Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Biden Meets With Grieving Families Devastated By School Shooting In Uvalde; Interview With Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) About Gun Control Legislation; Interview With NRA Board Member Judge Phillip Journey; Guns In America; Texas School Massacre; Interview With Uvalde Resident Ben Gonzalez. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 29, 2022 - 16:00:00   ET

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

[16:00:21]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

President Biden arriving in Uvalde, Texas, where the sun is shining but a light has been extinguished, where summer plans turned to funeral plans, where just days ago 19 children were full of life. Now life-sized memorials stand silently in their place.

The president and first lady laid hands on those photos today, those children and two teachers lost at the hands of a gunman inside Robb Elementary School. The town of just 16,000 people is overwhelmed with loss. The Bidens attended mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church where an influx of funerals is imminent. They are also meeting privately with the victims' families this afternoon.

So many of them want an answer to an excruciating question, would their loved ones be here today if police had acted sooner? The Justice Department is now stepping in saying it will conduct a review of the law enforcement response as a top Texas official admits the decision not to breach the classroom even as the children were calling 911 begging for help was wrong, period.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Uvalde. Arlette, some raw emotion as the president visited the site of that school memorial today.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, it's certainly an incredibly emotional day for President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden as they are here on the grounds in the community of Uvalde, Texas, grieving with the community in the wake of that horrific massacre at the elementary school right behind me.

At this moment President Biden is meeting privately with survivors and family members of the victims lost, 19 young children and two teachers gunned down while simply at their day of school here on Tuesday. The president first made that stop here at the memorial at Robb Elementary School taking in each of the photos, the crosses representing each of the lives lost.

He and his wife spent some time looking into the eyes of these children in those photos to fully take in the moment and the experience of what these families are enduring at this time. But even while the president has been here with the goal of offering comfort, he has also been pushed by members of the community to do more.

Here at the elementary school, there was one demonstrator that shouted at both the Texas governor and also President Biden telling them to act, and the president also faced more demonstrators as he left mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Take a look at both of those moments earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden, we need help. We need help, President Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do something. Do something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Biden, we need answers.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dr. Biden. President Biden.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will. We will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So you heard those chants there, do something, and President Biden very explicitly mouthing the words, "We will." Of course there are so many questions of what that action will actually be. The president himself has said that there's little more he can do via executive action on gun control. The White House insisting that it is time for Congress to act.

And when you talk to people here, one person I spoke to said they want to see more gun laws, they want to see more resources devoted to mental health, and they are waiting to see answers from their elected officials to try to prevent future tragedies like this. So right now at the moment the president trying to offer those words of comfort. He's expected to spend roughly three hours, possibly more, with those families as he is grieving with them, as they are experiencing these gut-wrenching losses of their young, young children.

ACOSTA: And Arlette, you can just hear the pain in the voices of those people in the community pleading for the help of the president of the United States.

Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.

Joining me now, Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. As you know the

president is meeting with the families of the victims today. You were in Uvalde yesterday. And I know you met with some of them. What did you hear from them?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Jim, obviously just unimaginable pain and grief and suffering and a few things.

[16:05:05]

First, they want to find out why it took law enforcement so long, by some estimates over an hour, to take out the shooter. And I don't think we've seen that in any other situation like this, perhaps ever, where it took law enforcement that long and they're wondering why their kids and why Uvalde, Texas.

Also, they're concerned about their kids who still have to go back to school next year. They don't want to go back to Robb Elementary. They want the state and the federal government to work together to make sure that, you know, they can go to a different school, a new school. So I hope that President Biden and Governor Abbott will work together with the legislature and the Congress to make that happen.

And just, you know, just an incredible suffering that these people are going through, and they want change in gun laws. They want gun safety and gun reform. You know, people kept telling me I don't know how it is that in Texas an 18-year-old can't buy beer and cigarettes but they can walk into a gun store and buy an AR-15. That makes no sense.

And over the years as the Republican Party in Texas has been overtaken by this gun mania and the NRA mania, Greg Abbott has made it easier for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons in their hands.

