Francisco Oropesa, 38, fled after the shooting Friday night that left five people dead, including an 8-year-old boy. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Saturday evening that authorities had widened the search to as far as 20 miles from the scene of the shooting.

Investigators found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest, but tracking dogs lost the scent, Capers said.

Police recovered the AR-15-style rifle that Oropesa allegedly used in the shootings but authorities were not sure if he was carrying another weapon, the sheriff said.

“He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.

The reward was announced at a press conference Sunday afternoon when authorities continued to say they had no tips about Oropesa’s whereabouts.

“We’re asking everyone for your help until we can bring this suspect, or this monster I will call him, to justice,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge James Smith. 

“Right now we’re running into dead ends,” he said.

The attack happened near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say neighbors often unwind by firing off guns.

Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras. All were shot “from the neck up,” he said.

Two hundred officers were going door to door in the search for Oropesa, asking questions and looking for tips, Capers said.

“This $80,000 is in my opinion a real good motivator to have somebody turn him in,” he said.

Billboard posters are being made with information about the reward in Spanish, he said.

The attack was the latest act of gun violence in what has been a record pace of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, some of which have also involved semiautomatic rifles.

The mass killings have played out in a variety of places — a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall, and now a rural Texas neighborhood inside a single-story home.

Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.

A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said.

“They were covered in blood from the same ladies that were laying on top of them trying to protect them,” he said Sunday.

Capers said the children were safe with family.

FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe everyone at the home were members of a single family. The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.

The confrontation followed the neighbors walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.

The shooting took place on a rural pothole-riddled street where single-story homes sit on wide 1-acre lots and are surrounded by a thick canopy of trees. A horse could be seen behind the victim’s home, while in the front yard of Oropeza’s house a dog and chickens wandered.

Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn’t think anything of it.

“It’s a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” Arevalo said. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”

Capers said his deputies had been to Oropesa’s home at least once before and spoken with him about “shooting his gun in the yard.” It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time. At a news conference Saturday evening, the sheriff said firing a gun on your own property can be illegal, but he did not say whether Oropesa had previously broken the law.

Capers said the new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he said he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.

Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.

Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year’s attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.

Republican leaders in Texas have continually rejected calls for new firearm restrictions, including this year over the protests of several families whose children were killed in Uvalde.

A few months ago, Arevalo said Oropesa threatened to kill his dog after it got loose in the neighborhood and chased the pit bull in his truck.

“I tell my wife all the time, ‘Stay away from the neighbors. Don’t argue with them. You never know how they’re going to react,’” Arevalo said. “I tell her that because Texas is a state where you don’t know who has a gun and who is going to react that way.”

As obituaries were posted online, more details surfaced about the lives of the employees killed Monday at Old National Bank. They have been identified as senior vice presidents Tommy Elliott, 63, and Joshua Barrick, 40; executive administrative officer Deana Eckert, 57; loan analyst Juliana Farmer, 45; and commercial real estate market executive Jim Tutt Jr., 64.

According to Elliott’s obituary, a funeral service is set for 3 p.m. Friday at Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville, followed by a private burial. The same day, Eckert’s visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. followed by a funeral service at Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, just over the Kentucky border from Louisville, according to her obituary.

Kentucky Apr 11

Video Shows Louisville Police Under Fire From Bank Shooter

Kentucky Apr 10

Employee Kills 5 at Louisville Bank. What We Know About the Victims

Barrick’s visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Ratterman Funeral Home, and a funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, both in Louisville, according to his obituary.

Tutt’s obituary says a visitation will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday followed by a funeral service at Southeast Christian Church Chapel in the Woods in Louisville.

Funeral arrangements for Farmer were pending.

Tutt and Elliott each had careers in the banking industry spanning four decades. Tutt was an enthusiastic winemaker, sailor and Kentucky Wildcats fan. He led annual humanitarian and church missions for over a decade to the Dominican Republic, according to his obituary.

Elliott was prominent in Democratic politics and was a close friend of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. His obituary says Elliott was a past chairman of Baptist Health Louisville and served on numerous boards, among them Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, Little Sisters of the Poor, Kentucky Educational Television and the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville.

Eckert, a mother of two, would annually put together a large food spread in the bank’s conference room for the celebration of Thunder Over Louisville, the fireworks kickoff event before the Kentucky Derby, said Kevin Luoma, a former bank co-worker.

Barrick coached basketball at his church’s grade school, and his other passions included “Sunday breakfast with his kids, any day on the golf course, and Xavier basketball,” his obituary said.

Farmer had just moved to Louisville from Henderson, Kentucky. She had four grandchildren and posted Sunday on Facebook that another one was on the way.

“I need your help. He’s never hurt anyone, he’s a good kid,” said the woman, who identified herself as the gunman’s mother. It turned out that at the time of her call, the gunman was already at the bank. The emergency dispatcher informed the woman that other calls were coming in about the shooting.

None of the callers are identified by name and other information is edited out of the calls, but the first call that came in was from a woman who was on a video call inside the bank. She screams and cries throughout the four-minute call and says there is an active shooter at the downtown branch of the bank.

“I just watched it on a Teams meeting,” she says. “We were having a board meeting. With our commercial (lending) team.”

“We heard multiple shots and everybody started saying, ’Oh my God and then he came into the board room.”

Bank employee Connor Sturgeon, 25, used an AR-15 assault-style rifle in the attack Monday at Old National Bank, where he killed five coworkers while livestreaming before police fatally shot him. Eight others were injured, including a police officer who was shot in the head and remains hospitalized in critical condition.

After the first call, others began streaming in. One of the callers says she’s calling from within the building as numerous gunshots are heard in the background.

“I’m in a closet hiding,” the caller says. She says people have been shot and gives a description of the shooting, saying she knows the shooter. “He works with us.”

“How long will it be before they get here?” she whispers and the dispatcher tells her that authorities are on the way and advises her to keep quiet.

Asked what kind of injuries there were, the caller replies: “I don’t know. I just saw a lot of blood.”

Another call came from a man inside the bank, who told dispatchers the address and said, “We have an active shooting in our building. White male. He’s an employee of Old National Bank. Get here now. We need somebody now.”

Another call came from a motorist driving down Main Street, who reported seeing a man about five minutes prior with an assault rifle and a bulletproof vest walking around. The caller asks if anyone else has reported the man.

The dispatcher then describes what others reported the suspect was wearing and the caller confirms it.

The woman identifying herself as Sturgeon’s mother asks during the call if she can go to the bank but is told by the dispatcher that she should not because “there’s a situation going on down there” and “it’s dangerous.”

“You’ve had calls from other people, so he’s already there?” the mother asks with shock in her voice.

Wednesday’s release included a half-hour of emergency responder radio traffic.

The release came hours before hundreds of people gathered at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville Wednesday evening to remember the victims and allow the public to offer prayers for the injured. The center has an outdoor auditorium just a mile from the site of Monday’s shooting. Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg was among the speakers.

The mood at the vigil was somber, but there were cheers for the officers who responded to Monday’s shooting. Many attendees were dressed in business clothes, and some had walked to the memorial after their workday in downtown Louisville.

That same night, a moment of silence preceded a college baseball game between Louisville and neighboring Bellarmine University at Jim Patterson Stadium. Players from both schools stood in alternating patterns along the first- and third-base lines as the names and pictures of the victims were displayed on an outfield video screen.

On Tuesday, police released body camera video that showed the chaotic moments when officers arrived at the bank.

Sturgeon’s parents said in a statement that their son had mental health challenges that were being addressed, but “there were never any warning signs or indications he was capable of this shocking act.”

They said they are mourning for the victims and the loss of their son, and working with police to understand what happened.

The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) south of Louisville.

The five bank employees killed in the shooting were Joshua Barrick, 40, a senior vice president; Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer; Tommy Elliott, 63, also a senior vice president; Juliana Farmer, 45, a loan analyst; and Jim Tutt Jr., 64, a commercial real estate market executive.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said Elliott was one of his closest friends.

“I’ll admit that while I am not angry, I am empty. And I’m sad,” Beshear said at the vigil, his voice breaking. “And I just keep thinking that maybe we’ll wake up. What I know is, I just wish I’d taken an extra moment, made an extra call, tell him how much I care about him. And I know we are all feeling the same. But I also know they hear us now. And that they feel our love.”

Later, speaker Whitney Austin said she was shot 12 times in a September 2018 mass shooting at a Cincinnati bank and that “Monday morning was heartbreakingly familiar to me.”

Just as she was wrapped in love by her community since then, Austin asked those at the vigil to do the same for the families involved in Monday’s shooting.

“Please don’t forget about them next week. Don’t forget about them next month. And don’t forget about them next year,” Austin said. “They are going to need your support for the rest of their lives.”

The videos, taken from two wounded officers’ lapels, offer a rare perspective of police officers responding to a massacre that killed five and injured eight others Monday. One, a rookie officer, was shot in the head within minutes of arriving at the scene, as his partner was grazed by a bullet and sought cover while still trying to take down the shooter.

Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey walked reporters through edited footage and still photos at a new conference Tuesday and praised the responding officers for their heroism.

They received the call of a shooting at Old National Bank at 8:38 a.m., and the two officers arrived three minutes later, according to a chronology provided by police. They hadn’t even gotten out of the patrol car when the gunman began firing on them.

“Back up, back up, back up,” one officer shouted as gunshots thundered in the background.

One still image from surveillance video showed the 25-year-old shooter, who worked at the bank, holding a rifle, wearing jeans, a blue button-down shirt and sneakers, surrounded by broken glass inside the building. He had already shot numerous people inside, and police said he set up an ambush position to attack officers as they arrived.

The front doors were glass, elevated from the sidewalk, and because of the reflection, the officers could not see the shooter inside, Humphrey said. But he could see them.

Officer Cory Galloway retrieved a rifle from the trunk of the patrol car.

“Cover for me,” he said, and they reported to dispatch that there had been shots fired.

Galloway was training rookie Officer Nickolas Wilt, who had graduated from the police academy just 10 days earlier. The videos showed them walking up the stairs toward the front door when the gunman fired a barrage of bullets.

Wilt was shot in the head, though that was not captured on video. Galloway was grazed in the shoulder, police said. His body camera showed that he fell and then took cover behind a concrete planter at the bottom of the staircase leading to the building. Sirens from the dozens of police cars coming toward them wailed in the background.

“The shooter has an angle on that officer,” he said in the video recording. “We need to get up there. I don’t know where he’s at, the glass is blocking him.”

gun violence Apr 10

Schools, Banks, Stores: Gun Violence Threatens Americans Where They Work

Kentucky Apr 10

Employee Kills 5 at Louisville Bank. What We Know About the Victims

A video taken by a bystander across the street, which police also released Tuesday, showed him darting back and forth from one side of the planter to another, trying to get a shot at the gunman.

He waited, and as other officers arrived, more gunshots rang out and glass shattered.

Galloway fired toward the gunman at 8:44 a.m., three minutes after arriving.

“I think I got him down! I think he’s down!” he shouted. “Suspect down! Get the officer!”

He advanced into the building, and shards of glass crunched under his feet. The video then showed Galloway approaching the suspect, who lay on the ground inside the lobby next to a long rifle.

“I think you can see the tension in that video,” Humphrey said Tuesday. “You can understand the stress that those officers are going through. … They did absolutely exactly what they needed to do to save lives. Once officers arrived on scene, not another person was shot.”

Wilt was transported in the back of a police car to a hospital, Humphrey said. In the chaotic first minutes, police treated and triaged the victims inside. Humphrey said the ambulance service was short-staffed, so a police lieutenant drove the ambulance while emergency crews treated people at the scene.

Wilt was still in critical but stable condition Tuesday, according to University of Louisville Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Smith.

Two of the four wounded still in the hospital had injuries that were not life-threatening, Smith said.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said it was crucial to release the footage because “transparency is important — even more so in a time of crisis.”

Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at a news conference that bank employee Connor Sturgeon, 25, bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle used in the attack at a local dealership on April 4.

“We have also learned that he purchased the weapon used in this tragic incident yesterday on April 4,” she said. “He purchased the weapon legally from one of the local dealerships here in Louisville.”

Armed with the rifle, Sturgeon killed his co-workers — including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor — while livestreaming the attack.

“We do know this was targeted. He knew those individuals, of course, because he worked there,” Gwinn-Villaroel said, but didn’t give an indication of a motive behind the shooting.

Gwinn-Villaroel praised the “heroic actions” of officers who engaged the shooter without hesitation when they arrived.

“They went towards danger in order to save and preserve life,” she said. “They stopped the threat so other lives could be saved. No hesitation, and they did what they were called do to.”

The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south.

In Louisville, five Old National Bank employees were killed: Joshua Barrick, 40, a senior vice president; Tommy Elliott, 63, also a senior vice president; Jim Tutt Jr., 64, a commercial real estate market executive; Juliana Farmer, 45, a loan analyst; and Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer.

The mayor urged unity as the community processes its grief, over this shooting and the many other spasms of gun violence that have stunned this city.

“We’re all feeling shaken by this, and scared and angry and a lot of other things too,” Greenberg said. “It’s important that we come together as a community to process this tragedy in particular but not just this tragedy because the reality is that we have already lost 40 people to gun violence in Louisville this year.”

Attorneys for the victims say the agreement still needs to be approved by the courts and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Jamal Alsaffar, the lead trial attorney for the victims, said he believes that will happen and will be the end of a long court battle.

“It means a small measure of closure for these families who have gone through not only the most horrific event in their life, but have also endured five years of fighting in court and fighting for the right thing, and I think this provides that measure of relief,” said Alsaffar who called the Sutherland Springs families “heroes” for having endured and won two trials against the federal government and get justice to make the system safer.

More than two dozen people were killed in November 2017 when a gunman opened fire during a Sunday service at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. The gunman, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after being shot and chased by two men who heard the gunfire at the church, had served in the Air Force before the attack. In all, 26 people were killed in the shooting and another 22 were injured. Victims were churchgoers as young as five and as old as 72.

The settlement comes after U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said in July 2021 that the U.S. Air Force was partially liable for the attack for failing to flag a 2012 conviction for domestic violence and a subsequent court martial that would have prevented the gunman from buying a weapon.

“This is a historic case and historic finding, perhaps for the first time relating to a mass shooting, that dangerous people shouldn’t get guns and when you report them to the background check system, that the background check system works,” said Alsaffar.

Rodriguez ordered the U.S. government to pay more than $230 million in damages, but the DOJ appealed the judge’s decision. The tentative agreement announced Wednesday, if approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland and if approved by the court, would resolve all claims tied to the shooting for $144.5 million.

“My clients are relieved that this is coming to a conclusion. Do we wish that the government would have agreed to pay the amount awarded in the judgment? Yes, but the nature of litigation is that appeals are filed and parties have to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of continuing to defend against the government’s appeal. Just like the government had to evaluate the decision to pursue the appeal, and people made decisions that it was in the best interest to go ahead and reach this agreement,” explained Brett Reynolds, a San Antonio attorney representing 11 of the victims.

