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Biden says Second Amendment ‘not absolute’ as more details of school shooting emerge

Key updates
Victim’s father describes hearing gunfire at school, questions police response
‘Second amendment is not absolute,’ Biden says
Uvalde school police officer ‘engaged’ gunman and was shot, DPS says
Politicians pleaded for “common sense” gun laws after at least 19 students and two adults were killed in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Tex., on May 24. (Video: Hadley Green/The Washington Post, Photo: Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
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Updated May 26, 2022 at 12:02 a.m. EDT|Published May 25, 2022 at 4:09 a.m. EDT

President Biden on Wednesday said the Second Amendment is “not absolute” and said he would visit Texas “in the coming days," as more details emerged on the days and moments leading up to the elementary school massacre that killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17.

Officials say Salvador Rolando Ramos, 18, bought two rifles and hundreds of rounds and shot his grandmother in the face Tuesday before storming Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. Ramos sent direct messages about his attack shortly before the shooting, according to Facebook; Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Wednesday that Ramos shared his intentions to “shoot my grandmother” and “shoot an elementary school.”

The identities of the victims are still emerging. Among them: a teaching team, a 10-year-old who loved TikTok dance videos and a fourth-grader who had just made the honor roll.

Victim’s father describes hearing gunfire at school, questions police response
‘Second amendment is not absolute,’ Biden says
Uvalde school police officer ‘engaged’ gunman and was shot, DPS says

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A school district police officer “engaged” the gunman outside the school and was wounded, officials said. Ramos then entered and barricaded himself inside the 4th-grade classroom where he killed 21 people, they said.
Democratic Texas gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke confronted Gov. Greg Abbott during a Wednesday news conference at Uvalde High School.
Those who knew the gunman spoke to The Washington Post about how he grew increasingly violent after being bullied and experiencing a fraught home life as a child.
Most Senate Republicans stood firm in defense of expansive gun rights as Democrats said they were desperate to pursue even meager attempts to prevent another tragedy.

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