Our 166th Year
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T H U R S DAY, M AY 2 6 , 2 0 2 2
TRAGEDY IN TEXAS
Santa Barbara County law enforcement, school officials react to massacre By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The nation Tuesday saw the largest school massacre since Sandy Hook in Uvalde, Texas, when two teachers and 19 children were killed at Robb Elementary School by Salvador Ramos, 18, with an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle. Authorities said he had legally purchased two such rifles just days prior to the shooting, right after his 18th birthday. Mr. Ramos was a resident of the community that is about 85 miles west of San Antonio and had no criminal or mental health history. “Investigators shed no immediate light on the motive,” according to The Associated Press. On Wednesday, law enforcement and school officials in Santa Barbara County reacted with shock and disbelief to the shootings as they talked to the News-Press about what needs to be done to deter gun violence. And representatives of school districts and private schools across the county, the Sheriff’s Office and the county district attorney’s office have been invited to meet Friday with the county superintendent of schools to discuss mitigation strategies to deal with violence. Bottom line: Children must be protected, Interim Santa Barbara Police Chief Bernard Melekian told the News-Press. “The killings in Texas represent a level of depravity that is almost impossible to fathom,” Chief Melekian said. “As a father and grandfather, I can only barely imagine the anguish that the families of the victims are dealing with. “With respect to gun control, if we allow this tragedy to fall into the same political cesspool that happened after Sandy Hook and other similar
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
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Santa Barbara County District Joyce Dudley said law enforcement needs the proper funding to enforce laws and keep society safe.
“The senseless and hateful mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, shake us to our core,” said Sheriff Bill Brown.
tragedies, then these deaths will just be added to the list of tragedies children and adults from violence. we cry about without actually doing ‘Once again our nation finds itself in anything,” Chief Melekian said. “Of the midst of terrible tragedy,” Sheriff equal importance is the need to Brown told the News-Press. “The expand our capacity with respect to senseless and hateful mass shootings mental health resources. I have no in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, doubt that the suspect in this matter Texas, shake us to our core, and are will turn out to have been struggling even more horrific with the realization with mental illness and have displayed that both of these atrocities were warning signs that caused people who committed by 18-year-old Americans. knew him some concern. Our hearts are broken and our deep “The problem sympathy goes out to is that there is no all the family members, place for people friends and colleagues of to act on these .the innocent victims. More stories on page A2. concerns. That “Preventing these needs to change,” crimes is a complex and the police chief said. “Winston difficult task, but as a nation we must Churchill is supposed to have said: work to encourage the reporting of any ‘When all is said and done, usually suspicious activity to law enforcement, more is said than done.’ So far that has and redouble our efforts to provide been our history and how we respond early intervention and mental health to these things. treatment to anyone who exhibits any “The problem with what we are indication of sociopathic thinking or dealing with here is a word that no behavior,” Sheriff Brown said. “We one really likes anymore. But we are must also address the problems of dealing with evil.” Chief Melekian bullying and its impact on youth, pay said. “Somebody wiser than me will attention to the mental health needs have to figure out how to keep evil of young people in our schools, and away from small children.” work to prevent access to firearms by Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Please see TRAGEDY on A4 Brown also called on society to protect
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Abbott: No ‘meaningful warnings’ before Uvalde school shootings
Newsom announces legislative actions to curb gun violence By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Gov. Gavin Newsom held a press conference Wednesday to announce expedited legislative efforts to protect communities from gun violence. Senate President Pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, also spoke at the conference, which came one day after the killing of 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. “Rather than pointing a finger of blame, our impulse in California has always been to take action,” Speaker Rendon said. “California already has strong gun laws on background checks, limiting purchasing by age and restraining orders to prevent gun violence,” he said. “Still, if there is anything more that we can do, we are compelled to do it. That is why we are here today, trying to accelerate consideration of new laws to reduce gun violence … “It is also our hope that other states will join California, and that we will act nationally to end the
stranglehold that gun violence has on our country…We have work to do,” he said. Legislative proposals include limiting firearm marketing to minors and permitting legal action against gun makers and dealers who are “reckless” or “negligent” in marketing their products. Proposed legislation also would allow citizens to sue firearm makers, distributors and others who sell or import assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles and ghost guns. At Wednesday’s news conference, Sen. Atkins discussed the fear that families experience today. “We’re here because we have gotten to the point that we can’t live our lives without trepidation that every time we step outside we may never see our families again. That’s what I heard yesterday. We can’t live without fear that each goodbye to our children, our spouses and friends could be the last. This may feel like a point of no return but it’s not… “We have to turn it around before another neighbor, mother, teacher or child is senselessly ripped from our world,” she said.
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“The killings in Texas represent a level of depravity that is almost impossible to fathom,” Interim Santa Barbara Police Chief Bernard Melekian told the News-Press.
By BETHANY BLANKLEY and DAN MCCALEB THE CENTER SQUARE
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Gov. Gavin Newsom
She said she is working with Speaker Rendon “to move expeditiously on over a dozen bills that are already working their way through our legislative process, many of them being acted on yesterday, today, this week… Please see PLANS on A4
(The Center Square) — As the investigation continues into Tuesday’s elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, authorities on Wednesday provided more details into the moments leading up to the mass shooting. At a Wednesday news conference that was briefly interrupted by Democratic candidate for Texas governor Beto O’Rourke, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said the shooter, 18-yearold Uvalde resident Salvador Ramos, first shot his 66-year-old grandmother in the face at their home. The woman, who remains in critical condition at a local hospital, called police. Mr. Ramos then got into his grandmother’s car and started driving toward Robb Elementary School. He crashed his car about a block-and-a-half away, Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said. Mr. Ramos then exited the vehicle with a backpack and a semiautomatic rifle and walked toward
the school. “As he was approaching, a school district resource officer engaged him, but the subject was able to make it into the school,” Gov. Abbott said. Inside the school, Mr. Ramos made a couple of turns before approaching two classrooms. “That’s where the carnage began,” a law enforcement officer said. Gov. Abbott said “there was no meaningful forewarnings of this crime,” other than three Facebook messages the shooter posted shortly before the shootings occurred. About 30 minutes before the school shooting, he posted, “’First, I’m going to shoot my grandmother,’” Gov. Abbott said. Shortly thereafter, he posted, “’I did shoot my grandmother,’” Gov. Abbott said. His third post was, “’I’m going to shoot an elementary school,’” the governor said of the shooter. At least 21 people were killed, and multiple others were injured. The victims were mostly thirdand fourth-graders, according to law enforcement officials. Some family members are posting
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
pictures of their lost loved ones. Police said they still don’t have a motive for the mass shooting. They also said Mr. Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history. On March 17, Mr. Ramos purchased a semiautomatic rifle, Mr. McCraw said. On March 18, he bought 275 rounds of ammunition for the rifle. On March 20, he Please see WARNINGS on A3
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L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life..................... B 1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Wednesday’s DAILY 4: 4-1-5-2
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 3-5-6-63-68 Meganumber: 25
Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 15-25-27-30-36
Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 12-04-03 Time: 1:45.34
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: N/A Meganumber: N/A
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A4
Wednesday’s DAILY 3: 2-1-5 / Wednesday’s Midday 3-5-3