U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said the settlement not only brings the litigation to a close but also ends, “a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”

The plaintiffs, which include survivors of the shooting and relatives of the victims, said if information about the gunman’s criminal history had been transmitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) it would have prevented him from purchasing guns from a federally licensed firearms dealer.

According to court transcripts cited by NBC News, lawyers representing the U.S. government argued that even if the gunman’s information had been shared with NICS he would have found another way to get a gun and commit the shooting.

When lawsuits are filed against federal agencies or programs, they are defended by attorneys with the Justice Department, which has separate divisions for criminal prosecutions and other responsibilities.

In June 2021, the Texas Supreme Court tossed out a lawsuit against Academy Sports and Outdoors for selling the gunman the Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic rifle used in the attack, citing the U.S. Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act which protects retailers from lawsuits arising from criminal acts by third parties.

Those who survived the mass shooting are still having to live with the trauma and also continue to recover from their injuries.

“One of my clients who is the worship leader and remains the worship team leader is a paraplegic who was shot at the base of the spine and is confined to a wheelchair. Although he certainly doesn’t consider himself confined, but he has ongoing medical needs and will have them for the remainder of his life because he’s paralyzed from the waist down,” explained Reynolds. “I have another client that was shot. 12 times he underwent surgery as recently a month now ago, that still relates back to this shooting.

“The fact that it has been five years does not mean that that day ever recedes from their memory, so they do have physical and psychological needs that are continuing for which they have had no compensation yet and now we have an agreement that’s reached that certainly needs to be funded so that these people can receive the benefit of compensation that they deserve for the negligence of the Air Force,” said Reynolds.

Alsaffar said survivors need the money now to address millions of dollars worth of medical care over the past five years and many years to come.

“They need it now, some of these children whose bodies were torn apart, ripped apart by these bullets in the AR-15, they need surgeries for the rest of their life. They need help now,” said Alsaffar who said they urge the DOJ to approve the settlement soon so people can get paid as soon as possible.

Sutherland Springs, a community of about 400 people, is about 20 miles southeast of San Antonio.  

The heavily armed shooter was shot and killed by officers Monday.

The video shows the officers clearing the first story of the school when they heard gunshots coming from the second level, as previously described by police spokesperson Don Aaron during a Tuesday briefing.

Two officers from a five-member team opened fire after being engaged by the shooter, fatally shooting the suspect at 10:27 a.m., Aaron said. That was less than 15 minutes from when the first 911 call was placed.

Surveillance video also released by police showed the attacker shooting out doors to the school to gain entry.

There were no police officers present or assigned to the school at the time of the shooting because it is a church-run school.

Nashville Mar 28

Nashville Police Release Security Video of Suspect Shooting Out Doors and Entering Covenant School

Nashville Mar 27

What We Know So Far About the Deadly School Shooting in Nashville, Tennessee

The shooter, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was previously a student of the private Christian school. Investigators are still searching for a motive for the shooting.

A manifesto that included detailed plans for the attack has been found, Police Chief John Drake told reporters Monday afternoon.

Covenant School is a private Christian school with about 250 pre-school through sixth-grade students. The school is located in the affluent Green Hills neighborhood just south of downtown Nashville.

The three children killed were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney. They were all nine years old.

The three adults killed were Cynthia Peak, age 61, Katherine Koonce, age 60, and Mike Hill, age 61.

The website of The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001, lists a Katherine Koonce as the head of the school. Her LinkedIn profile says she has led the school since July 2016. Peak was a substitute teacher and Hill was a custodian, according to investigators.

The attack at The Covenant School — which has about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, as well as roughly 50 staff members — comes as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.

A reeling Nashville mourned during multiple vigils Monday evening. At Belmont United Methodist Church, teary sniffling filled the background as vigil attendees sang, knelt in prayer and lit candles. They lamented the national cycle of violent and deadly shootings, at one point reciting together, “we confess we have not done enough to protect” the children injured or killed in shootings.

“We need to step back. We need to breathe. We need to grieve,” said Paul Purdue, the church’s senior pastor. “We need to remember. We need to make space for others who are grieving. We need to hear the cries of our neighbors.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The three children killed at The Covenant School in Nashville were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs. They were each 9 years old.

Hallie Scruggs is the daughter of Chad Scruggs, the current lead pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, who served for several years as associate pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas.

Nashville Mar 28

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Dallas Mar 27

Former Dallas Pastor's Daughter Killed in Nashville School Shooting

Park Cities Presbyterian Church released a statement on its website Monday evening to confirm its ties to the Nashville church. The statement reads in part:

“The Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCPC) family is incredibly saddened by the unimaginable tragedy today at Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville, TN. Covenant Presbyterian Church is a sister church of PCPC; many of our members have deep friendships and family connections there.”

“We love the Scruggs family and mourn with them over their precious daughter Hallie. Together, we trust in the power of Christ to draw near and give us the comfort and hope we desperately need,” the statement continued.

On Tuesday, PCPC will host a prayer service in the church’s Sanctuary to pray for the Scruggs family and the community in Nashville. The prayer service will take place at noon.

The three adults killed were 61-year-old Cynthia Peak, 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, and 61-year-old Mike Hill.

Police said they believe the 28-year-old shooter, identified as Audrey Hale, was a former student at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001. Police shot and killed Hale, and investigators were later seen searching her Nashville-area home.

The three children killed were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney. They were all nine years old.

The three adults killed were Cynthia Peak, age 61, Katherine Koonce, age 60, and Mike Hill, age 61.

The website of The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001, lists a Katherine Koonce as the head of the school. Her LinkedIn profile says she has led the school since July 2016. Peak was a substitute teacher and Hill was a custodian, according to investigators.

A heavily-armed assailant wielding two “assault-style” rifles and a pistol killed the three students and three adults at the private Christian school in Nashville in the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country growing increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.

Police said they believe the 28-year-old shooter, identified as Audrey Hale, was a former student at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001. Police shot and killed the shooter, and investigators were later seen searching her Nashville-area home.

The attack at The Covenant School — which has about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, as well as roughly 50 staff members — comes as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.

“I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at an afternoon news conference.

Nashville Mar 27

Reporter Covering Nashville School Attack Reveals She Survived a School Shooting

Nashville Mar 27

What We Know So Far About the Deadly School Shooting in Nashville, Tennessee

A reeling city mourned during multiple vigils Monday evening. At Belmont United Methodist Church, teary sniffling filled the background as vigil attendees sang, knelt in prayer and lit candles. They lamented the national cycle of violent and deadly shootings, at one point reciting together, “we confess we have not done enough to protect” the children injured or killed in shootings.

“We need to step back. We need to breathe. We need to grieve,” said Paul Purdue, the church’s senior pastor. “We need to remember. We need to make space for others who are grieving. We need to hear the cries of our neighbors.”

Monday’s tragedy unfolded over roughly 14 minutes. Police received the initial call about an active shooter at 10:13 a.m.

Officers began clearing the first story of the school when they heard gunshots coming from the second level, police spokesperson Don Aaron said during a news briefing.

Two officers from a five-member team opened fire in response, fatally shooting the suspect at 10:27 a.m., Aaron said. One officer had a hand wound from cut glass.

Aaron said there were no police officers present or assigned to the school at the time of the shooting because it is a church-run school.

Other students walked to safety Monday, holding hands as they left their school surrounded by police cars, to a nearby church to be reunited with their parents.

Rachel Dibble, who was at the church as families found their children, described the scene as everyone being in “complete shock.”

“People were involuntarily trembling,” said Dibble, whose children attend a different private school in Nashville. “The children … started their morning in their cute little uniforms they probably had some Froot Loops and now their whole lives changed today.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ashbey Beasley said she happened to be visiting her sister-in-law in Tennessee, on a family vacation with her son, when the shooting at The Covenant School left three children and three adults dead.

“How is this still happening?” Beasley asked. “How are our children still dying and why are we failing them?”

“These mass shootings will continue to happen until our lawmakers step up and pass gun safety legislation,” she said. 

The attack at The Covenant School occurred after a 28-year-old woman entered the school Monday morning armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. The woman, who also is dead, is a former student of the school, the police chief, John Drake, said.

None of the victims had been identified as of Monday afternoon but the private Christian school serves students in pre-kindergarten through the sixth-grade.

Before the press conference began, a reporter covering the attack recalled surviving a shooting herself while a middle-school student. Joylyn Bukovac, of WSMV4 Nashville, said she hid from a gunman who had already killed.

Beasley was at the parade shooting with her son last year when seven people were killed. She said she has since met with more than 100 lawmakers trying to get gun safety laws passed. 

“We can't even pass gun safety — safe storage laws in this country to protect kids from getting ahold of weapons that they shoot each other with,” she said. “Aren't you tired of this?”

In an opinion article for NBCNews.com on Oct. 26, 2022, before the mid-term elections, she wrote: “Gun violence happens so often that if it hasn’t affected you directly, it can be easy to become jaded by the horrific details that emerge after a mass shooting.”

“For survivors like me, that’s not possible. At some point, something inside of me snapped. And it’s the same feeling I hope moves every voter, particularly those fortunate enough not to know the grief of losing a loved one or watching the innocence of a child vanish, into action.”

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Ashbey Beasley said she happened to be visiting her sister-in-law in Tennessee, on a family vacation with her son, when the shooting at The Covenant School left three children and three adults dead.

“How is this still happening?” Beasley asked. “How are our children still dying and why are we failing them?”

“These mass shootings will continue to happen until our lawmakers step up and pass gun safety legislation,” she said. 

Note: The school shootings shown here refer to incidents categorized by Everytown as an “Attack on others”, where at least one person was killed or injured. Source: Everytown for Gun Safety’s school shootings database.
Amy O’Kruk/NBC

The attack at The Covenant School occurred after 28-year-old Audrey Hale entered the school Monday morning armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. The shooter, who police said was a transgender woman and a former student of the school, is also dead.

The three children were all 9 years old. The private Christian school serves students in pre-kindergarten through the sixth grade.

Before the press conference began, a reporter covering the attack recalled surviving a shooting herself while a middle-school student. Joylyn Bukovac, of WSMV4 Nashville, said she hid from a gunman who had already killed.

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Beasley was at the parade shooting with her son last year when seven people were killed. She said she has since met with more than 100 lawmakers trying to get gun safety laws passed. 

“We can’t even pass gun safety — safe storage laws in this country to protect kids from getting ahold of weapons that they shoot each other with,” she said. “Aren’t you tired of this?”

In an opinion article for NBCNews.com on Oct. 26, 2022, before the mid-term elections, she wrote: “Gun violence happens so often that if it hasn’t affected you directly, it can be easy to become jaded by the horrific details that emerge after a mass shooting.”

“For survivors like me, that’s not possible. At some point, something inside of me snapped. And it’s the same feeling I hope moves every voter, particularly those fortunate enough not to know the grief of losing a loved one or watching the innocence of a child vanish, into action.”

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How Many Mass Shooters Have Been Female?

Of the 141 U.S. mass killings since 1982, only six were carried out by women, according to data from Mother Jones. Two of those incidents saw women acting in partnership with a man.

NBC defines a mass shooting as an attack where three or more people were killed in the same incident, not including the shooter.

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The first mass killing by a woman since 1982 took place on Jan. 30, 2006, when former postal worker Jennifer San Marco, 44, shot and killed a former neighbor before going on a suicidal rampage at a mail processing plant in Santa Barbara, Calif., where she killed six others.

In February 2014, Cherie Lash Rhoades, 44, shot six people at the Cedarville Rancheria Tribal Office and Community Center, killing four and wounding two.

Snochia Moseley, 26, killed three people in September 2018 after opening fire at a Rite Aid distribution center in Aberdeen, Md. Moseley was a temporary employee at the facility.

The shooter who killed three children and three adults in Nashville, Tenn. on March 27 identified as a transgender woman.

Tashfeen Malik and Francine Graham also carried out mass shootings with male partners. Malik, 27, and Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, killed 14 and injured more at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., on Dec. 2, 2015.

Graham, 50, and David N. Anderson, 47, killed three people inside a kosher grocery store and a police officer in Jersey City, N.J., on Dec. 10, 2019.

The percentage of attacks carried out by women is also small when looking at incidents beyond mass killings.

The Secret Service analyzed 173 targeted attacks from 2016 to 2020 and found that 172 of the 180 attackers (95.6%) were male. Three more were transgender, assigned female at birth but known to identify as male at the time of their attacks.

The reporter, Joylyn Bukovac of WSMV4 Nashville, said Monday’s shooting brought back her eighth-grade memories, running and not knowing where the gunman was.

“It’s just flooding back,” she said. “Flashbacks for me.”

Bukovac said that she was in a hallway with her classmates when a gunman opened fire, shooting and killing a student. 

“And just after hearing the gunshots, I just knew to run and hide,” she said.

“I hid underneath the risers in my choir class and those minutes and hours of waiting to be released by police officers, it just felt like a lifetime,” she said. “And I knew my phone was taken, it was turned off so that no one could find me.”

The shooting Monday at The Covenant School in Nashville left at least six dead, three children and three adults, plus the shooter, whom police said was a woman. She was armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, police said.

Bukovac, who did not say where she attended school, said she knew that her family was trying to reach her. She remembered her mother’s overwhelming emotions when they were reunited. 

“And so I know exactly what some of these kids are going through today,” she said. 

Later she tweeted that she appreciated all of the support that she had received after telling her story.

"I don’t talk about it much, but I think about what happened on February 5, 2010 often," she wrote. "I just want people to know they aren’t alone. I also want to discuss solutions. As a mom, I am worried for the future."

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The announcement comes nearly three months after a gunman opened fire on the club Nov. 19, killing five people and injuring 17. The suspect was taken down by patrons of the club and later arrested and charged with 305 criminal counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and bias-motivated crimes. 

“It was 20 years ago that I fought through a very different time in our country to ensure our community would have a safe space to gather and commune,” Matthew Haynes, the founding owner of Club Q said in a statement. “To everyone who has asked me to reopen the club, I assure you we are working very hard to bring our home back. We look forward to being able to gather as one community again.”

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Club Q and the city of Colorado Springs are partnering with HB&A, a women-owned local architecture firm for the rebuilding plan. The initial design concepts will be delivered within the next six weeks, according to Monday’s announcement, and they will include enhanced security measures, an interior gutting of the space and a “permanent standing tribute” to honor the five people killed: Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump. 

Read more at NBCNews.com.

It was the worst January, in fact, both in terms of frequency and number of fatalities, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which started tracking mass shootings in 2014. 

On Jan. 21, a shooter opened fire on people celebrating the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California. Two days later and about 400 miles north, another gunman went on a shooting spree targeting workers at two farms in Half Moon Bay. The killings claimed 18 lives and left two communities deeply grieving lost loved ones. 

The GVA defines mass shootings as events with four or more people shot, either killed or injured, not including the shooter. This year already, 87 have died, more than double this time last year and up overall from 45 at the end of January 2019.

The high total of people killed is tied to the record number of mass shootings. Last month, GVA logged 52 incidents and only eight days with no mass shootings. In January 2022, there were 34; previously January totals ranged from 11 to 32.

