Texas school shooting: Bidens visit Uvalde, Abbott greeted with boos

Uvalde, Texas - President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden landed in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to pay their respects to the survivors and victims' families of the horrific school shooting that shook the nation.

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott en route to meet grieving families of the Robb Elementary School shooting.
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott en route to meet grieving families of the Robb Elementary School shooting.  © REUTERS

The Bidens visited a memorial at Robb Elementary School, where 19 children and two adults were gunned down last week.

They were met there by Texas' far-right Gov. Greg Abbott and his wife, Cecilia.

Video footage of Abbott's arrival shows a crowd booing and yelling.

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"We need change! We need change, governor!" one angry person screams.

Abbott has come under fire for suggesting that gun law changes are unnecessary.

Just days after the shooting, Abbott canceled his scheduled in-person appearance at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston, choosing instead to make the trip to Uvalde, but the governor still addressed the NRA crowd with a video-recorded message.

Biden told to "do something"

During their visit to Uvalde, the Bidens placed flowers at the memorial and held hands with the school's superintendent, Hal Harrell, and principal, Mandy Gutierrez, The Hill reported. The trip came just two weeks after Biden appeared in Buffalo, New York, to visit the community devastated by the white-supremacist shooting at a local supermarket that left 10 dead.

The Bidens met privately with survivors and the families of victims of the Uvalde shooting and attended a Sunday mass at the local Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

As the president and first lady left the church, an onlooker yelled, "Do something!"

"We will," Joe Biden responded.

Apart from a Justice Department investigation into the police response in Uvalde, it is unclear what those actions will look like. Past legislative efforts to ban assault weapons and require background checks have been blocked by Republicans.

Cover photo: REUTERS

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