ACOSTA: And, Congressman, the Justice Department is going to conduct a review now of the law enforcement response in Uvalde. I know you've been calling for the FBI to investigate. Is it enough what the Justice Department is saying they will do at this point?

CASTRO: Well, I'm glad that the Justice Department is listening, and they're going to do a review of the law enforcement response. Like I said, I think everybody was shocked that it took an hour for law enforcement to go in there and finally take out the shooter. And, by the way, it wasn't just local law enforcement. There were local, state, and federal law enforcement officers there all of whom waited a significant amount of time before going in because now you see people starting to blame each other.

And so, look, I hope that they do a thorough and comprehensive report because that's what the families deserve.

ACOSTA: And, Congressman, have you gotten any indication just in your inquiry that you've launched as to what was going on with that delayed response? I mean, we heard what law enforcement officials said that, you know, some of them didn't want to get shot and so on. Have you been able to figure this out? CASTRO: I wish that I could say that I have more answers than what all

of us have been privy to, but I don't. I'm just as, you know, mystified and disturbed as everyone else.

ACOSTA: And what did the FBI say when you asked for them to, I guess, launch an inquiry?

CASTRO: Well, they said that right now that they were working independently but in partnership with DPS and local law enforcement to figure out what happened, that they would come up with a comprehensive timeline. You know, they were in the process of reviewing all of the video footage from the school. Apparently the funeral home across the street, which he shot at, also had video footage.

They're in possession of all the body cam footage that the different officers had on them. So they're reviewing that. They're reviewing the shooter's social media, his cell phone. They believe, and I think it's been reported, that he was in touch with somebody in Germany.

I believe they told me that it looked like he may have been in touch with somebody from London as well. And so they're gathering all of that information to try to make sure that they're able to give an accurate accounting of what happened and why it happened, because God knows we've already gotten two or three or four different versions of the facts so far from state officials.

ACOSTA: That's exactly right. And earlier we heard this moment when a Uvalde resident was shouting at the president before that same person was shouting at Governor Abbott. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, Governor Abbott, help Uvalde County. We need change. We need change, Governor. We need change. Our children don't deserve this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, Congressman, you know, you're just hearing people shouting, pleading with the president of the United States, pleading with the governor of Texas, for help on this. I mean, you can hear the desperation in their voices.

CASTRO: Yes. I mean, there's just a lot of visceral anger, visceral emotion, and that's right, people, they should be upset, obviously. You know, but you've got to make sure that ultimately that that energy and that anger is directed at the people that have been standing in the way of gun reform. Remember, Democrats in the House of Representatives in Congress passed HR-8, universal background checks, that's supported by 90 percent of Americans.

[16:10:02]

We passed that over a year ago and it's been sitting languishing in a Senate where Republicans won't let it get through. Now I will say this, Democrats could get rid of the filibuster to be able to pass gun reform. So either you get rid of the filibuster and pass it with Democratic votes or you've got to convince these Republicans who have been slaves to the NRA that they've got to change their tune and finally decide that they're going to do something on gun safety and gun reform.

ACOSTA: And speaking of new gun safety measures, Kamala Harris, the vice president yesterday, she called for an assault weapons ban. You've co-sponsored an assault weapons ban. The president has talked about an assault weapons ban. There was one in the United States in the mid-1990s to about 2004. After it expired, mass shootings went up after they had gone down during the course of that ban.

How do you make it happen? How do Democrats make it happen?

CASTRO: Well, I think that if legislators from both parties, but especially the folks, the Republicans that have been staying in the way of this, because you have over 200 Democratic sponsors on that bill in the House of Representatives, if they listen to the American people, that ban is supported, that policy change is supported by over two-thirds of Americans because they see what these weapons of war do on the street.

There's a physical element to this. These folks can fire off 15 or 20 rounds and injure or kill 15 or 20 people in a matter of seconds with an AR-15 before you even have a chance to turn around. So you've got to do one of two things, either you've got to get the AK-47s and the AR-15s and the semiautomatic handguns off the street or you've got to ban high-capacity magazines so it accomplishes the same thing and you can't shoot 20 people in five seconds.