Notably, in the U.S. there’s no agreed-upon definition of the term “mass shooting,” so totals vary by organization. In contrast to the GVA, Congress defines a “mass killing” as three or more people killed (excluding the shooter) and the FBI collects data on active shooter incidents, which it defines as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” The FBI reported 61 in 2021, the most recent data available. 

The GVA’s numbers tend to be higher than other lists for two reasons. First, it includes victims who are injured and not just fatalities. Second, it includes all shootings where at least four people were shot, regardless of circumstance, and this can include gang-related activity and domestic violence. 

On the whole, the GVA data is clear that more Americans are dying of gun-related injuries. Looking at yearly statistics, there were 648 mass shootings in 2022, slightly down from 690 in 2021 but significantly up from 272 in 2014. The toll on human life is immense: last year, 676 people were killed and 2,702 injured.

In the last decade, every state has reported a mass shooting except Hawaii and North Dakota.

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Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said the man had “plenty of ammunition” and that evidence suggests he fired multiple rounds, but it wasn’t immediately known if he fired at anyone.

Schmaderer said no wounded people were found, and police had searched through the store “because there were some people hiding in there.”

Cathy Mahannah, a customer, said the scene inside the store was “sheer panic.”

The 62-year-old grandmother was near the store’s entrance picking out Valentine’s Day gifts for her family when she heard a banging sound. She thought something had fallen, then saw a mass of people running for the exit.

A shopper told her there was an active shooter, and she fled. She heard at least one more shot in the store and a few more when she was outside.

Mahannah was so rattled she initially couldn’t find her car and jumped into a vehicle with a stranger.

“The moments in that parking lot were terrifying when I heard the shots and thought, ‘Where do I hide? I don’t know what to do.’” she said.

The police chief said there were several 911 calls shortly before noon and officers were at the store within minutes.

“The first arriving officers went into the building, confronted the suspect and shot him dead,” Schmaderer said, speaking at news conference about an hour after the shooting. “He had an AR-15 rifle with him and plenty of ammunition.”

Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo said in a statement that all guests and team members were safely evacuated from the store, which would remain closed indefinitely.

Among those employees were two 21-year-olds, Lauren Murphy and Samuel Jacobsen.

Murphy was in the restroom when she heard the shots. She texted family and friends, telling them that she loved them, and climbed onto a toilet so her feet wouldn’t show at the bottom of the stall in case the shooter came in.

Relief washed over her when police entered the restroom. A child next to her was crying.

“I was scared that this is how I might die at work,” Murphy said. “It was just terrifying.”

Jacobsen was filling a personal shopping order. He’d never heard a gunshot before and was uncertain at first what he was hearing.

“Then my coworker ran by and she said, ‘He’s got a gun, get out!’” Jacobsen said. “I was like, ‘Oh this is real. I have to get out, I have to get out, I have to get out.’”

Lt. Neal Bonacci, a police spokesperson, said officers are trained to enter such scenes quickly to prevent mass casualties.

“We’ve learned a lot from other jurisdictions, other areas, other cities that have unfortunately experienced this,” he said. “We enter right away. We’re trained to do so. Whether it’s one officer or 10, we go inside and neutralize the threat.”

The shooting came just over 15 years after the deadly December 2007 shooting at a Von Maur department store, when a 19-year-old gunman killed eight people and himself.

Nebraska allows gun owners to carry firearms in public view, as long as they don’t have a criminal record that bars them from possessing one and aren’t in a place where guns are prohibited. To legally conceal the gun, Nebraskans must submit to a state patrol background check, get fingerprinted and take a gun safety course.

Republican state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon is sponsoring a bill that would allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit. The measure also would prohibit cities and counties from issuing local laws with more stringent controls than the state law. The proposal has 25 cosponsors.

Jacobsen, the store employee, said he’s among those who want stricter, not looser, gun laws.

“As someone who grew up here, I always hear about this part of Omaha being so safe,” he said. But Tuesday’s shooting “really drives it home that it could happen anywhere.”

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“Our prayers are with the people of Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, and after yet another spree of gun violence in America,” he said at a Lunar New Year reception at the White House.

Eleven people were killed at a Southern California ballroom dance hall late Saturday and seven others died Monday at two mushroom farms in the northern part of the state.

Biden said he had spoken with Brandon Tsay, 26, who was at a second dance hall a few miles from the scene of the tragedy in Monterey Park when the same gunman entered, brandishing his weapon. Tsay disarmed the gunman, who then fled.

He praised Tsay’s courage, calling him a “genuine hero.”

“Brandon said he thought he was going to die, but then he thought about the people inside,” Biden said, asking the largely Asian American audience to ponder what could have happened had Tsay fled himself.

“I think sometimes we underestimate incredible acts of courage,” the president said. “Someone has a semiautomatic pistol aimed at you and you think about others. That’s pretty profound, pretty profound.”

The shootings were carried out during celebrations of the arrival of the Lunar New Year, one of the most important Asian holidays, and sent fear through Asian American communities already dealing with increased violence directed at them, some of it due to misinformation about the coronavirus.

Authorities said Huu Can Tran opened fire late Saturday on a mostly elderly crowd of dancers at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. Nine people also were wounded. Tran, 72, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Days later, farmworker Chunli Zhao, 66, opened fire at two mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay on Monday, killing seven current and former co-workers, police said.

The White House had scheduled its Lunar New Year celebration before the shootings.

Both communities “will be affected by what they saw and what they lost for the rest of their lives,” Biden said, referring to the trauma inflicted and the need for treatment. “And as a nation, we have to be there with them. We have to be there with them. We don’t have a choice.”

He led the gathering in a moment of silence in honor of the victims.

Biden had ordered American flags on federal facilities lowered to half-staff through sunset Thursday out of respect for the Monterey Park victims. He said Thursday that he has been in touch with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He also sent Vice President Kamala Harris, a native of the state, to Monterey Park on Wednesday to offer condolences on behalf of the government.

Biden had been in California on Jan. 19, just two days before the dance studio shooting, to survey flood damage along the state’s central coast following days of heavy rains. He spoke with Tsay earlier this week.

“Thank you for taking such incredible action in the face of danger,” Biden told Tsay in a brief video of the conversation that the White House shared Thursday on Twitter. “I don’t think you understand how much you’ve done for so many people who are never even going to know you.”

Tsay replied that he was still processing what had happened.

“For you to call, that’s just so comforting to me,” Tsay told the president.

Four of the 10 victims were sent to LAC+USC Medical Center following the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 10. 

“The tragic events from this past weekend have shaken our communities to the core. On behalf of our medical teams and staff, I want to express our sincerest condolences to all who have been touched by this tragedy,” Jorge Orozco, Chief Executive Officer at LAC+USC Medical Center, said in a news release. 

Orozco said that despite their best efforts to save the person’s life, the victim died, bringing the mass shooting’s death toll to 11.

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“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we are saddened to share that one of the victims has succumbed to their extensive injuries. We want to express our deepest sympathies to their families and loved ones,” Orozco said. 

No identifying information was released. 

One other victim in the hospital’s care was in serious condition, while two others were recovering. 

“Our medical teams are working around the clock to care for them, and we remain hopeful for their complete recoveries,” the statement continued.

The news of the latest fatality in the tragic mass shooting comes after two of the victims, both women in their 60s, were identified Monday by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. 

The identities of other victims will be released, pending notification of family members.

The victims who died at the scene are in their 50s, 60s and 70s, according to the coroner’s office.

Here are the victims killed in the shooting who have been identified by the coroner’s office.

• Mymy Nhan, 65
• Lilan Li, 63
• Woman in her 50s
• Woman in her 60s
• Woman in her 60s
• Man in his 70s
• Man in his 70s
• Man in his 60s
• Man in his 60s
• Man in his 70s

The shooting happened following a night of Lunar New Year celebrations in the San Gabriel Valley community of Monterey Park. About 20 minutes after the gunfire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, the gunman targeted a second dance hall in the nearby community of Alhambra, where he was disarmed, authorities said.

The man identified by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as the shooter, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday in a van in a Torrance strip mall parking lot, the sheriff’s department said.

A motive in the shooting remains unclear, Sheriff Robert Luna said Sunday.

The massacre was the nation’s fifth mass killing this month.

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One of the victims is in critical condition, police said. No arrests have been made, but police believe the early morning attack was “targeted.”

“This was not a random act of violence, based on the preliminary investigating efforts,” Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said at a news conference Sunday afternoon. “We believe that this was a targeted event, where someone was specifically targeted and others were injured in that process.”

Three Baton Rouge police officers were nearby when the shots were fired around 1:30 a.m. and responded to the Dior Bar & Lounge. They administered life-saving aid until emergency medical technicians arrived.

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“We believe their immediate response prevented further injuries,” Paul said.

Although police have some leads, Paul urged anyone else with information about shooting to come forward.

“There is someone who knows something — do the right thing. You can save the next incident because it is obvious that this person has total disregard for life,” Paul said.

Police did not say how many of the people shot were targeted. Paul declined to comment on how many shooters opened fire.

“I do understand the interest and everybody wanting information, but remember … we have to get this right,” Paul said about the ongoing investigation. “And sometimes, getting it right means I can’t give information right now.”

Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome — who met with mayors of other major U.S. cities in Washington, D.C., last week, to discuss the issue of crime — called the shooting “a senseless act of violence that will not go unchecked.”

“We will not stop our work until everyone feels safe and individuals no longer turn to guns to resolve their differences,” Broome tweeted.

Although the number of homicides in Baton Rouge decreased last year from 2021, Louisiana’s capital city has been plagued by gun violence. In October, an early-morning shooting near Southern University’s campus in Baton Rouge left nine people injured.

The U.S. Department of Justice disclosed the decision not to pursue capital punishment against Patrick Crusius in a one-sentence notice filed Tuesday with the federal court in El Paso.

Crusius, 24, is accused of targeting Mexicans during the Aug. 3 massacre that killed 23 people and left dozens wounded. The Dallas-area native is charged with federal hate crimes and firearms violations, as well as capital murder in state court. He has pleaded not guilty.

Federal prosecutors did not explain in their court filing the reason for their decision, though the suspect still could face the death penalty if convicted in state court.

The prosecutors’ decision could be a defining moment for the Justice Department, which has sent mixed signals on policies regarding the federal death penalty that President Joe Biden pledged to abolish during his presidential campaign. Biden is the first president to openly oppose the death penalty and his election raised the hopes of abolition advocates, who have since been frustrated by a lack of clarity on how the administration might end federal executions or whether that’s the objective.

The decision comes weeks after Jaime Esparza, the former district attorney in El Paso, took over as U.S. attorney for West Texas. Esparza said when he was district attorney that he would pursue the death penalty in the case. A spokesman for Esparza’s office referred questions to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., where another spokesman declined to comment.

Crusius surrendered to police after the attack, saying, “I’m the shooter,” and that he was targeting Mexicans, according to an arrest warrant. Prosecutors have said he published a screed online shortly before the shooting that said it was “in response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Lawyers for the accused did not immediately respond to requests for comment. His case is set for trial in federal court in January 2024.

Although the federal and state cases have progressed along parallel tracks, it is now unclear when he might face trial on state charges.

The district attorney who had been leading the state case, Yvonne Rosales, resigned in November over accusations of incompetence involving hundreds of cases in El Paso and slowing down the case against the suspect. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month appointed a new district attorney to “restore confidence” in the local criminal justice system.

Federal prosecutors are still pursuing the death penalty in the case against Sayfullo Saipov, who is accused of using a truck in 2017 to mow down pedestrians and cyclists on a bike path in New York City. Saipov’s federal capital trial began last week.

The decision to seek death in Saipov’s case came under President Donald Trump, who during his last six months in office oversaw a historic spree of 13 federal executions. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a moratorium on carrying out federal executions in 2021, but he allowed U.S. prosecutors to continue to seek the death penalty against Saipov while the department reviews Trump era death penalty procedures.

Tarm reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed.

Lites arrived at the scene only minutes after the first emergency call was placed. He held one of the victim’s hands as the man died. Lites then stood guard inside the fellowship hall all night — remaining even through a bomb threat — to prevent people who didn’t need to be there from entering the room.

“I didn’t want anyone else to see it,” Lites said. “I was totally traumatized.”

Crime scenes are inherently disturbing. A few weeks after the mass shooting in Charleston, Lites found himself in the clutches of post-traumatic stress and unable to sleep. The scene inside the church was imprinted on his memory.

“The worst thing you can possibly think of — it’s worse than that,” said Lites, who retired from the police force in 2018. “No one else needs to see that.”

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A question that continues to be debated publicly — and is raised in the wake of each new mass shooting — is whether the publication of violent images, including those depicting gunshot wounds or police brutality, might be effective in preventing future carnage.

Advocates for publishing the images argue that if the public were forced to reckon with the gruesomeness of the deaths, people would respond by demanding that lawmakers enact meaningful reform. The advocates cite historical examples of photos that moved people to action or prompted changes in law or public opinion.

After the brutal death of Emmett Till — a teenager from Chicago who in 1955 was tortured and killed in Mississippi by a group of white men — photos of his mangled body appeared in Jet magazine. Scholars credit those images with galvanizing a generation of civil rights activists.

In 1972, a 9-year-old child named Kim Phuc Phan Thi became known as the “Napalm Girl” after an image of her — distressed, naked, and fleeing a bombed village in Vietnam — was published by The Associated Press. The image won a Pulitzer Prize, turned public opinion against the conflict, and arguably became the most famous photograph depicting the atrocities of the Vietnam War.

“We must face this violence head-on,” Phan Thi wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times this year. “The first step is to look at it.”

In June, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson wrote a similar piece, arguing that such images “do more than speak a thousand words.”

“Some actually reveal to us what no words can adequately convey,” he wrote.

But there are those, like Lites, who argue that publishing photos of violence runs the risk of retraumatizing survivors, families who lost loved ones, and the public. They say that disseminating graphic photos for mass consumption is disrespectful to the dead and that there is no guarantee pictures from Colorado Springs, Colorado; Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; Parkland, Florida; Las Vegas; and the hundreds of other sites of mass murders would do anything to prevent future attacks or prompt lawmakers to action.

Moreover, they argue, there is no way to control how the images are used once they are released online. The opponents of publishing them fear the photos could amount to “trauma porn,” a grisly term used to describe a perverse fascination with tragedy or misfortune.

“The way I see it is America doesn’t get to ask me for one more damn thing,” said Nelba Márquez-Greene, a family therapist whose 6-year-old daughter, Ana Grace, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.

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After the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in May, Márquez-Greene wrote a guest essay in The New York Times in which she expressed opposition to the demands placed on families to seek the release of crime scene photos.

Márquez-Greene told KHN that calls to release photos of Ana Grace inside the elementary school began on the same day she was murdered. “It’s just so voyeuristic and gross; like, we’re literally empowering the masses to make this demand,” she said.

Concerns about how images might be used are rooted in history, said Mari Crabtree, an associate professor of African American studies at the College of Charleston.

