The darkest of times is what the Uvalde Leader-News said in the aftermath of the school shooting that left 19 school children dead in 2022. Meanwhile on April 20, 2026, Schamar Elkins killed his 7 children and 1 cousin in Shreveport, Louisiana after learning that his wife wanted a divorce. She too was shot and gravely injured. In his attempt to get away he led police on a high speed chase and was himself shot and killed in a shootout with police.
In the Uvalde case, a man named Salvatore Ramos was in the school building for 60 minutes when a team from the U.S. Border Patrol made its move. Uvalde turned into a large crime scene and a heart-breaking stain on dozens of onlooker police officers, including the local school police chief, who was the de-facto incident commander. At least nineteen ten-year old children and two teachers were killed by a member of their own community. Like most of these despicable murderers, Ramos took his own life as soon as the school was breached by the border patrol.
A former Uvalde High School student, Ramos was just 18 years old. In all, Ramos killed nineteen 3rd and 4th grade students and their teachers in the tiny Robb elementary school in west Texas over the course of an hour. That hour will be forever scrutinized by the FBI, Texas Rangers, and other active shooter experts to discern law enforcement strengths and weaknesses in the handling of this event. Had law enforcement followed the protocol as practiced? Nearly 4 years on – the collective belief says no.
There is no more heinous crime than to maim or kill helpless young children like in Uvalde, or Newtown, or Majorie Taylor Douglas, or Virginia Tech.
This was the front page of the Uvalde Leader News on May 24, 2022 following a school shooting resulting in the deaths of nearly 20 school children. Only darkness in Uvalde, a community who still reels from this senseless nonfeasance. By all accounts the police response was a complete failure allowing the gunman over one hour in the school alone with his high powered rifle. And elementary school children.
Stress Response and Human Behavior 
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