ACOSTA: All right. Congressman Joaquin Castro, I know we're going to continue this conversation. Thanks for making time for us this evening. We appreciate it.

CASTRO: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Coming up, protesters gather outside the NRA convention in Houston after back-to-back shootings. We'll head there live and get reaction from an NRA board member. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:20]

ACOSTA: "The New York Times" has published a visual depiction of how many times in the last decade the United States has witnessed a mass casualty event in which the perpetrator was able to legally purchase a gun.

Take a look at this. I've got it right here, right here on the desk. Uvalde, Buffalo, Boulder, Atlanta, Dayton, El Paso, Virginia Beach, Thousand Oaks, Pittsburgh, Parkland, Southerland Springs, Las Vegas, Orlando, Roseberg, Oak Creek. All mass shootings where the gunman was able to buy the weapon legally.

And I'm joined now by NRA board member Judge Phillip Journey. Judge, thank you for being with us. For years your group has blocked

new gun safety laws and pushed for the most relaxed rules possible on firearms. Isn't some of this blood on the NRA's hands?

JUDGE PHILLIP JOURNEY, NRA BOARD MEMBER: Well, let me first say, Jim, thanks for having me on the show. I want to tell you that I really don't believe the supposition of your question is accurate. I know that while I'm not a spokesperson for anybody, I followed the issue closely and that the NRA and other organizations, even myself as a state senator in Kansas, have worked to tighten the laws. I think it's important to understand that it's necessary that these laws actually --

ACOSTA: No, no, no, sir. I hope you understand I'm going to have to cut you off when you start saying things that just aren't true. The NRA has not worked to tighten rules. That's just not the case. The NRA for years, for decades, has pushed for the most relaxed rules possible in this country and that's why we have mass shooting after mass shooting.

Please if you could answer the question that I asked you at the beginning of the interview. Isn't this blood on your hands?

JOURNEY: I'm not the one that pulled the trigger and neither are the members of the National Rifle Association. I think Buffalo is a great example where the alarms were going off in New York and all the officials did was hit the snooze button. He could have easily been processed through care and treatment action. He was a danger to himself or others. He'd already threatened mass shooting prior and nobody did anything until that --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Well, if he's a troubled young man -- if he's a troubled young man should he be able to go out and buy an AR-15 assault rifle or style assault rifle which is what happened in Buffalo, which is what happened in Uvalde? Your group is holding its convention in Houston where you are right now just a few days after the massacre in Uvalde. We saw Donald Trump dancing on stage at the end of his remarks.

JOURNEY: He was not. I was there. He was not dancing. You know, give me a break.

ACOSTA: How is any of this at all appropriate? We're showing it on stage right now. He's doing a little jig there. People are waving their NRA hats and so on. It's this celebratory atmosphere right after a mass shooting where all of these kids are gunned down. How is that appropriate?

JOURNEY: I think that what you're doing is just telling part of the story there because at the beginning of the speech he did do a very memorable memorial for the victims and he did make comments that were appropriate, but that's not the part that seems to be getting out.

ACOSTA: Right, but why even have the convention?

JOURNEY: So, you know, to say --

ACOSTA: Why not cancel the convention out of some measure of decency? Why not have some decency for these kids?

JOURNEY: Well --

ACOSTA: They just lost their lives. Couldn't you postpone the convention, have it some other time?

JOURNEY: The timing was almost impossible to address that question the way you want us to because vendors were already here and already set- up. The contracts were already entered into. We were able to do that in 1999 in Columbine where we had a few weeks to do that.

ACOSTA: Well, and there are mass shootings all the time, too, I suppose.

[16:20:05]

I want to get your reaction to what the survivors of Tuesday's school shooting told CNN. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you ever want to go back to school?

JAYDEN PEREZ, SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I don't want to, no, because I don't want anything to do with another shooting and me in the school.

BROADDUS: You scared it might happen again?

PEREZ: Yes. And I know it might happen again. Probably.

EDWARD TIMOTHY SILVA, UVALDE SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I have the fear of guns now because I'm scared someone might shoot me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you say to these children who say they're afraid somebody is going to shoot them if they go back to school?