More than 100 years ago, she said, photos of lynchings across the South were shared to advance very different agendas. The images were sometimes co-opted by racists to “celebrate Black death,” she said. But they were also used by civil rights groups — like the nascent NAACP — to raise awareness about the atrocities of the Jim Crow era.

In the early 1900s, the NAACP published and republished violent photos to push federal lawmakers to create anti-lynching legislation, Crabtree said. But it took Congress more than 100 years to pass the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, in March 2022. The amount of time it took to make lynching a federal hate crime casts doubt on the ability of such images to expedite reform, she said.

For her forthcoming book, “My Soul Is a Witness: The Traumatic Afterlife of Lynching,” Crabtree decided against including a depiction of lynching on the cover. “Lynching was about dehumanizing Black people into objects of white wrath,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be reinforcing that.”

She also wanted to avoid inflicting trauma on anyone who came across her book — if, for example, it was placed on a coffee table. Consuming images of Black death in such a casual way can be very disturbing, she said.

Images of violence can also cause mental harm, particularly for people who have post-traumatic stress disorder, said Nicole Sciarrino, a psychologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs and an expert in PTSD. Images, videos, and sounds can be “triggering” and exacerbate symptoms, she said. They can also be catalysts that cause someone to ask for help, she added.

Images alone don’t cause PTSD, psychologists said. But there is debate about whether watching violence unfold online — such as a live feed of a mass shooting on social media — can inflict a post-traumatic stress response, Sciarrino said.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders excludes exposure to trauma via electronic media, TV, or video games from the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. But some psychologists think that should change, Sciarrino said. Their perspective emerged after 9/11, when millions of people watched the World Trade Center towers in New York City collapse on live TV. Photographs taken in Lower Manhattan that day continue to be controversial.

Repeated exposure to graphic images online could desensitize people to violence, said Erika Felix, an associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Mass shootings are so frequent that humans often employ a coping mechanism that Felix calls “emotional dampening,” a term used to describe the tendency to emotionally tune out.

“Sometimes, scary images do make change,” she said. “Sometimes, these things do change public discourse. I don’t negate that.” But, Felix said, there’s also a risk the photos could do more harm than good: “That’s a fairly big risk in my opinion.”

John Lites retired from police work nearly four years ago, after a hip injury, and then moved with his wife to McClellanville, a rural town on the northern edge of Charleston County.

He takes medication for PTSD but rarely talks about the night of the church shooting.

A few years ago, he attended a training in Columbia, South Carolina, where he met officers from Connecticut, who spoke about their experiences inside Sandy Hook Elementary. Lites recognized himself in their stories. “It helped me move on, which I had not been able to do,” he said.

He is disappointed that the 2015 church shooting wasn’t the country’s final mass casualty event. Lites now views mass shootings in America as a symptom of a much larger mental health crisis.

“We’re not doing anything to solve it,” he said. “What does publishing those photos do to get us there?”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

Chief James MacSween of the York Regional Police identified the suspect in Sunday night’s attack in Vaughan, Ontario, as Francesco Velli. He said at a news conference Monday that Velli fatally shot three men and two women and wounded a 66-year-old woman, who is hospitalized and expected to survive.

“Three victims were members of the condominium board,” he said.

Police said officers were called to an active shooting at the building at around 7:20 p.m. Sunday, and that an officer fatally shot the gunman inside the building, where the gunman and the victims lived. The man long claimed vibrations and emissions from the building’s electrical room were making him sick, and that board members and the building’s developer were to blame, court documents show.

MacSween said police are still investigating the motive for the attack, which occurred at three separate units in the building.

Special Investigation Unit spokesperson Kristy Denette said police found the victims on different floors. She said the man had a semiautomatic handgun and that investigators don’t believe he exchanged fire with the officer who killed him.

On Sunday and in the days leading up to the attack, the man posted rambling videos on Facebook in which he talked about having a legal dispute with the condo board.

In the videos, he claimed to have health problems caused by the building’s electrical room. The posts include recordings of phone conversations he had with lawyers about his case. In one video he posted Sunday, the lawyer for the building noted that the condo corporation had asked him to sell his unit and move out.

“This tragedy is driving me insane. I’m ill anyways,” he said.

The lawyer noted there was an online court hearing in his case scheduled for Monday and that he needed to go to the condo management office, where the manager would help him log in.

The man claimed during the call that he was not prepared to present his case at the hearing. He also asked what the board wanted from him, to which the lawyer said it needed him to stop harassing and shouting at people, and to pay the condo corporation’s legal fees. She noted that the case had dragged on for years.

“Can I die in peace? (It’s been) seven years of torture,” he said.

In one video, he said: “They want me dead. You can take this body but never this soul. .. I am ready to die.”

The man had filed a lawsuit against six directors and officers of the board in 2020 alleging that they “committed acts of crime and criminality from 2010 onwards.”

He also accused them of deliberately causing him five years of “torment” and “torture” related to issues he had with the electrical room below his unit, court documents show. Justice Joseph Di Luca tossed the lawsuit this summer, calling it “frivolous” and “vexatious.”

According to court documents, the board sought a restraining order in 2018 against the gunman for his “allegedly threatening, abusive, intimidating and harassing behavior” toward the board, property management, workers and residents.

Resident John Santoro said Monday that he knew the man had a firearms acquisitions certificate but that he didn’t know if he actually owned a gun. He said he also knew about his issues with the condo board.

“I know the history and I know the man. I know the board of directors. I know this has been brewing for a long time. And I’ve commented to my wife several times that this is going to end very badly,” Santoro said.

“This is tragic because in my opinion he was failed by the courts. He was failed by the lawyers and he was failed by the condominium corporation because if you go off his social media clearly you’ll see that this man required professional help.”

Santoro, a former board member, said the condo corporation had put pads on the electric room equipment so that when it vibrated it wasn’t directly on the concrete.

“He wasn’t a monster,” Santoro said. “He was very religious and very giving. I just think he got caught up in a situation that ended up very badly for everybody.”

Mass shootings are rare in Canada, and Toronto has long prided itself as being one of the world’s safest big cities. Vaughan is just north of Toronto.

Canadians are nervous about anything that might indicate they are moving closer to the gun violence situation in the U.S., where mass shootings are common.

“Everybody is horrified,” Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca said. “To wake up to this news this morning or see it last night, we are in absolute shock. … This is something I never thought I would see here.”

River William Smith, who also expressed interest in joining neo-Nazi paramilitary groups and fired an AK-47-style rifle in his home in 2019 faces federal weapons charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release. FBI agents arrested the 20-year-old man on Wednesday after he purchased three hand grenades and four auto sears from an FBI informant, prosecutors said. An auto sear is a device that turns a firearm into an automatic weapon.

Smith, who lives in the Minneapolis suburb of Savage, had told the informant that the shooter who killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub last month was a “hero,” called Black people “agents of satan,” and said he was ready to engage the police “with armor and full autos,” an FBI agent said in an affidavit.

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Smith is in custody and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. Online court records show he is being represented by the Office of the Federal Defender. Phone and email messages seeking comment on his behalf were not immediately returned Friday.

The timely FBI investigation and arrest provided a sharp contrast to the warning signs that were ignored and earlier charges that were dismissed against Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was charged with hate crimes in the mass shooting at a Colorado gay nightclub, said George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley.

“The only way to protect the public is to move expeditiously and aggressively,” he said of potentially violent people like Smith. “That was a missing element in the earlier case. In many ways, it’s a cautionary tale for law enforcement: These early signals cannot be missed.”

In both cases, the suspects’ grandparents had been previously injured by them but had later appeared to enable their alarming behavior.

In Smith’s case, authorities say his grandmother drove him to the shooting range where he was seen practicing shooting drills, firing off hundreds of rounds in just a few minutes. Relatives of Aldrich’s grandparents have said they gave Aldrich about $30,000 to buy a 3-D printer that they said he used to make gun parts.

A Colorado SWAT team uncovered a stockpile of more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive material, firearms and ammunition in Aldrich’s home in 2019. Aldrich was charged after the standoff, but the case unraveled. Authorities say that less than two years later, on Nov. 19, Aldrich stormed into Colorado Springs’ Club Q and fatally shot five people.

In Minnesota, federal authorities say Smith came to the attention of the FBI after he frequented a firearm range and gun club this fall wearing tactical gear, body armor and a “Punisher” mask, which the FBI said has been used by right-wing extremist groups to reference “the last thing a victim sees.”

A retired police officer who worked at the gun range contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center on Sept. 27 after he saw Smith wearing body armor, shooting from behind a plywood barricade he had assembled and practicing rapid reloads of his handgun, according to the affidavit.

As the FBI surveilled Smith in November, agents saw Smith’s grandmother drive him to the gun range and wait in the car while he shot. She had also purchased pistol ammunition for him, according to the federal affidavit.

It wasn’t the first time Smith came to the attention of law enforcement.

In 2019, when he was 17, Smith was put on probation after he fired an AK-47-style rifle in a house he shared with his grandparents, according to court documents. His grandmother, who received a minor injury to her hand, told police officers at the time that she had taken two pistols from Smith and hidden them in her closet. The grandparents told police they were concerned for their safety if Smith was released from custody.

The grandmother, Roberta McCue, added that Smith seemed “possessed” that night, according to legal documents, and she described him as “big and scary and strong.”

She told The Associated Press on Friday that she didn’t want to comment because she was “exhausted,” but added that her hand was injured in 2019 when she cut it on a doorknob.

Minnesota does not have a red flag law, which allows judges to temporarily take weapons away from people determined to be a threat to themselves or others. State law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from purchasing a firearm or ammunition. However, it does allow for minors to possess ammunition and semiautomatic weapons or handguns when in the presence or supervision of a guardian.

In 2019, Smith’s grandmother told police officers that his mother, who was living in Wisconsin, had purchased the firearm in her name and given it to Smith, according to court documents. His grandfather had also given him a shotgun to go skeet shooting, the documents show.

During follow-up searches, police found tactical equipment, 15 fully loaded magazines, full ammunition cans and a go-bag of water and canned goods that suggested to them he could have been preparing for a prolonged standoff. An affidavit also says police reviewing his electronic devices found searches about Adolf Hitler and videos of homosexuals being killed, as well as files about bomb-building on an external hard drive.

In a post-arrest interview, Smith told investigators he was not a “super terrorist,” according to the federal affidavit.

As part of the February 2020 probation agreement, Smith was barred from using or possessing any firearms until he turned 19. Less than two years later, he was stockpiling firearms and enough ammunition to fire a fully automatic weapon, authorities said.

Smith told an FBI informant that he was “pro mass shooting in general,” and that he wanted to add the hand grenades to his tactical vest, the Attorney General’s Office said. He said it was part of a personal arsenal that included a note cursing police officers stowed in a pouch attached to his gear, authorities said.

“They can find that once they get me,” he told the informant in a recorded conversation, according to authorities. “When they’re scooping their boys up.”

___

This story has been edited to correct the attribution to The U.S. Attorney’s Office.

___

Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press writer Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

The FBI’s disclosure about the tip, provided in a statement to The Associated Press, creates a new timeline for when law enforcement was first alerted to Anderson Lee Aldrich as a potential danger. The FBI did not say who gave the tip on June 17, 2021, or anything about the information that was provided.

The next day, law enforcement was alerted when the gunman’s grandparents ran from their Colorado Springs home and called 911, saying they were building a bomb in the basement and had threatened to kill them. Details of the case remain sealed, but an arrest affidavit verified by the AP detailed how the shooter was upset the grandparents were moving to Florida because it would get in the way of the gunman’s plans to conduct a mass shooting and bombing.

The grandparents were concerned about the gunman even before the 911 call, according to the document, with the grandmother telling authorities she and her husband had been “living in fear” because of the shooter’s “recent homicidal threats toward them and others.”

In a story Sunday, The Denver Gazette cited an unidentified family member saying the grandfather called the FBI the day before the bomb threat. The shooting is the latest crime to raise questions about whether the FBI moves too soon to close cases involving people who have shown violent tendencies.

As part of the FBI’s probe, the agency said it coordinated with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, which had responded to the June 18, 2021, call from the gunman’s grandparents and arrested Aldrich, now 22, on felony menacing and kidnapping charges. But about a month after getting the tip, the FBI closed its assessment of the shooter, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

“With state charges pending, the FBI closed its assessment on July 15, 2021,” the FBI said.

Those charges were later dropped for unknown reasons. Under Colorado law, cases that are dismissed by either prosecutors or a judge are automatically sealed to prevent people from having their lives ruined if they do not end up being prosecuted. Authorities have cited the law in refusing to answer questions about the case but a coalition of media organizations, including the AP, has asked the court to unseal the records. A hearing is planned for Thursday.

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, Sgt. Jason Garrett, declined to comment on the FBI’s statement or on whether his agency had any tips about Aldrich before their 2021 arrest, citing the sealing law.

The shooting at Club Q occurred more than a year later, just before midnight on Nov. 19, when the shooter opened fire as soon as they entered the club, firing indiscriminately with an AR-15-style rifle while wearing a ballistic vest, according to an arrest affidavit that was written the day after the shooting but not unsealed until Wednesday evening. the gunman killed five people and wounded 17 others before an Army veteran wrestled the attacker to the ground.

The affidavit does not provide any new information about what motivated the shooter, but says they expressed remorse to medical staff shortly after the shooting and said they had been awake for four days, according to police officers guarding their room at the hospital. It doesn’t including anything more about what the gunman may have told investigators.

The document also includes an image from the club’s surveillance video showing a blast coming out of the rifle barrel as the shooter entered the club.

The shooter’s mother told police that they were supposed to go to a movie at 10 p.m. that night, about two hours before the attack, but said the gunman had left before then, saying they had to do quick errand.

The FBI is now helping to investigate the shooting. Xavier Kraus, a former neighbor of the shooter and their mother, told the AP Wednesday that agents have interviewed him in recent days about a free speech website the shooter created that has featured a series of violent posts, glorifying violence and racism.

“It was meant for people to go and pretty much say whatever they want with the exception of the two rules: No spamming and no child pornography,” Kraus said. “If I would have known what it was going to turn into, that would have struck a different chord with me.”

Kraus said that after the bomb threat charges were dropped, the gunman began boasting about recovering the guns, and once showed Kraus two assault-style rifles, body armor and incendiary rounds.

Kraus said the shooter “was talking about bullets that could pierce through police-grade armor.” He said it seemed like the gunman hoped someone would break into their home.

An FBI assessment is the lowest level, least intrusive and most elementary stage of an FBI inquiry. Such assessments are routinely opened after agents receive a tip, and investigators routinely face the challenge of sifting through which of the tens of thousands of tips received every year could yield a viable threat.

There have been several high-profile examples of the FBI having received information about a gunman before a mass shooting. A month before Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at a Florida high school, the bureau received a warning that he had been talking about committing a mass shooting. A man who massacred 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016 and another who set off bombs in the streets of New York City the same year had each been looked at by federal agents but officials later determined they did not warrant continued law enforcement scrutiny.

