U.S. President Joe Biden had sought to comfort families in the Texas town of Uvalde after the deadliest school shooting in a decade when federal officials announced they would review law enforcement’s slow response.
Fury is outraged by the decision by law enforcement agencies in Uvalde to allow the gunman to remain in a classroom for nearly an hour while officers waited in the hallway and children in the room panicked, calling 911 for help.
President and first lady Jill Biden wiped tears as they visited memorials at Robb Elementary School, where the gunman killed 19 students and two teachers and placed white roses by the blackboard.
At the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, all the pews were filled when the Bidens attended mass.
The Bidens will meet with the victims’ families, survivors, and first responders.
Police say the gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the school on Tuesday with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle after previously killing his grandmother.
Official accounts of how the police responded to the shooting have spread wildly.
The U.S. Department of Justice said on Sunday it would review the local police’s response at the request of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin.
Julian Moreno, the former pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista and great-grandfather of one of the murdered girls, said the police made a huge mistake but that he “pity them because they have to live with that mistake just to watch”.
The shooting in Uvalde has once again put gun control at the top of the U.S. agenda, months ahead of the November midterm elections, with supporters of stricter gun laws saying the latest bloodshed is a tipping point.
Biden, a Democrat, has repeatedly called for sweeping reforms to the country’s gun laws but has been powerless to stop mass shootings or convince Republicans that tighter controls could stop the carnage.
The visit to Texas marks Biden’s third presidential trip to a mass shooting, including earlier this month when he visited Buffalo, New York after a gunman killed 10 black people in a Saturday afternoon attack at a supermarket.
Biden was joined on Sunday by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who opposes new gun restrictions, and other local officials.
“We need help, Governor Abbott,” some in the crowd shouted as Biden arrived at the school.
Others shouted, “Shame on you, Abbott.”
White House officials and close allies say Biden is unlikely to wade into specific policy proposals or take executive action against firearms to avoid disrupting delicate negotiations in the divided Senate.
Senate Democrats have toned down the rhetoric as negotiations continued this week during the chamber’s Memorial Day holiday recess.
“We have to be realistic about what we can achieve,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin told CNN on Sunday.
Durbin’s fellow Democrats narrowly control the 50-50 Senate split but need 60 votes to pass most legislation.
Vice President Kamala Harris called for a ban on assault rifles during a trip to Buffalo on Saturday, calling such firearms “a weapon of war.”
Leading Republicans such as U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, former President Donald Trump, and Abbott have rejected calls for new gun control measures, instead proposing investing in mental health services or tightening school safety.
Ramos, a school dropout, had no criminal record and no history of mental illness but had posted threatening messages on social media.