JOURNEY: Well, I say to the children that we all pray for you and we all want to lift you up in prayer, that we want to hope that you get through this without the consequences that we see so often in victims of domestic crime. I practiced law for 25 years and I have been a judge in criminal court for over 14 years and now I'm doing family law, so I do think I understand what's in the best interests of children. I've been doing thousands of cases. I deal with domestic violence every day and let me say that there are other issues that we can bring more progress on.

ACOSTA: Can people bring an AR-15 into your courtroom?

JOURNEY: And there are things we can --

ACOSTA: Can people bring in AR-15 into your courtroom?

JOURNEY: If I could say there are things we can work together.

ACOSTA: Can people bring an AR-15 into your courtroom?

JOURNEY: Sorry, what?

ACOSTA: Can somebody bring an AR-15 in your courtroom, Judge?

JOURNEY: Well, we do have -- well, of course not. That's kind of a loaded question.

ACOSTA: Why not?

JOURNEY: Of course not.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you this. NRA supporters keep saying --

JOURNEY: That question is obvious. And, you know, it's also important to remember that bringing a firearm on a school in Texas is a felony also.

ACOSTA: Well, people don't seem to have much trouble if they want to unleash that kind of destruction to do just that. You know, NRA supporters like yourself, they keep saying that the answer to all of this is good guys with guns. The 19 good guys with guns failed in Uvalde. The cops were there in the school. There was a school resource officer who apparently was MIA and none of that helped.

JOURNEY: Well, I think the issue of law enforcement at Uvalde is a separate question from what we're talking about here today. Their performance has left something to be desired. Even the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety gave an enlightening press conference just the other way. I'm sure you're aware of it, too.

ACOSTA: With these mass shootings it keeps coming back to the --

JOURNEY: They waited outside the room for an hour.

ACOSTA: It keeps coming back to the AR-15 and similar models. Why do people need an AR-15 anyway?

JOURNEY: You know, it's just a semiautomatic rifle. You know, if you want to be prejudiced about the way it looks, but I was aware of what happened in the '94 semiautomatic firearms ban and there were rifles of similar function that just didn't look as ugly, they weren't black guns like a Mini 14, a Ruger Mini 14, and of course the Ruger Mini 14 was appropriate and the AR-15 was not. If it had a bayonet log or (INAUDIBLE). So --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: I do want to ask you about the assault weapons ban that, you know, on the AR-15, how is it that an 18-year-old can buy an AR-15 style rifle and have 1600 rounds of ammo with him like we saw in Uvalde? JOURNEY: Well, he did not have any prior convictions. He didn't have

any prior issues that would have kept him from purchasing one. It's my understanding from the news that he purchased it through a firearms dealer, passed the background check because he didn't have any prior convictions.

ACOSTA: Right, but should an 18-year-old have an AR-15?

JOURNEY: That's how he bought it.

ACOSTA: Should an 18-year-old have an AR-15? What's he going to do with it, go duck hunting?

JOURNEY: I don't know. Should an 18-year-old have one in the army?

ACOSTA: They have military training in the army. This 18-year-old in Uvalde did not have military training. He turned 18 and he went out and bought an AR-15.

JOURNEY: And the fact is that these kinds of issues are far more complicated than whether we remove something from the public. These issues in criminal --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: You can't buy a beer if you're 18. You can't buy a pack of cigarettes.

JOURNEY: -- are more complicated than the easy answer. You want to know why politicians seem to go to gun control? Because it doesn't cost them any money. Fixing the mental health system in this country costs money. I mean, I was around in the Senate and before I lived in Topeka when I watched them shut down the state mental hospitals and turn everyone out into the streets hoping the community based mental health would work and they wonder why they don't show up every day to take their meds.

ACOSTA: Judge, let me ask you this.

JOURNEY: This kid was troubled.

[16:25:00]

ACOSTA: Well, we have troubled people all over the world. There's mental illness all over the world. We're the only country that has these mass shootings over and over again.

Let me ask you this. You take issue with Wayne LaPierre. You've been trying to have him removed from the --

JOURNEY: There have been several other mass shootings all over the world.