FBI guidelines meant to balance national security with civil liberties protections impose restrictions on the steps agents may take during the assessment phase. Agents, for instance, may analyze information from government databases and open-source internet searches, and can conduct interviews during an assessment. But they cannot turn to more intrusive techniques, such as requesting a wiretap or internet communications, without higher levels of approval and a more solid basis to suspect a crime.

More than 10,000 assessments are opened each year. Many are closed within days or weeks when the FBI concludes there’s no criminal or national security threat, or basis for continued scrutiny. The system is meant to ensure that a person who has not broken the law does not remain under perpetual scrutiny on a mere hunch — and that the FBI can reserve its resources for true threats.

The lawsuit, which appears to be the first to stem from the shooting, was filed Tuesday in Chesapeake Circuit Court by Donya Prioleau.

The lawsuit, which appears to be the first to stem from the shooting, was filed Tuesday in Chesapeake Circuit Court by Donya Prioleau. Walmart, which is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, said in a statement that it was reviewing the complaint and will respond “as appropriate with the court.”

“Our deepest sympathies go out to our associates and everyone impacted, including those who were injured,” the company said. “We are focused on supporting all our associates with significant resources, including counseling.”

Prioleau’s suit alleges that she has experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, including physical and emotional distress, from witnessing the rampage in the store’s breakroom on Nov. 22. Her lawsuit offers fresh details of the terrifying attack and provides a long list of troubling signs displayed by the shooter that she claims managers failed to address.

“Bullets whizzed by Plaintiff Donya Prioleau’s face and left side, barely missing her,” the lawsuit states. “She witnessed several of her coworkers being brutally murdered on either side of her.”

The lawsuit adds: “Ms. Prioleau looked at one of her coworkers in the eyes right after she had been shot in the neck. Ms. Prioleau saw the bullet wound in her coworker’s neck, the blood rushing out of it, and the shocked look on her coworker’s helpless face.”

Store supervisor Andre Bing, 31, fatally shot six employees and wounded several others before he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, police said.

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The lawsuit alleges that Bing “had a personal vendetta against several Walmart employees and kept a ‘kill list’ of potential targets prior to the shooting.”

The list is in reference to a “death note” found on Bing’s phone and released Friday by authorities. The note appeared to contain specific references to people he worked with, but authorities redacted their names.

Bing was a Walmart team leader who had worked for the company since 2010. He was responsible for managing the overnight stocking crew, including Prioleau, who started her job in May 2021, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims management knew or should have known about Bing’s disturbing behavior and lists several instances of alarming conduct.

“Prior to the shooting, Mr. Bing repeatedly asked coworkers if they had received their active shooter training,” the suit states. “When coworkers responded that they had, Mr. Bing just smiled and walked away without saying anything.”

Bing “made comments to other Walmart employees and managers suggesting that he would be violent if fired or disciplined,” according to the suit, which also says Bing “was disciplined leading up to the shooting, making his violent outburst predictable.”

In another instance, Bing told co-workers “he ran over a turtle with a lawnmower just to see its (guts) spray out, which made him hungry and reminded him of ramen noodles,” the lawsuit says.

Bing was previously disciplined for bad behavior and harassing employees, but Walmart “kept employing him anyway,” the suit says.

Source: The Gun Violence Archive
Amy O’Kruk/NBC

In her court filing, Prioleau states that she and her mother attempted to take action against Bing.

Prioleau had submitted a formal complaint on a Walmart Global Ethics Statement Form indicating that Bing had “bizarrely and inappropriately commented on Ms. Prioleau’s age,” the lawsuit stated.

The lawsuit also states that Prioleau had submitted a formal complaint on a Walmart Global Ethics Statement Form indicating that Bing had “bizarrely and inappropriately commented on Ms. Prioleau’s age.”

The lawsuit alleges that Bing told her: “Isn’t your lady clock ticking? Shouldn’t you be having kids?”

Prioleau also complained that Bing had harassed her for “being poor and being short,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit states that she also informed Walmart that Bing called her a “bitch” under his breath.

In September, Prioleau’s mother expressed concerns to a Walmart manager about her daughter’s safety “because it appeared their concerns were falling on deaf ears,” the lawsuit states.

The manager said “there was nothing that could be done about Mr. Bing because he was liked by management,” according to the suit.

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Before the shooting, Bing told co-workers that “the government was watching him,” the suit says. “He kept black tape on his phone camera so no one could spy on him.”

In the note left on his phone, Bing claimed he was harassed and said he was pushed to the brink by a perception that his phone was hacked. The note also accused colleagues of mocking him.

Bing’s death note rambles at times through 11 paragraphs, with references to nontraditional cancer treatments and songwriting. He says people unfairly compared him to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Jessica Wilczewski, a Walmart employee who witnessed the shooting, told The Associated Press last week that Bing seemed to target certain people.

“The way he was acting — he was going hunting,” she said.

In a note to employees on Tuesday, Walmart president and CEO John Furner wrote that the people who were killed were “amazing, irreplaceable members of our family.”

“The Walmart Foundation also intends to contribute $1 million to the United Way of South Hampton Roads’ Hope & Healing Fund, which will support those impacted by the shooting and the broader Chesapeake community,” Furner wrote.

City officials previously withheld identifying the 16-year-old, who was an employee at the Virginia Walmart, “due to him being a minor.”

Police identified Chavez-Barron following a vigil on Thursday honoring all the victims killed by 31-year-old Andre Bing, an overnight team leader at the Walmart store who had been with the company since 2010.

Family, friends and classmates of Chavez-Barron gathered by a tree close to the store’s front entrance and recited the prayer Hail Mary on the rosary in his memory, NBC affiliate WAVY of Portsmouth reported.

Authorities say Bing killed at least six people and injured at least six others before taking his own life in the Tuesday night shooting.

Read the full story here at NBCNews.com.

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The shootings took place at a public school with elementary and middle school students and a private school, both located on the same street in the small town of Aracruz in Espirito Santo state, the state’s public security secretariat said in a statement. Two teachers and a student were killed.

Approximately four hours later, the shooter, identified as a 16-year-old boy who used to study at the public school, was arrested by police, Espirito Santo Gov. Renato Casagrande said. Authorities did not release the suspect’s name.

Security camera footage showed the assailant wearing a bulletproof vest and using a semiautomatic pistol for the attacks, Espirito Santo public security secretary Márcio Celante said in a video provided by the secretariat’s press office. Casagrande said the weapon belongs to the former student’s father, a military police officer.

In addition to the fatalities, 13 people were wounded, including nine instructors, said Celante, who noted that in the public school the shooter gained access to the teachers lounge after breaking a lock. Six of the wounded, including two children, were still hospitalized Friday afternoon.

School shootings are uncommon in Brazil, but have happened with somewhat greater frequency in recent years.

Online court records showed that the 22-year-old suspected gunman faced five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury in Saturday night’s attack at Club Q. He remained hospitalized with unspecified injuries, police said.

The charges were preliminary, and prosecutors had not filed them in court. The hate crime charges would require proving that the gunman was motivated by bias, such as against the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

The attack was halted when a patron grabbed a handgun from the suspect, hit him with it and pinned him down until police arrived minutes later.

Court documents laying out what led to the suspect’s arrest have been sealed at the request of prosecutors, who said releasing details could jeopardize the investigation. Information on whether the suspect had a lawyer was not immediately available.

A law enforcement official said the suspect used an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon, but a handgun and additional ammunition magazines also were recovered. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Officials on Monday clarified that 18 people were hurt in the attack, not 25 as they said originally. Among them was one person whose injury was not a gunshot wound. Another victim had no visible injuries, they said.

Thirteen people remained hospitalized Monday, officials said. Five people have been treated and released.

Mayor John Suthers said there was “reason to hope” all of the hospitalized victims would recover.

Questions were quickly raised about why authorities didn’t seek to take the suspect’s guns away from him in 2021, when he was arrested after his mother reported he threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.

Though authorities at the time said no explosives were found, gun-control advocates have asked why police didn’t use Colorado’s “red flag” laws to seize the weapons his mother says he had. There’s no public record prosecutors ever moved forward with felony kidnapping and menacing charges against the suspect.

The shooting rekindled memories of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. Colorado has experienced several mass killings, including at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in suburban Denver in 2012 and at a Boulder supermarket last year.

It was the sixth mass killing this month, and it came in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

The violence pierced the cozy confines of an entertainment venue long cherished as a safe spot for the LGBTQ community in the conservative-leaning city.

A makeshift memorial that sprang up in the hours after the attack continued to grow Monday, as a steady stream of mourners brought flowers and left messages in support of the LGBTQ community. The shooting site remained cordoned off.

“It’s a reminder that love and acceptance still have a long way to go,” Colorado Springs resident Mary Nikkel said at the site. “This growing monument to people is saying that it matters what happened to you … We’re just not letting it go.”

The club was one of few nightspots for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs, residents said. Authorities were called at 11:57 p.m. Saturday with multiple reports of a shooting, and the first officer arrived at midnight.

Joshua Thurman said he was in the club with about two dozen other people and was dancing when the shots began. He initially thought it was part of the music, until he heard another shot and said he saw the flash of a gun muzzle.

Thurman, 34, said he ran to a dressing room where he hid with others. They locked the door, turned off the lights and got on the floor as they heard the violence unfolding, including the gunman being subdued.

“I could have lost my life — over what?” he said, tears running down his cheeks. “We weren’t out harming anyone. We were in our space, our community, our home, enjoying ourselves like everybody else does.”

Detectives were examining whether anyone had helped the suspect before the attack. Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said patrons who intervened during the attack were “heroic” and prevented more deaths.

Club Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a drag show on Saturdays, according to its website. Club Q’s Facebook page said planned entertainment included a “punk and alternative show” preceding a birthday dance party, with a Sunday all-ages drag brunch.

Drag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests recently as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from them, falsely claiming that they are used to “groom” children.

The shooting came during Transgender Awareness Week and just at the start of Sunday’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, when events around the world are held to mourn and remember transgender people lost to violence.

Colorado Springs, a city of about 480,000 located 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Denver, is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Olympic Training Center, as well as Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry that lobbies against LGBTQ rights. The group condemned the shooting and said it “exposes the evil and wickedness inside the human heart.”

In 2015, three people were killed and eight wounded at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city when a gunman targeted the clinic because it performed abortions.

Since 2006, there have been 523 mass killings and 2,727 deaths as of Nov. 19, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S.

Bedayn is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Associated Press reporters Haven Daley in Colorado Springs, Colleen Slevin in Denver, Michael Balsamo in Washington, Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Jeff McMillan in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed.

Philadelphia Police Department Inspector D.F. Pace said the victims were shot near Kensington and Allegheny avenues, adding that there are likely more victims than the initial nine. Initially, two were in critical condition and seven were stable, Deputy Police Commissioner John Stanford said. However, that changed into the later morning hours as five people were upgraded to critical, police said.

The shooting happened around 10:45 p.m. outside a bar in the area, Pace said. The gunmen got out of a black vehicle and opened fire on a crowd on the sidewalk before getting back in the vehicle and fleeing, Stanford said.

There were police officers in the area who heard the gunshots, he noted. “Our men and women are where they’re supposed to be in the sense of being out here patrolling, but we have some brazen individuals in this city that don’t care. They don’t care how many police officers are out here, and some of them don’t care in terms of how many people are out here,” the deputy police commissioner said.

The victims ranged in age from 23 to 40, according to Philadelphia police. All but one were men. They were rushed to Temple University Hospital by the responding officers before paramedics had arrived.

As of Sunday morning police had not made an arrest, and they weren’t immediately able to determine a motive.

NBC10 spoke with state Rep. Amen Brown, a Democrat who represents West Philadelphia, who said he received a call “from the chief” and got out of bed to get to the scene of the shooting.

Brown laid blame for the city’s gun violence on Mayor Jim Kenney, the office of District Attorney Larry Krasner, and “weak City Council members.” “Innocent women and children are dying every single day, and it’s got to stop,” Brown said, adding that solutions will only be found with legislators working across party lines.

Kenney tweeted he was “appalled and devastated” by the “despicable, brazen act of gun violence.” He added “my heart is with the family and loved ones of those injured, and with everyone impacted by this tragedy.”

As of Saturday night, the PPD had recorded at least 447 homicides in the city. At least 417 of those killings were committed with guns, according to a city controller’s office tally, which was last updated on Nov. 3.

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Family of the victims in the 2012 shooting are now reacting to the verdict. They say they have been waiting throughout the nearly four-week trial, and ultimately nearly a decade, for this outcome.

“I let my voice be taken away from me, and my power be taken away from me. At the expense of my daughter and at the expense of my family,” Robbie Parker said.

Parker held back tears as he spoke outside of Waterbury Superior Court. During Jones’ defamation trial, Parker testified he became the face and target for conspiracy theorists after his 6-year-old daughter Emilie was killed in the tragedy.

“It shouldn’t be this hard, and it shouldn’t be this scary,” Parker said.

Parker, who was accused of being a crisis actor and moved his family to Washington state to avoid threats, was awarded $120 million, $60 million of that for emotional damages.

“I shouldn’t have to worry about what my daughters are going to go through when I tell them that it’s best that they just tell the truth. Because that’s all we did. Every day in that courtroom, we got up on that stand and we told the truth,” Parker said.

The daughter of Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal killed that awful day, hopes this verdict may offer some protection for other families of mass shooting victims.

“I know that this is not the end of Alex Jones in my life. I know that his hate, lies and conspiracy theories will follow both me and my family through the rest of our days,” Erica Lafferty said. “But I am hopeful that it may save other families from high profile tragedies from the cycle of abuse and re-traumatization that we have all been put through.”

They are part of a club no one wants to join, and spent the past several weeks giving emotional testimony about the impact a conspiracy spun by Alex Jones had on their lives.

“This jury, who I have so much gratitude for, for listening so attentively, for not just listening, for hearing us,” shooting victim relative Nicole Hockley said.

The plaintiffs described how over the past decade, they faced threats and were told the deaths of their loved ones were not real.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs called the jury’s verdict “historic.”

“The spread of this lie, which reached upwards of a billion people we know, that was his doing, that’s what he wanted,” Chris Mattei, plaintiffs’ attorney, said. “The jury’s verdict should reflect that type of damage. And that’s what we think happened.”

Now the victims’ families are hoping this case sets a precedent in the future.

“The internet is not the wild, wild west, and that your actions have consequences,” William Sherlach, relative of a shooting victim said. “Going forward, because unfortunately, there will be other horrific events like this, people like Alex Jones will have to rethink what they say.”

Jones wasn’t at court, but he reacted on his Infowars show. As courtroom video showed the plaintiffs’ names being read along with the jury awards to each, Jones said that he himself had never mentioned their names.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys also reiterated Wednesday that they will be enforcing the verdict, saying reps will be going to Texas to get a better understanding of Jones’ assets, track and transfers, and make sure that these families get paid out.

They will also be presenting punitive damages for the judge to consider in the next month. Connecticut does have a cap on punitive damages, but the judge can opt to add more to that cap.

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The person believed to be the shooter was found dead inside the Safeway store, Bend Police said in a statement.

