literally are either no beds or inadequate beds to address those with mental health challenges. And when you look at the population base and perhaps a growing population base in this geographic region, an issue that we will be taking up is going to be, what ways do we address mental health issues?

Does it include a physical facility, such as a mental health hospital? If so, how large would it be? Things like that. So, there's -- there are many issues for us to consider and evaluate and to work on addressing.

Speaker Phelan wants to add more to that.

STATE REP. DADE PHELAN (R-TX): I'd like to add to that.

So, in the last special session, we actually appropriated about $115 million in ARPA funds for the child -- the Children's Mental Health Consortium to partner with campuses across the state of Texas, higher education, four-year institution, two-year institutions to have a mental health professional on campus to contract with local ISDs to make certain -- this is mainly a COVID issue of mental health, children coming out of COVID.

But it's mental health across the board for any child who wants to meet with a professional, which is a -- which is a challenge. I'm from rural Texas. It's a challenge to have those professionals in your community.

We also appropriated half-a-billion dollars for rural broadband to make certain communities out in rural Texas have high-speed Internet to where they can have a consultation online with a mental health professional, not just in the state of Texas, because we passed another piece of legislation that said you can meet with professionals outside the state of Texas.

And so the telehealth, telemedicine situation coming out of COVID, rural broadband were addressed late in October of this past year. And many of those programs are being rolled out right now.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) dollars in from the federal government to address the need of mental health in rural communities, and will you consider taking on that expansion?

ABBOTT: We have other ways of addressing it and other funds available for it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last question.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) taking the funding for those things. Are you going to look at more of seeing if there's something more that the (OFF-MIKE) can do to be more, I guess, responsible for that?

ABBOTT: So, I'm not exactly clear on your question, but I think I have the gist of it well enough to be able to answer it in this way.

And that is, this -- we will all consider the best strategies for schools to employ. But, importantly, we do that in conjunction by working with schools. And we're -- we won't be imposing policies on schools without working with them.

We need ISDs and schools and school leaders and school safety professionals at the table for that discussion purposes if we are going to achieve the best standards that are possible.

(CROSSTALK)

ABBOTT: Thank you all.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... so much for coming. Thank you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, we have just been listening there to an update from Texas.