ACOSTA: From the leadership. Not to the level that we have in the United States, come on. You take issue with how Wayne LaPierre has run the NRA. I know you want him removed from the organization. This may surprise people but back in 1999 he testified that he was in favor of background checks to include gun shows. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE LAPIERRE, THEN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NRA: We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: He says no loopholes.

JOURNEY: I'm aware of that.

ACOSTA: He says no loopholes.

JOURNEY: I'm aware of that.

ACOSTA: Why was it the NRA have that position now when an overwhelming majority of Americans support universal background checks? Why are you standing in the way of what the overwhelming majority --

JOURNEY: I don't think there's anything with background check. If you would let me answer. If you would let -- you know, if you would just not put words in my mouth and let me answer the question that would be appreciated.

But the reality is that it's the states that are the soft hole in the background check system. They don't report felony convictions. They don't report commitments, involuntary commitments when people are found to be a danger to themselves or others. There are states that have millions of convictions sitting in a database because they're waiting on the federal government to pay for their employees to input it into the system. The system is flawed because the state's input it flawed. That the system was right.

ACOSTA: And isn't the system flawed because your organization stands in front of just about any reasonable piece of gun control legislation that comes through the Congress? Don't you feel any responsibility in all of this?

JOURNEY: You know, if I could explain. If I could explain, if I could explain, the reality is that we've worked in Congress to have these systems in the individual states improved. We've urged the funding with the NICS Fix act that was passed during the Trump administration to try to get the states to get their records up to snuff. And the reality is that they're not.

ACOSTA: But we're still having mass shootings.

JOURNEY: And if they don't put the felony conviction --

ACOSTA: Sir. Judge.

JOURNEY: If they don't put the felony conviction in the system they pass the background check.

ACOSTA: Judge, over and over and over.

JOURNEY: There are instances where shooter --

ACOSTA: Over and over and over, Judge.

JOURNEY: Yes, over and over and over.

ACOSTA: We have these mass shootings. Isn't it finally time to say that your way doesn't work? It just doesn't work.

JOURNEY: The way we're doing it doesn't work but the way that we're not making it work is making the background system work effectively because the states will not do their share of the job. The federal government and NCIC over in West Virginia do a great job compiling the records, doing the background checks and making sure that individuals are barred from purchasing firearms but then, of course, they're not prosecuted for their attempt.

Now maybe we should start prosecuting convicted felons who are trying to buy gun because we get thousands of them every month.

ACOSTA: I know, but, Judge, we hear that all the time and you have this 18-year-old kids shooting up shopping centers and schools and everything. They're not felons, they're just kids, and they have access to an ocean of guns in this country. It's an ocean -- we're swimming in guns.

JOURNEY: There were over -- well, we do have per capita a high number of firearms in this country. But you know, the vast majority of them are not AR-15s that you're complaining about. There's very little difference functionally between that and any other semiautomatic firearm that's been around for over 100 years.

ACOSTA: If there's nothing different, why do they use them to shoot up shopping malls and supermarkets and schools? The AR-15 is the weapon of choice. They're used to hunt people.

JOURNEY: You know, I can't read their minds. I guess you'll just have to ask them. You know, I don't know why. I think people buy things for lots of --

ACOSTA: Why don't you commit right here, sir, that you will help get some semblance of gun safety sanity here in Washington? Could you make that commitment right now to do everything that you can?

JOURNEY: I would be happy to sit down and talk with just about anybody that won't insult me. The reality is that there are talks going on right now in Washington as I understand it in the Senate. And we'll see what they've come up with.

ACOSTA: Well, we need action. We needs action because our children are dying, sir.

JOURNEY: It's usually about the --

ACOSTA: Our children are dying, Judge. I'm sorry. That's all the time we have. But I just have to say, I just, you know, I think that you and your organization, honestly, I'm 51 years old, this has been going on for decades and it just seems to me that the NRA just has to look into your souls and I'm sorry to say it that way, sir, but you and your other board members need to look into your souls and see what can be done for these kids. These kids who keep dying over and over again. Over and over again.

[16:30:00]

ACOSTA: I'm sorry. That's all the time we have. Judge, thank you very much for your time. Thank you, sir.