Authorities said police responded to multiple 911 calls at the Forum Shopping Center in the central Oregon city at about 7:04 p.m.

Police said at least one shooter was firing shots in the parking lot, entered the Safeway and shot one person inside the entrance. The shooter continued firing inside the store, fatally shooting another person.

Police found the suspected shooter deceased inside the Safeway. Authorities said it did not appear police fired any shots.

No additional details were immediately available.

Bend is about 160 miles (257 kilometers) southeast of Portland, Oregon.

Police in Tucson identified one of the victims as Pima County Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay and another as a employee of the apartment complex, KVOA-TV reported.

Martinez-Garibay was serving an eviction notice at the complex at the time of the shooting, but additional details were still unknown, KGUN-TV reported.

Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bronson extended sympathies on behalf of of the county to Martinez-Garibay’s family, friends and colleagues.

“I am heartbroken at this terrible tragedy and I will keep Constable Martinez and all who knew and loved her in my thoughts,” she said in a statement.

As the suspect was actively shooting, one officer discharged a shot, Lt. Colonel Mike John of the Cincinnati Police Department told a news conference. It was unknown if the bullet struck the suspect, he added.

The suspect then “fled the scene,” he said, adding that nobody was currently in custody.

None of the victims were “in critical condition and most of those injuries are lower extremity injuries,” he said.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

In July, people ran for their lives after a man opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing eight and injuring dozens.

In May, a shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, carrying out one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. 

Every week, there are more tragedies. Over 200 days into 2022, there has been an average of 13 mass shootings a week, according to an NBC analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive. The GVA defines a mass shooting as an event where a minimum of four victims are shot, either injured or killed, not including the shooter.

Source: The Gun Violence Archive
Amy O’Kruk/NBC

The United States is an outlier when it comes to gun violence among high-income countries. No other has nearly as many violent firearm deaths. Every day, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are wounded, averaging over 40,000 deaths per year.

While mass shootings make up a small fraction of gun-related deaths, they are becoming more frequent. In 2017, there were around 350 mass shootings; that number jumped to close to 700 in 2021.

Note: Mass shootings are defined as events where at least four people are shot, either injured or killed, not including the shooter. Source: The Gun Violence Archive
Amy O’Kruk/NBC

Mass shootings may also be more severe than in the past. During the average mass shooting, around 5 people are shot. The deadliest mass shooting to date was in 2017, when a gunman fired over 1,000 rifle rounds into a crowd at music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 and injuring hundreds.

Looking at the most violent mass shootings, events with 10 or more victims, this year is already on pace with last year’s high.

Source: The Gun Violence Archive
Amy O’Kruk/NBC

For a full list of U.S. mass shootings and methodology, visit the Gun Violence Archive.

The former Marine and longtime youth pastor keeps his office in suburban Omaha stocked with treats such as Little Debbie snacks and Pop-Tarts because eating helps kids in crisis calm down and talk.

But in the back of his mind, a thought always looms: What would he do if a gunman attacked the school?

The latest reminder of that danger came in May when 19 children and two teachers were killed in a fourth-grade classroom in Uvalde, Texas. The fear that the next shooting could happen in their hallways hangs over school resource officers across the United States, exacerbating an already difficult job: They’re called on to be battle-ready officers whom parents and students can trust to protect them.

Yet school police officers have been criticized for their treatment of students of color. Black students, especially, are often disproportionately arrested or disciplined when a school has armed police, critics say. And students of color report feeling less safe around police than white students.

Officers say they’re acutely aware of the criticism, striving to build relationships with students and interact for more reasons than just discipline. They stress that officers who work in schools need to be specifically trained to work with children and teens. Gone are the days when it was enough to hire an officer near or in retirement and keep a police car parked outside a school. School officers are now asked to be counselors and teachers, working empathetically and diplomatically with students and administrators, while also being an armed guardian.

Ramaeker, who practices mixed martial arts, said he believes he wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever he could to protect his students and staff. He has even thought through how he would use the handgun he has holstered to his hip if he didn’t have time get a rifle he has kept secured in the building since the 2018 Parkland school shooting. He believes officers need to decide what they would do before a shooting happens to be mentally prepared and avoid indecision.

“If someone comes in to try to hurt a part of my family, whether it’s my blood family or my school family, there is no hesitation,” he said.

Reminders of the threat of school shootings were omnipresent at a recent National Association of School Resource Officers conference in Colorado where hundreds of officers gathered for training.

An exhibit hall featured booths with businesses selling ideas to stop the next school shooter, like door locks, and simulation machines to mimic shootings. One business showed off foldable assault rifles it said one school resource officer takes in a Hello Kitty backpack to his school in Alabama.

“Mom and Dad don’t want to see this weapon in their school, but it’s got to be there,” said Dan Pose, CEO of Gulf Coast Tactical, which sells the rifles.

Officers also sat in on sessions to learn about what went right and wrong at past school shootings. In one of those, they heard about the failure by a school safety monitor to send out an alert when he initially spotted the Parkland school shooter walking onto the campus. The armed school resource officer accused of hiding during the shooting was later charged with being criminally negligent.

In another, they got a briefing on a 2019 school shooting in Colorado, in which a private security guard who was secretly armed accidentally wounded two students.

A Colorado county sheriff also pointed to a more subtle failure in the response to that fatal 2019 shooting: Officers unnecessarily traumatized evacuated elementary students by having them line up with their hands on their heads even though authorities knew the gunmen involved were either teens or adults.

“That right there will last a lifetime,” Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said, pointing to the photo of the children, one of whom has her hands folded in prayer instead. Later, he explained that he wanted to encourage school resource officers to use their discretion and find ways to minimize trauma to children.

Officer Roy Mitchell Jr. said he tries not to let preparing for a shooting rule his thoughts, but he watches out at entrances and windows for anyone unfamiliar headed into the suburban Baltimore high school where he works. He also considers where he would he would try to move students to should there be an attack.

“I try to always have some type of a game plan in my head,” he said.

Mitchell, Ramaeker and other officers in Denver for the conference stressed that building relationships and getting to know what’s going on in the lives of students is vital for all aspects of the job — whether they’re acting as confidants or cops.

Some offer to help make waffles and pancakes in cooking class or fill-in to serve lunch when cafeteria workers are out sick. Others squeeze into desks in the back row to observe what students are learning. They’re encouraged to teach a class, on topics such as citizens’ civil rights and the legal process. They keep an eye out for who drives what cars, who is dating whom and who might be eating lunch in the bathroom because they have no friends.

It’s an intense version of community policing that they hope will make them positive role models while also helping them learn about any kinds of threats that emerge in their schools.

Lt. Sandra F. Calloway-Crim, who has been a school resource officer in Valley, Alabama, for 18 years, said she got a call late one night after patrol officers found a 13-year-old student at one of her schools wandering outside alone in his pajamas. She knew the boy’s father would be working the night shift but that his mother would be at home, and directed the officers to take the boy there.

Still, some activists say police don’t belong in a school at all. Some districts got rid of police officers in schools during the protests over racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 amid criticism that they have disproportionately arrested Black students, sweeping them into the criminal justice system.

Officers from Fremont, California, were removed from schools but brought back a year later after negotiating terms of a new agreement with officials. They spoke at the recent conference, encouraging supervisors to keep track of all the positive interactions they have with students to help balance the reports about investigations and arrests that police normally only document.

Don Bridges, who started a school resource officer program in suburban Baltimore in 1989, bristles at the “school to prison pipeline” criticism. Bridges, who is Black, saw the program as a way to build relationships between students and law enforcement after seeing too many people who looked like him getting arrested when he worked in patrol. He said having police in schools does not lead to Black students being targeted when officers are properly trained.

Detective Beth Sanborn drops what she is doing at home and heads into work whenever her phone explodes with messages from students at the campus where she works in suburban Philadelphia about a social media post seen as threatening.

She feels guilty sometimes for putting the needs of her “school kids” ahead of her own children. Emotional crises, fights and the fallout from failed relationships tend to be more at the front of her mind than the possibility of a shooting but she said building relationships with her students is the key to preventing all kinds of problems.

“While it always has the potential to be there, what we hope is that by stressing that sense of community, that we can avert any kind of violence,” she said.

After Parkland’s school resource officer failed to intervene when a student opened fire in 2018, students at a high school in Cullman, Alabama, asked Officer Seth Sullivan if he would promise to protect them.

“You’re damn skippy I’m going to be in there. Those are my kids,” Sullivan said.

Police in Highland Park, Illinois, a city about 25 miles north of downtown Chicago, say a shooter opened fire from a rooftop during the Independence Day parade Monday. A second rifle — of a different unspecified make and model — was found in the shooter’s vehicle, and police say guns were found in a home where he was living. The shooter purchased all those weapons legally, Christopher Covelli, deputy chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, said at a news conference Tuesday.

Other than his comment that the rifle was “similar” to an AR-15, Covelli did not specify the exact make and model of the rifle used in the shooting.

But if it was an AR-style rifle, as is believed, the Highland Park shooting will join a long line of American mass shootings committed with the rifle.

Shooters in recent deadly mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, both used AR-style rifles. This type of gun has also been used in other high-profile mass shootings in recent years, including in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, (where a Bushmaster XM-15 was used) and in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, (where the shooter used a Smith & Wesson M&P15).

What is the history of the AR-15 and AR-style rifles?

The term AR-15 is a trademark owned by Colt. “AR” stands for “ArmaLite rifle,” not for “assault rifle” as is commonly believed. ArmaLite was the company that made the first AR-15s in the 1950s, before selling the design to Colt. Colt then adapted the design into the M16, which the U.S. military used as a service weapon during the end of the Vietnam War.

Today, several other manufacturers make gun models similar to the AR-15, which are often referred to as “AR-style rifles.”

Between 1.5 million and 2.5 million AR-style rifles are manufactured each year, and they make up about 5% of the more than 393 million civilian-owned guns in the U.S., The Trace reports. Sales and manufacturing of AR-style weapons spiked after the assault weapons ban of 1994 expired without being renewed, according to the Washington Post.

High-powered rifles have high fatality rates

AR-style rifles fire bullets at a higher velocity than a typical handgun, with the bullet leaving the rifle’s barrel nearly three times faster than a typical 9-millimeter handgun bullet.

“Wounds like this, as one sees in school shootings like Sandy Hook and Parkland where AR-15s were used, have high fatality rates,” trauma surgeon Dr. Ernest E. Moore wrote in a piece published soon after the Parkland shooting.

A witness at the Chicago shooting scene, Dr. David Baum, told NBC Chicago there were “horrific injuries” at the scene.

“The kind of injuries you probably see in wartime. The kind of injuries that only probably happen when bullets blow bodies up,” he said.

“I’m heartbroken along with the people of Copenhagen,” the 28-year-old “As It Was” singer tweeted on Sunday. “I adore this city. The people are so warm and full of love.” 

“I’m devastated for the victims, their families, and everyone hurting,” he added. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be together. Please look after each other.”

On Sunday, Denmark police shut down the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, where Styles was scheduled to perform as part of his “Love On Tour” fest, a spokesperson for Styles confirmed to TODAY.

As previously reported by NBC News, a 22-year-old Danish man, whose name is not publicly known, was arrested after opening fire in the mall and killing three people while injuring several others. 

“My thoughts go to the wounded, relatives and others affected after this completely meaningless and terrible act,” Justice Minister Mattias Tesfaye said in a Monday press conference.

“We do not yet know the motive behind it, but I can assure you that the authorities are making every effort to get to the bottom of this matter so that the person or persons responsible can be prosecuted,” he added.

NBC News reported that two 17-year-olds, a male and a female, along with a 47-year-old Russian man were victims, per police inspector Søren Thomassen. 

The injured include two female Danes and two Swedes, ranging in age from 16 to 50. 

According to his website, Styles is scheduled to perform next on Tuesday in Paris, France.

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Copenhagen chief police inspector Søren Thomassen said the victims — a 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl, both Danes, and a 47-year-old Russian man — were killed when the gunman opened fire on Sunday afternoon in the Field’s shopping mall, one of Scandinavia’s biggest.

Four other people — two Danish and two Swedish citizens — were treated for gunshot wounds and were in critical but stable condition, Thomassen said. Several other people received minor injuries as they fled the shopping mall, he added. Some 31 ambulances responded to the emergency, rescue officials said.

Thomassen said police had no indication that anyone helped the gunman, identified as a 22-year-old Dane. He said while the motive is unclear, there is nothing suggesting terrorism, and that the suspect would be arraigned later Monday on preliminary charges of murder.

In Denmark, preliminary charges are a step short of formal charges but allow authorities to keep criminal suspects in custody during an investigation.

“There is nothing in our investigation, or the documents we have reviewed, or the things we have found, or the witnesses’ statements we have gotten, that can substantiate that this is an act of terrorism,” he said.

Police said they seized a rifle from the suspect who also carried a knife. “We also know that he has had access to a gun,” Thomassen said, adding “I will not comment further on it now.”

He confirmed that the suspect was known to mental health services but provided no further information.

Danish broadcaster TV2 published a grainy photo of the alleged gunman, a man wearing knee-length shorts, a vest or sleeveless shirt, and holding what appeared to be a rifle in his right hand.

“He seemed very violent and angry,” eyewitness Mahdi Al-Wazni told TV2. “He spoke to me and said it (the rifle) isn’t real as I was filming him. He seemed very proud of what he was doing.”

Thomassen said that beside the rifle the suspect had when detained, “we also know that he has had access to a gun and that he carried a knife.”

Images from the scene showed people running out of the mall in panic. After the shooting, a big contingent of heavily armed police officers patrolled the area, with several fire department vehicles also parked outside the mall.

“It is pure terror. This is awful,” said Hans Christian Stoltz, a 53-year-old IT consultant, who was bringing his daughters to see Harry Styles perform at concert scheduled for Sunday night near the mall. “You might wonder how a person can do this to another human being, but it’s beyond … beyond anything that’s possible.”

The concert was canceled due to the shooting.

On Snapchat, Styles wrote: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H.”

It was the worst gun attack in Denmark since February 2015, when a 22-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police after going on a shooting spree in the capital that left two people dead and five police officers wounded. That attack was believed to have been motivated by Islamic extremism.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called Sunday’s shooting a “cruel attack.”

“It is incomprehensible. Heartbreaking. Pointless,” she said. “Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second.”

The multi-story Field’s shopping center is on the outskirts of Copenhagen just across from a subway station for a line that connects the city center with the international airport. A major highway also runs adjacent to the mall.

The shooting came a week after a mass shooting in neighboring Norway, where police said a Norwegian man of Iranian origin opened fire during a LGBTQ festival, killing two and wounding more than 20.

___

Ritter reported from Unterseen, Switzerland.

A funeral Mass was Friday for Mireles, 44, who was killed May 24 when a gunman burst into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde Texas. Nineteen children and teacher Irma Garcia also died in the attack. Relatives briefed by police have said the two teachers died trying to protect their students.

Mireles was finishing up her 17th year of teaching. The school district’s superintendent, Hal Harrell, remembered Mireles and Garcia as teachers who “poured their heart and soul” into their work.

