Texas school shooting – latest: Anger as police admit hour delay stopping gunman and school was unlocked

Police in Uvalde, Texas, are facing a number of unanswered questions about the handling of the mass shooting that left 21 dead at Robb Elementary School.

Local officers and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have spoken out about what unfolded on Tuesday in the horror attack that left 19 elementary students and two teachers dead.

But they have so far been unable to explain how Salvador Ramos was able to barricade himself in a classroom and open fire for more than an hour before being shot dead.

Here’s what we know so far about the timeline:

The Uvalde, Texas mass shooter told a German girl he was chatting with online that he shot his grandmother in the face and planned to attack an elementary school just moments before the massacre.

Salvador Ramos, 18, sent the texts on Tuesday just before he barricaded himself in a classroom at Robb Elementary School, where he killed 19 students and two faculty members. The shooter was eventually killed by Border Patrol agents, but not before responding police ignored the cries of desperate parents asking them to enter the school.

In the text exchange the shooter mentions his grandmother, saying he was “waiting for this b****.” He also said he had to wait until his grandfather left before he could act.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper struggled to hold back his own tears as a heartbroken father explained how his 10-year-old daughter died trying to save her classmates.

“She was just trying to do the right thing. She was just trying to call the cops,” Angel Garza, the father of Amerie Jo, told Mr Cooper through tears. “This is literally like her worst fear. And she was just trying to help everyone.”

The local newspaper in Uvalde, Texas, published a powerful front page image the day after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two faculty members in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

The image was striking not for what is showed, but for what it did not; the paper’s front page was completely black, with the exception of the paper’s banner and the date, 24 May, 2022.

After Senator Mitt Romney offered his thoughts and prayers to victims’ families in Uvalde, Texas – but made no mention of guns – Twitter users quickly pointed out his cozy relationship with the National Rifle Association.

“Grief overwhelms the soul,” the Republican tweeted. “Children slaughtered. Lives extinguished. Parents’ hearts wrenched. Incomprehensible. I offer prayer and condolence but know that it is grossly inadequate. We must find answers.”

Mr Romney’s critics answered with a number: $13,647,67, the amount of money he has received in political donations from the NRA. The enormous sum makes him the Senate’s top recipient of NRA money.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded in 1871 by a group of ex-US Army officers who were aghast at the exceedingly poor marksmanship of soldiers who fought for the United States during the American Civil War.

The group chose as its first president a former US army general, Ambrose Burnside. Other ex-generals would also serve as president, including former president Ulysses Grant and General Philip Sheridan.

What was Salvador Ramos’ motive?

Why didn’t police stop him sooner?

How was he able to enter the school and barricade himself inside?

These and other questions about the shooting in Uvalde, Texas remain unanswered. Here’s a look at what we know so far:

Blood stains still mark the inside of the home where Texas gunman Salvador Ramos shot his grandmother in the face before killing 21 people at a nearby elementary school, according to new video footage.

“There’s blood all over,” Rolando Reyes, Ramos’ grandfather, told independent journalist Ali Bradley as they toured the home.

Mr Reyes said friends and family had helped him clean blood out of the house, but that drops still remained on door posts and even the ceiling of the Uvalde, Texas, home, where Ramos had recently began living with his grandparents.

Meghan Markle made a surprise visit to Uvalde, Texas on Thursday, honoring the 21 victims of Tuesday’s mass shooting.

She was pictured laying a bundle of flowers with a purple ribbon at a memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse.

She also knelt next to a cross marking the death of 10-year-old victim Uziyah Garcia, one of 19 students killed in the massacre.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Uvalde, Texas on Sunday.

The White House says the Bidens will “grieve with the community that lost 21 lives in the horrific” shooting at Robb Elementary School. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would meet with the community and religious leaders and victims’ families.