JUDGE JOURNEY: Yes, you bet.

ACOSTA: Coming up, demanding change. I'll talk to the Uvalde man who was among the onlookers today shouting for leaders to do something on gun violence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Anger and outrage felt in Uvalde after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary. Those emotions boiled over for some residents as President Biden and Texas Governor Abbott visited the memorial at the school today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[16:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, Governor Abbott, help Uvalde County. We need change. We need change, Governor. We need change, our children don't deserve this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Just painful to watch. The outrage continued minutes later directed at President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Biden, we need help. We need help, President Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: You can just hear the desperation in those voices. And joining me now is Ben Gonzalez, the Uvalde resident that you heard shouting those words at Governor Abbott and President Biden, along with other folks there in the crowd.

Ben, you live less than a mile from the school, you actually attended fourth grade there. Three of your kids are in the same school district as Robb Elementary School. My goodness. Why was it important for you to speak out today? And Am I feeling this right, that it just feels like desperation is what I heard in the voices of those people there? BEN GONZALEZ, UVALDE RESIDENT: Good afternoon, Mr. Acosta. Thank you for having me on. I never intended to reach out like this or get an interview or anything like that, it was never my intention. But being there at the scene and seeing two leaders that can make such a huge difference in our community, I was just overcome with emotion and it just came out.

ACOSTA: Yes, take me back to that day because I know one of your sons, he knows some of the victims. Tell us, you know, what your family is going through, what other people you know are going through.

GONZALEZ: So, the community is just -- as everybody knows by now, we're just a small tight knit community and everybody knows everybody in some way, shape or form. My son, my eight-year-old son, he played football with some of the kids that were there at the school and it's just -- everybody is just heartbroken. It's just heartbroken. You never think this is going to happen in your community, and it happens.

We're here and the families deserve to mourn. We -- our community needs to mourn for now and heal. But we are going to need change. When the dust settles, 21 families were destroyed and so many more families are just damaged forever, and we need change. We need some sort of change. We need help. Our community needs help.

ACOSTA: And as a parent who has kids in the district, what was your reaction when you heard the Justice Department is now going to open this investigation into the police response at the elementary school? I mean, children were calling 911, begging for help as these officers were waiting in the hallway. You heard the Department of Public Safety saying on Friday that they made the wrong decision. I can't imagine how people are feeling about all of that.

GONZALEZ: It's just devastating to hear that when you put all your faith and you back up your community PD and law enforcement. We've been going through a lot in this community recently. There's a lot of things going on before the shooting, and you try and support local PD as much as possible because they take the oath to protect us. And if they fail to protect those children, it's just -- it's devastating and it's heartbreaking and it's easy for a lot of people to sit here and say, if I was there, I would have gone in.

I mean, I wasn't there, but had my son been in that building or somebody that I know or any children, I would have run in and so many people would have. There was parents and families running in there. You know, bystanders running in to get their kids and other children out to help, and it's just a huge letdown. At the end of the investigation, if it does come out that they could have done more, it's going to be a huge letdown for the community and the families.

ACOSTA: And a lot of these kids don't want to go back to school now.

GONZALEZ: No. They -- I don't blame them. I know a family member that was in there and I can't imagine what he saw in there. It was a massacre. These poor, defenseless children had no chance because there's AR-15s that you could just go and buy at 18 years old, you could just go and buy it with this permitless gun carry that we have in Texas. It's crazy. You could go just but it. You can't buy a pack of smokes but you can buy an AR-15 with however many rounds of ammo you want.

My son had just toured Robb Elementary days before. He was touring the school because he was going to go to second grade there. And I -- my first thought was -- when I went to Robb in fourth grade, I lived less than half a mile from the school, I walked and rode my bike and I had a great time doing that.

I had many memories walking to school and my though was, I can't wait to teach my son to get to school responsibly and walk across the road properly, and I was just so ecstatic because he was going to be so close to my home. And now, we don't know what we're going to do with our kids next year. Every family in Uvalde County, we don't have many options here.