An obituary for Mireles said she “dedicated herself to her wonderful family and amazing students.” She enjoyed Crossfit, hiking and spending time with her dog, Kane.

“Her smile and personality never went unnoticed as when she was around, it was never a dull moment,” the obituary stated.

A relative, 34-year-old Amber Ybarra of San Antonio, remembered Mireles as a loving mother and wife.

“She was adventurous. … She is definitely going to be very missed,” Ybarra said.

Mireles’ enthusiasm came through in a post on the school’s website at the start of the school year.

“Welcome to the 4th grade! We have a wonderful year ahead of us!” she wrote.

The funeral for Garcia was last week. Services for the children will continue into late June.

“There were no capes. There were no great big muscles. But there were heroes,” said Hal Harrell, superintendent.

The special meeting was streamed online. Almost every chair appeared to be filled.

“My son is deathly afraid of school now,” one tearful mother said during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Harrell said work is underway to provide long-term support for the community and reiterated what he’s said before about Robb Elementary: No one is going back to the campus.

He also gave insight into what might take its place.

“One day we’ll share that with our community, what that site will become. I don’t have that today but one day in the very near future we will,” Harrell said.

First, he says they’ll have to figure out where students will attend class this fall.

The mother who took to the podium said her son and his friends were supposed to go to Robb Elementary next school year.

She wants to make sure they stay together.

“What he knows right now is that when he goes to another school, he’s going to get shot by a bad man,” she said.

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The funeral for 86-year-old Ruth Whitfield — the oldest of the 10 people killed in the attack two weeks ago — included an impromptu speech by Vice President Kamala Harris. She attended the service at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo with second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

Harris told the mourners this is a moment in time for “all good people” to stand up to the injustice that happened at the Tops Friendly Market on May 14, as well as at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and in other mass shootings.

“This is a moment that requires all good people, all God-loving people to stand up and say we will not stand for this. Enough is enough,” said Harris, who wasn’t scheduled to speak and came to the microphone at the urging of the Rev. Al Sharpton. “We will come together based on what we all know we have in common, and we will not let those people who are motivated by hate separate us or make us feel fear.”

Following the funeral, Harris and Emhoff visited a memorial outside the supermarket. The vice president left a large bouquet of white flowers, and the pair paused to pray for several minutes. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden had placed flowers at the same memorial on May 17 and had visited with the victims’ families. Biden is expected to head to Texas for a visit this weekend with the families of victim’s of Tuesday’s school shooting.

Harris later told reporters that the administration is not “sitting around waiting to figure out what the solution looks like” to the nation’s gun violence problem.

“We know what works on that,” she said, reiterating support for background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

“Let’s have an assault weapons ban,” she said. “An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in civil society. Background checks: Why should anyone be able to buy a weapon that can kill other human beings without at least knowing: Hey, that person committed a violent crime before, are they a threat against themselves or others?”

Harris said the nation has to come together, as well.

“We have to agree that if we are to be strong as a nation, we must stand strong, identifying our diversity as our unity,” she said.

It’s been a sad week of goodbyes for family and friends of the Buffalo shooting victims, a group that includes a restaurant worker who went to the market to buy his 3-year-old’s birthday cake; a father and die-hard Buffalo Bills fan who worked as a school bus aide; and a 32-year-old sister who moved to the city to help a brother battling leukemia.

Whitfield, a grandmother and mother of four, had been inside the supermarket after visiting her husband of 68 years in a nursing home when a gunman identified by police as 18-year-old Payton Gendron began the deadly onslaught.

Authorities said Gendron, who is white, targeted the store three hours from his home in Conklin because it is in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who delivered a fiery tribute to Whitfield at the beginning of the funeral service, called for all “accomplices” who aided and abetted “this monster” who opened fire in the supermarket to be held accountable, from the gun manufacturers and distributors to the parents of the suspect.

Crump said those those who “instructed and radicalized this young, insecure individual” should also be held to account for taking Whitfield from her family, the Buffalo community and the planet. He called her “one of the most angelic figures that we have ever known.”

“It is a sin that this young depraved man, not a boy, went and killed Ruth Whitfield and the ‘Buffalo 10,’” Crump said, referring to the victims.

Sharpton described being floored to learn the shooter live-streamed his assault on Twitch, noting how his mother had grown up in Alabama, where hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan once killed Black people.

Today, he said, white supremacists “are proud to practice racism.”

Sharpton made a pitch for gun control measures during his eulogy, saying all communities need to come together and “disarm the haters.”

“There is an epidemic of racial violence that is accommodated by gun laws that allow people to kill us,” he said. “You ain’t got to love us, but you shouldn’t have easy access to military weapons to kill us.”

In all, 13 people were shot in the attack which federal authorities are investigating as a hate crime. Three people survived.

Whitfield was the mother of former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield.

Gendron is charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail. His attorney has entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

__

Pool reports were contributed to this story. Haigh reported from Connecticut.

“I feel so bad for those families,” he said, “and guilty, to some degree, that they don’t have their children and I do.”

Stewart, senior trauma surgeon at University Hospital and the father of three adult children, was one of the doctors who treated the victims of Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman opened fire, killing 19 children and two teachers.

From the moment four patients arrived, it was “go time” inside the hospital, Stewart, who is also chair of the surgery department at UT Health San Antonio, told NBC News. 

Read the full story at NBCNews.com.

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“I refuse to accept that we are inherently more violent in the United States or in Texas, or that we have more instances of mental illness or anything like that.  The difference is we that don’t have common-sense policies in place to try and keep weapons of war out of the hands of folks that shouldn’t have it,” said Congressman Colin Allred, (D-Dallas).

Congressmen Allred said it’s a failure of policies that the suspect could get the gun. 

Allred favors raising the age to buy an assault-style weapon, strengthening background checks, and an assault weapons ban. But he believes the ban isn’t the place to start looking for consensus to get bills passed. He thinks Congress needs another starting point.

“That is where we have to spend the time together and we have to have some conversations, and we have to see is there anything that my Republican colleagues will join us in sufficient numbers that will help us end this scourge,” added Allred.

Congressman Roger Williams (R-Cleburne) believes this is a mental health issue, and changes in family units not spending as much time together. He does not believe there should be changes in gun policies, including strengthening background checks.

“We have background checks now and the problem is you take Chicago, you take Seattle, you take LA, all these places that have gun control and taking guns away from good people. Bad people always have the guns. They will always get the guns,” said Congressman Williams.

Williams is hoping a bill that he proposed after the Parkland shooting, $1.2 billion for school safety measures, can get to the floor. He believes that’s an area where there is bipartisan support.

“We need to have good debate.  The problem is this is emotional debate as you know, but we need to have good debate on what we can do to keep the guns out of the hands of the wrong people,” added Williams.

The common ground seems to be a willingness to look for common ground.

But getting to yes; is a different issue.

If you’re new to Texas and/or you aren’t sure who represents you, NBC 5 wanted to give you access to links to find your lawmakers and how to reach them so that you can tell them how you feel about the serious issues facing us today.

To find out who represents you in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Texas House and Texas Senate as well as the State Board of Education visit the Who Represents Me? website.

Definition of “Mass Shooting” Varies

“Some people are using one definition while others are using another,” Barbara McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told NBC LX in 2021. “So, having a common language is very important if people want to solve the problem.” 

At least 19 children and two teachers were killed Tuesday when a gunman opened fire in a Uvalde, Texas elementary school, the deadliest school shooting since 2012 when 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The massacre in Uvalde was the 27th school shooting this year in the United States, per Education Week, which has tracked school shootings since 2018. It came less than two weeks after 10 people were killed in a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y.

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Active shooter incidents continue to surge, increasing by more than 50 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, per FBI statistics released earlier this year. 

Of the 61 active shooter incidents in 2021, a dozen met NBC News’ definition of “mass killings,” which is defined as three or more killings in a single incident. 

NBC defines a mass shooting as a single incident where three or more people other than the shooter have been injured or killed in a public space. The Gun Violence Archive, which reports American gun violence incidents, defines a mass shooting as four or more people being shot, excluding the shooter. Under the definition used by the Gun Violence Archive, the shooting in Uvalde was the 212th mass shooting in the U.S. in 2022.   

Varying definitions, and whether domestic incidents and the acts of gang violence are included or omitted, can cause challenges in tracking the frequency of mass shootings.  

What Experts Are Saying

“There is no standard definition of what constitutes a mass shooting, and different data sources – such as media outlets, academic researchers, and law enforcement agencies – frequently use different definitions when discussing and analyzing mass shootings,” said the RAND Corporation, a research organization.

That can lead to data that doesn’t always match.

“One of the challenges I think when it comes to analyzing mass shootings is that we group together all shootings based on the number of victims,” McQuade said. “So, regardless of whether it is a person who opens fire in a shopping mall or school and kills a group or strangers or someone opens fire in their own home and kills three or four family members. Both of those are going to be considered mass shootings, but the motivations and the drivers of those two shootings might be very different. That’s one of the things that make it very challenging for researchers, I think, to analyze some of the data.”

This is a live update. Click here for complete coverage of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

On May 24, 2022, nineteen children and two teachers were killed in a school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas – the deadliest attack since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, a decade ago.

The attack follows many other high-profile mass shootings in recent years, including several in Texas, such as a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, one in a church in Sutherland Springs and another at Santa Fe High School.

Mass shootings show no signs of slowing down. After the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country in 2020, data shows both gun sales and gun violence surged.

Since 2018, the number of mass shootings had already been rising and has now reached over 2,000 incidents in just the last five years, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

It counts 42 mass shootings from May 1 through May 23, 2022, alone. That includes the racist attack on a Buffalo, New York, grocery store on May 14 in which 10 people were killed, most of them Black.

NBC defines a "mass shooting" as four or more killed, not including the shooter. The Gun Violence Archive definition is similar but includes those who have been shot and not killed. The FBI defines a "mass killing" as three or more people dead in a single incident.

More guns coupled with closed schools and child care centers also resulted in a rash of shootings involving children under 18, whether as victims or shooters.

More than 1,800 minors died, the Gun Violence Archive found, with the number of cases reaching a high level in 2020 and staying steady afterward.

A report from the research arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control advocacy group that works to prevent gun violence, found the number of unintentional shootings by children is also on the rise.

“Preventable Tragedies: Findings from the #NotAnAccident Index,” from Everytown Research & Policy, reported that gun sales surged 64% in 2020. The number of unintentional shooting deaths by children was 31% higher from March through December 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. This year there were at least 103 such shootings by children as of May 11, resulting in 45 deaths.

Most often children are also the victims. In 91% of the shootings, those killed or injured by children were themselves under 18, and in seven in 10 cases the shootings occurred in homes.

“In 2021 children were homebound like never before because of the pandemic," said Sarah Burd-Sharps, Everytown’s senior director of research. "Adults were often distracted by responsibilities at work and at home. And undeniably record gun sales contributed to a significant increase in these very tragic incidents.”

In the decade through 2019, there were an average of 13.5 million guns sold each year. In 2020, there were 22 million guns sold, and in 2021, nearly 19 million. One possible reason: the uncertainty so many people faced.

Many American children are living in homes with unsecured guns, with 4.6 million in a home with at least one loaded, unlocked gun.

Researchers say that one way to keep children safe is by making sure guns are locked, unloaded and separate from ammunition. Parents can ask about guns in homes their children visit and make sure they are stored securely. Gun shops can disseminate information about safe storage.

States with laws mandating secure storage of guns, 23 in all, had the lowest rates of deaths and injuries while those with no such laws had double to triple the rates. Some resistance comes from owners who have their guns for self-protection, a misguided idea, Burd-Sharps said.

The 10 states with the highest rates of shootings, according to Everytown, were Louisiana, Alaska, Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Indiana and Georgia. Those where shootings were rare or never happened were Hawaii, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, Wyoming, New York, Connecticut and Washington.

“The really hopeful news is that these tragedies are entirely preventable,” Burd-Sharps said.

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By nightfall, names of those killed during Tuesday’s attack at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde began to emerge. One man at the civic center walked away sobbing into his phone “she is gone.” On the backside of the building, a woman stood by herself, alternately crying and yelling into her phone, shaking her fist and stamping her feet.

Manny Renfro said he got word Tuesday that his grandson, Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed.

“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”

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Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break.

“We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”

Ryan Ramirez waited outside the Sgt. Willie Deleon Civic Center for hours looking for his daughter, Alithia, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary. After the buses of children from the school stopped arriving, Ramirez drove to a nearby funeral home where he heard some of the students may have been taken. Alithia wasn’t there either.

“Nobody’s telling me anything,” Ramirez told KTRK-TV. “I’m trying to find out where my baby’s at.”

Fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles was remembered as a loving mother and wife.

“She was adventurous. I would definitely say those wonderful things about her. She is definitely going to be very missed,” said 34-year-old relative Amber Ybarra, of San Antonio.

Mireles, who had been an educator for 17 years, tried to protect her students from the gunman, a relative told The New York Times.

“She is a hero,” Ybarra said Wednesday on NBC’s “TODAY” show.

Ybarra prepared to give blood for the wounded and pondered how no one noticed trouble with the shooter in time to stop him.

“To me, it’s more about raising mental health awareness,” said Ybarra, a wellness coach who attended the elementary school where the shooting happened. “Someone could possibly have seen a dramatic change before something like this happened.”

Cristian Garcia said his mother — Irma Garcia, another teacher at Robb Elementary school — was also confirmed dead in the shooting. Cristian told NBC News a friend in law enforcement who was at the scene saw Garcia shielding her students.

Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her cousin, Xavier James Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming.

“He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,” she said. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”

She also lamented what she described as lax gun laws.

“We should have more restrictions, especially if these kids are not in their right state of mind and all they want to do is just hurt people, especially innocent children going to the schools,” Garza said.

On social media, pictures of smiling children were posted, their families begging for information. Classes had been winding down for the year and each school day had a theme. Tuesday’s was Footloose and Fancy. Students were supposed to wear a nice outfit with fun or fancy shoes.

Adolfo Cruz, a 69-year-old air conditioning repairman, remained outside the school Tuesday night, waiting for word about his 10-year-old great-granddaughter, whose whereabouts remained unknown to the family.

Cruz drove to the scene after receiving a tearful and terrifying call from his daughter shortly after the first reports of an 18-year-old gunman had opened fire at the school. While he waited outside the school Tuesday night, his family was at the hospital and civic center waiting for any potential word on her condition.

Cruz called the waiting the heaviest moment of his life.

“I hope she is alive,” Cruz said. “They are waiting for an update.”

Federico Torres waited for news about his own 10-year-old son. He told KHOU-TV that he was at work when he learned about the shooting and rushed to the school.

“They sent us to the hospital, to the civic center, to the hospital and here again, nothing, not even in San Antonio,” Torres said. “They don’t tell us anything, only a photo, wait, hope that everything is well.”

Torres said he was praying that “my son is found safe … Please if you know anything, let us know.”

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez said overnight that officials at the reunification center have been taking DNA swabs from parents to confirm their relationship with those killed.

“They are taking DNA from parents and family members and trying to match them to those children that are deceased or the ones that are in the hospital,” Gutierrez told CNN. “Not all of the children have been reunited, It is a very, very devastating site right now when we have people that are finding out, as we speak, that their child is deceased.”

Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, which is located across the street from Robb Elementary School, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening that it would be assisting families of the shooting victims with no cost for funerals.

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Jamie Stengle contributed from Dallas.

Correction (May 27, 2022, 4:30 p.m ET): This story was corrected to reflect the correct middle name of one of the victims. Xavier Lopez’s middle name is James, not Javier.

“I’m here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues,” Murphy said. “Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.”

In an emotional appeal to fellow politicians, Murphy stressed the need to take action to prevent further tragedies from happening. When Murphy made the comments, the death toll stood at 14 children dead.

“It will not solve the problem of American violence by itself, but by doing something, we at least stop sending this quiet message of endorsement to these killers whose brains are breaking, who see the highest levels of government doing nothing shooting after shooting,” Murphy said.

Murphy said the issue isn’t simply mental illness and that the U.S. doesn’t have any more mental illness than any other country in the world.

“You cannot explain this through a prism of mental illness because we don’t – we’re not an outlier on mental illness. We’re an outlier when it comes to access to firearms and the ability of criminals and very sick people to get their hands on firearms. That’s what makes America different,” Murphy said.

Murphy asked senators why they were in a position of authority if not “to solve a problem as existential as this.”

“This only happens in this country and nowhere else, nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day. Nowhere else do parents have to talk to their kids as I have had to do about why they got locked into a bathroom and told to be quiet for five minutes just in case a bad man entered that building. Nowhere else does that happen except here in the United States of America. And it is a choice. It is our choice to let it continue,” Murphy said.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting Tuesday. Second, third and fourth graders were among those killed and injured when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School.

“… Just days after a shooter walked into a grocery store to gun down African American patrons, we have another Sandy Hook on our hands. What are we doing?” Murphy questioned.

Sandy Hook Promise released a statement about the shooting.

“We are devastated about reports that multiple people are dead, including children,” the organization posted on Facebook Tuesday afternoon. “Our hearts are with the families and community as this tragic story unfolds.”

Sandy Hook Promise was created in the wake of the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Twenty first-graders and six educators were killed in Sandy Hook Elementary.

The nonprofit was founded and led by several family members of those who were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in Uvalde, Texas, according to Gov Greg Abbott. The gunman also died.

Everytown for Gun Safety started following school shootings in 2013 “to gain a better understanding of how often children and teens are affected by gun violence at their schools and colleges, and in response to a lack of research and data on the issue,” according to a statement on its website.

The effort was initiated in the year following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. In December 2012, 20 children and six adults were killed at the school.

The shooting in Parkland, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 were killed, was the second deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook.

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The retired Buffalo police officer fired multiple times at the attacker, striking his armor-plated vest at least once. The bullet didn’t pierce, and Salter, 55, was shot and killed.

“He’s a true hero,” Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Sunday. “There could have been more victims if not for his actions.”

Salter was one of 10 killed in an attack whose victims represented a cross-section of life in the predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. They were gunned down by a white man who authorities say showed up at the store with the “express purpose” of killing Black people. Three others were wounded.

All but one of the people killed was over age 50, according to police.

The dead included Andre Mackneil, 53, of Auburn, New York, who was in town visiting relatives and was picking up a surprise birthday cake for his grandson.

“He never came out with the cake,” Clarissa Alston-McCutcheon said of her cousin. She said this sort of surprise was typical for him. He was “just a loving and caring guy. Loved family. Was always there for his family.”

Another victim, Heyward Patterson, 67, was a deacon at a nearby church. He’d gone by the church’s soup kitchen before heading to the supermarket, where he offered an informal taxi service driving people home with their bags.

“From what I understand, he was assisting somebody putting their groceries in their car when he was shot and killed,” said Pastor Russell Bell of State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ.

Bell said Patterson would clean the church and do anything else that was needed.

“He would meet my wife and I at the door and escort us to the office. We never required him or asked him to do it. He just did it out of love,” Bell said.

Services went on as usual Sunday but it was difficult.

“It was quite a struggle, we had to get through it and our hearts are broken,” he said. “Deacon Patterson was a man who loved people. He loved the community just as much as he loved the church,” he said.

Ruth Whitfield was the 86-year-old mother of retired Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield. She had just visited her husband at a nursing home, as she did every day, when she was killed buying a few groceries, her son told The Buffalo News.

Ruth Whitfield was “a mother to the motherless” and “a blessing to all of us,” her son said. He attributed her strength and commitment to family to a strong religious faith.

“She inspired me to be a man of God, and to do whatever I do the best I could do. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her,” Garnell Whitfield said.

Roberta Drury had recently returned home to live with her mother, Dezzelynn McDuffie, who told The Buffalo News that the 32-year-old — the youngest of the people slain — had walked to Tops to pick up some groceries Saturday afternoon. Soon, McDuffie saw horrifying videos circulating on social media that appeared to show the gunman shooting her daughter just outside the store.

Also killed was shopper Katherine Massey, 72, whose sister, Barbara Massey, called her “a beautiful soul.”

Zaire Goodman, 20, was among the wounded, having been shot in the neck, state Sen. Tim Kennedy told a church service on Sunday. Goodman is the son of a staffer for Kennedy.

“I’m devastated. I’m angry,” Kennedy said, adding that Goodman was recovering. “And I’m thinking about the families who won’t welcome a loved one home tonight.”

The attack left frequent shoppers at the supermarket grieving for lost friends and neighbors.

Yvette Mack remembered Salter, the security guard, as someone who cared about the community, looked after the store and “let us know if we was right or wrong.”

Mack would walk to the store to play lottery numbers and shop. She said she spoke to Salter shortly before the shooting.

“I was playing my numbers. He said ‘I see you’re playing your numbers!’ I laughed. And he was playing his numbers too. Can you imagine seeing someone, and you don’t know he’s not going to go home?” she said.

Smiley Martin, 27, who is the brother of the first suspect taken into custody, was arrested while hospitalized with bullet wounds from the shooting in California’s capital.

Martin was released from prison on probation in February after serving his term for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, prosecutors said.

Martin may have been released sooner, but a Parole Board rejected his bid for early release in May after prosecutors said the 2017 felony assault along with convictions for possessing an assault weapon and thefts posed “a significant, unreasonable risk of safety to the community.”

“Martin’s criminal conduct is violent and lengthy,” a Sacramento prosecutor wrote in a letter obtained by AP. “Martin has committed several felony violations and clearly has little regard for human life and the law.”

Authorities are trying to determine whether the weapon seen in the video was used in the shooting, said the official, who was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to publicly discuss details and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

Investigators believe the brothers possessed stolen guns. They are reviewing financial documents, call records and social media messages to determine how and when they procured weapons, the official said. Authorities have searched several locations in connection with the shooting and the firearms investigation.

More than 100 shots were fired in rapid-fire succession early Sunday near the state Capitol, creating a chaotic scene with hundreds of panicked people trying desperately to reach safety. Twelve people were wounded by gunfire, including the Martin brothers.

Dandrae Martin, 26, was arrested Monday as a “related suspect” on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and being a convict carrying a loaded gun. He was not seriously wounded and made a brief appearance Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court wearing orange jail scrubs.

Smiley Martin will be booked for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun when his condition improves enough for him to be jailed, a police statement said.

Police were trying to determine if a stolen handgun found at the crime scene that had been converted to a weapon capable of automatic gunfire was used in the massacre.

Smiley Martin was taken to the hospital from the crime scene, police said.

“Martin was quickly identified as a person of interest and has remained under the supervision of an officer at the hospital while his treatment continues,” the statement said.

Detectives and SWAT team members also found a handgun during searches of three area homes.

The shooting happened at about 2 a.m. Sunday as bars were closing and patrons filled the streets. The three women and three men killed included a father of four, a young woman who wanted to be a social worker, a man described as the life of the party, and a homeless woman.

The Sacramento County coroner identified the women killed as Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; and Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21. The three men were Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and De’vazia Turner, 29.

Police were investigating whether the shooting was connected with a street fight that broke out just before gunfire erupted. Several people could be seen fighting in videos on a street lined with an upscale hotel, nightclubs and bars when gunshots sent people scattering.

Officers were reviewing more than 100 videos and photos sent by witnesses for possible use as evidence, police said.

A 31-year-old man who was seen carrying a handgun immediately after the shooting was arrested Tuesday on a weapons charge, though police said his gun was not believed to be used in the crime.

District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert noted Monday that Dandrae Martin was not arrested on suspicion of homicide but said more arrests were expected.

Dandrae Martin, who was held without bail, was freed from an Arizona prison in 2020 after serving just over 1 1/2 years for violating probation in separate cases involving a felony conviction for aggravated assault in 2016 and a conviction on a marijuana charge in 2018. Court records show he pleaded guilty to punching, kicking and choking a woman in a hotel room when she refused to work for him as a prostitute.

Defense lawyer Linda Parisi said she doesn’t know enough about the case yet and whether she will seek Dandrae Martin’s release will depend on whether prosecutors bring stiffer charges.

“If it turns out that the evidence demonstrates that this was mere presence at a scene that certainly argues more for a release,” Parisi said. “If it shows some more aggressive conduct then it would argue against it. But we don’t know that yet.”

It wasn’t clear if Smiley Martin had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Four of those wounded suffered critical injuries, the Sacramento Fire Department has said. At least seven of the victims had been released from hospitals by Monday.

At the scene where the chaos erupted, memorials with candles and flowers grew on the same sidewalks where people had run in terror as others lay on the ground writhing in pain.

Politicians decried the shooting, and some Democrats, including President Joe Biden, called for tougher action against gun violence.

California has some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on firearms, requiring background checks to buy guns and ammunition, limiting magazines to 10 bullets, and banning firearms that fall into its definition of assault weapons.

But state lawmakers plan to go further. A bill received its first hearing Tuesday would allow citizens to sue those who possess illegal weapons, a measure patterned after a controversial Texas bill aimed at abortions.

Other proposed California legislation this year would make it easier for people to sue gun companies and target unregistered “ghost guns,” firearms made from build-it-yourself kits.

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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio, Brian Melley and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Don Thompson in Sacramento, Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and News Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York City contributed to this story.

Police said they booked Dandrae Martin, 26, as a “related suspect” on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and being a convict carrying a loaded gun. Detectives and SWAT team members found one handgun during searches of three area homes.

The arrest came as the three women and three men killed were identified in the shooting that occurred at about 2 a.m. Sunday as bars were closing and patrons filled the streets near the state Capitol.

The fallen included a father of four, a young woman who wanted to be a social worker, a man described as the life of the party, and a woman who lived on the streets nearby and was looking for housing.

The Sacramento County coroner identified the women killed as Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; and Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21. The three men were Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and De’vazia Turner, 29.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg read their names during a vigil Monday evening attended by grieving relatives, friends and community members.

“So we gather here to remember the victims and to commit ourselves to doing all we can to ending the stain of violence, not only in our community but throughout the state, throughout the country, and throughout the world,” Steinberg said.

Turner, who had three daughters and a son, was a “protector” who worked as the night manager at an inventory company, his mother, Penelope Scott, told The Associated Press. He rarely went out, and she had no reason to believe he would be in harm’s way when he left her house after he visited Saturday night.

“My son was walking down the street and somebody started shooting, and he got shot. Why is that to happen?” Scott said. “I feel like I’ve got a hole in my heart.”

The burst of gunshots sent people running in terror in the neighborhood just a few blocks from the arena where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings play.

Detectives were trying to determine if a stolen handgun found at the crime scene was connected to the shooting, Police Chief Kathy Lester said. Witnesses answered her plea for help by providing more than 100 videos and photos of evidence.

District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert noted Martin was not arrested on suspicion of homicide, but suggested investigators were making progress.

“The investigation is highly complex involving many witnesses, videos of numerous types and significant physical evidence,” Schubert said in a statement. “This is an ongoing investigation and we anticipate more arrests in this case.”

Martin was held without bail and was scheduled to appear in Sacramento County Superior Court on Tuesday, according to jail records.

Martin was freed from an Arizona prison in 2020 after serving just over 1 1/2 years for violating probation in separate cases involving a felony conviction for aggravated assault in 2016 and a conviction on a marijuana charge in 2018.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to punching, kicking and choking a woman in a hotel room when she refused to work for him as a prostitute.

He was also wanted on a misdemeanor warrant by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California.

It was not immediately clear whether Martin had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Of the 12 wounded, at least four suffered critical injuries, the Sacramento Fire Department said. At least seven of the victims had been released from hospitals by Monday.

At the scene where the chaos erupted, streets were reopened Monday and police tape had been removed.

Memorials with candles and flowers began to grow on sidewalks where video showed people screaming and running for shelter as gunshots rang out and others laying on the ground writhing in pain. One balloon had a message on it saying in part: “You will forever be in our hearts and thoughts. Nothing will ever be the same.”

A small bouquet of purple roses was dedicated to Davis, who lived on the streets for years, with a note saying “Melinda Rest In Peace.”

Harris was regular at the London nightclub, near the shooting scene.

“My son was a very vivacious young man,” his mother, Pamela Harris, told KCRA-TV. “Fun to be around, liked to party, smiling all the time. Don’t bother people. For this to happen is crazy. … I don’t even feel like this is real. I feel like this is a dream.”

Alexander was a doting aunt who wanted to work with children as a social worker.

“She was just beginning her life,” her father, John Alexander, told the Los Angeles Times, sobbing. “Stop all this senseless shooting.”

Politicians decried the violence, and some Democrats, including President Joe Biden, called for tougher action against gun violence.

California has some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on firearms, requiring background checks to buy guns and ammunition, limiting magazines to 10 bullets, and banning firearms that fall into its definition of assault weapons.

But state lawmakers plan to go further. A bill getting its first hearing Tuesday would allow citizens to sue those who possess illegal weapons, a measure patterned after a controversial Texas bill aimed at abortions.

Other proposed California legislation this year would make it easier for people to sue gun companies and target unregistered “ghost guns.”

The California Assembly held a moment of silence Monday in honor of the victims.

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, a Democrat who represents Sacramento, noted lawmakers could see the crime scene from the building’s balcony.

“Tragic is too small of a word to describe what occurred just two nights ago as a devastating loss for our city,” McCarty said.

Police were investigating whether the shooting was connected with a street fight that broke out just before gunfire erupted. Several people could be seen in videos scrapping on a street lined with an upscale hotel, nightclubs and bars when gunshots sent people scattering.

Scott, a hospice social worker who deals with death for a living, said she was not prepared for this kind of grief.

“I know the process of bereavement but, you know, this is my kid,” she said. “It’s tragic and sudden. I’d just seen him, just had him in my house. He’s got children. He’s got a wife.”

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This story has corrected the spelling of the suspect’s first name to Dandrae, not Dandre,

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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio, Brian Melley and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Don Thompson in Sacramento, Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and News Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York City contributed to this story.