[16:40:00]

ACOSTA: All right. Well, Ben Gonzalez, I hope there are some answers for your community very soon. You deserve it. It's been through too much. Ben, thank you very much for your time, we appreciate it.

GONZALEZ: Thank you, sir. Please get our message out to the politicians. We can come together. We don't need to be so far on the opposite end of the spectrum. We can meet in the middle and make change happen on so many fronts. It's not just one issue. It's not just the gun issue or a mental health, it can be both and it is both. And please don't forget about Uvalde. Please don't forget about us. Our families need prayers, many, many prayers.

ACOSTA: We won't, Ben.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And we are praying. Thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:00]

ACOSTA: As the nation grapples with the massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde, there have been two more mass shootings. CNN's Nadia Romero joins me now from Atlanta.

Nadia, what do we know about these incidents so far?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, gone are the days that we talk about these incidents only happening in big, metropolitan areas. Let's go to Taft, Oklahoma. It's a town about 45 miles outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. And there, a police say that one person is dead, seven people were shot. And this happened at a Memorial Day festival.

Police were expecting about 1,500 people to be out early this morning to enjoy the Memorial Day holiday, but it ended up in a shooting. No one is in custody but there is a press conference happening right now where we're hoping to learn more about that investigation. And now, let's head to Chattanooga, Tennessee. This shooting happened late Saturday night just about a mile or so from the Tennessee Aquarium. So, a populated area. And police there tell us that six people were shot, two of them with life-threatening injuries. And, Jim, police say all the people that were involved in that Chattanooga, Tennessee, shooting were young people, they were teenagers or in their early 20s.

And we just looked up numbers from the Gun Violence Archive, they tell us that there have been about 220, Jim, mass shootings, so four people or more shot, so far this year and we've yet to even reach halfway through this year. Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Nadia, these shootings are putting Americans on edge, obviously. You are also tracking a third incident in New York that could have ended very differently. Can you tell us about that?

ROMERO: Yes. Jim, last night in New York in Barclay Center there was a boxing match. A lot of people were inside this arena to see this happen. When people thought they were inside of an arena when there was an active shooter. You got to take a look at this chaotic video that unfolded. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gun? There's guns?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: So, you can see people there were running and yelling, trying to find a place to hide or get away. The New York Police Department telling CNN that there was actually not a shooting, but they say it was a sound disturbance that people thought was gunshots fired.

Jim, tennis star Naomi Osaka was in there. She tweeted that people were yelling, there's an active shooter, and people were trying to hide and barricade themselves in rooms. This is where we are in our country right now, that people are so fearful of going out, being at a weekend festival to celebrate the holiday, to go to a grocery store or school shooting. This is what that fear looks like now. Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. We're all starting to think maybe we're next. That's the sad state of affairs right now. Nadia Romero, thank you very much.

Quick break. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:50:00]

ACOSTA: The Uvalde School massacre has left millions of Americans profoundly shaken and the shock of this violent tragedy has many parents asking, what do we say to our kids? 2014 top 10 CNN hero, Annette March-Grier, who helps children and their families cope with grief shares some advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNETTE MARCH-GRIER, 2014 TOP 10 CNN HERO: The tragedy that we all just experienced in Texas has resulted in a traumatic event that has impacted not just Texas families, children around the world may experience some type of stress response. It could trigger previous crisis that they may have experienced. And it's really important for adults to observe the reactions that their children may have as a result of this event.

Having sleep problems, having eating problems, having anxiety and worries, they may be more clingy to their parents. They may even have a fear of going to school. Hug your child. Ask them questions about their feelings. Don't provide more information than what they are asking. Help them to understand that things happen sometimes and we have no answers. Keep some type of structure and routine in their lives so that they can feel safe.

We all need to learn from this experience how we can best help our young people to grow up to be healthy individuals psychologically, emotionally and physically. We can get through this crisis. We can get through together supporting one another so that hopefully we can prevent something like this from ever happening again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:55:00]

ACOSTA: And to learn more about the help Annette provides through her grief center in Baltimore, go to cnnheroes.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

The Justice Department will review the police response to the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. This is significant as Texas officials and law enforcement are under intense scrutiny for the way officers responded.

[17:00:00]