More details have emerged about those who were killed on Tuesday when a gunman attacked Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas
As the United States lamented the nation’s latest mass school shooting, in which a gunman killed 19 children and two adults after storming into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, more details emerged of those who died.
A law enforcement official said all victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom.
Continue reading...Trump’s presidency saw three new rightwing judges, each backed by the powerful gun lobby movement
As the world looks on in horror following mass killings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, the US supreme court is set to issue its first major ruling on gun rights in over a decade.
And with a conservative super majority now installed on the bench, most onlookers expect a substantial broadening of second amendment rights in the country despite the widespread revulsion at the latest shootings in a supermarket and a school.
Continue reading...Joe Biden welcomes ‘good news’ as Bubs Australia increases production and reassures local customers
An Australian company is planning to ship at least 1.25m cans of its baby formula to the US to help ease a nationwide shortage.
The US Food and Drug Administration said some of it was now in stock for transport and more would be produced by Bubs Australia in the coming weeks and months.
Continue reading...Kamala Harris calls for ban on assault weapons after attending last funeral of those killed in Buffalo attack
Joe Biden lamented “too much violence, too much fear, too much grief” after the latest US mass shooting as he prepared to visit Uvalde, where police face intensifying scrutiny for waiting outside the classroom where a teenage gunman with an assault rifle killed 19 children and two teachers.
The US president and first lady, Jill Biden, arrived in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday morning, both dressed in black. They visited the informal memorial of flowers and notes that has accumulated outside Robb elementary school, where the carnage took place last Tuesday.
Continue reading...Teenager displayed worrying behavior in the months before the Uvalde attack, schoolmates tell news outlets
Warning signs were reportedly mounting in the months before the 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde, Texas, opened fire on a classroom of young children and their teachers four days ago in what would become America’s deadliest school shooting in a decade.
The teenager had used the social media app Yubo to threaten school shootings and rape, as well as to show off a rifle he had bought, CNN reported on Saturday.
Continue reading...Local law enforcement under scrutiny over delay in entering Uvalde classroom
New details on the apparent failure of local law enforcement to respond swiftly to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are increasingly raising questions about police procedures introduced after the 1999 Columbine shooting in Colorado and how they were followed, or not.
After three days of contradictory accounts of the police response tothe attack that left 19 children and two teachers dead in the small south Texas city, it emerged that the decision by police to wait outside the classroom where the 18-year-old gunman was barricaded appears to contravene federal and state guidelines, developed over two decades, that prioritize police disabling the gunman.
Continue reading...Vice-president demands action after speaking at funeral for Ruth Whitfield, oldest person killed in Buffalo shooting
Kamala Harris called for a ban on assault weapons in the US and the passage of much-delayed gun control legislation after speaking on Saturday at a funeral for the oldest victim of the Buffalo mass shooting earlier this month.
After giving remarks at the service for Ruth Whitfield, the oldest person killed during the grocery store shooting two weeks ago, Harris called upon lawmakers to pass an assault weapons ban, while speaking with reporters.
Continue reading...Al Sharpton calls on ‘all good people’ to stand up for justice at last funeral for victims of racist attack
The last funeral for victims of a gunman’s racist attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, two weeks ago took place on Saturday afternoon, as the oldest person to die in the mass shooting was laid to rest.
Ruth Whitfield, 86, was shot and killed along with nine other people, all of them Black, when a white supremacist and self-declared “eco-fascist” extremist allegedly traveled far from his home to wreak violence and tragedy.
Continue reading...Timeline suggests about 78 minutes passed from when the gunman entered school to when officers breached the classroom
Joe Biden lamented “too much violence, too much fear, too much grief” in the latest US mass shooting as he prepared to visit Uvalde, where authorities said police had made “the wrong decision” not to storm a classroom where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers.
The US president and first lady, Jill Biden, will travel to the small southern Texas city on Sunday, five days after it was plunged into horror when an 18-year-old with a military-style rifle attacked an elementary school.
Continue reading...Speaking at the gun lobby’s convention, the former US president repeated his call to arm teachers
Donald Trump has said the recent US school shooting is a reason to arm law-abiding citizens not disarm them.
The former US president was a guest speaker at the National Rifle Association, which held its annual convention in Houston on Friday.
Continue reading...Schoolchildren, teachers and family members offer graphic details of day gunman killed 19 children and two adults
Survivors of the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers are beginning to share their stories, painting a graphic and horrifying picture of the tragedy that unfolded that day.
Miah Cerrillo, 11, told a CNN producer her fourth-grade class was watching Disney’s Lilo & Stitch when the gunman entered the classroom and made eye contact with her teacher and shot her dead, as well as some of her other classmates.
Continue reading...Video shows incident in which driver says he had to kick his way out because the doors and windows wouldn’t open
Canadian authorities are investigating an incident in which a Tesla caught fire in Vancouver, reportedly forcing the driver to smash his way out of the vehicle.
Transport Canada, the Canadian auto safety agency, said in a statement on Friday that it had learned of the incident in Vancouver on 23 May and that it had “notified Tesla … and is currently making arrangements for a joint inspection of the vehicle in an effort to determine the cause of the fire”.
Continue reading...At least two girls hiding in their classrooms at Robb elementary school in Texas dialled 911 during the shooting, law enforcement officials have said
The first call came from a little girl who called multiple times on Tuesday. At 12.03pm, she identified herself and told authorities what room the shooter was in, said Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Here is a 911 emergency call timeline McCraw outlined at a news conference:
Continue reading...Texas governor backs out of in-person appearance as protesters descend on gun-rights group’s event
The National Rifle Association held its annual convention in Houston on Friday, three days after 19 children and two adults were shot dead at a school in Uvalde, as protesters gathered outside and high-profile speakers, including the governor of Texas, withdrew their attendance.
The event took place under a cloud of controversy and put in stark relief America’s deep divisions on gun control. As demonstrations swelled in Houston, attendees inside the convention – including Donald Trump – continued to deny that guns were the problem and put the emphasis on school safety and mental health.
Continue reading...Closing arguments ask jurors to consider what their verdict in defamation case will mean for domestic abuse victims
The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial headed toward its conclusion on Friday as the dueling parties offered closing arguments after a seven-week trial that has gripped public attention and become something of a litmus test for the state of gender relations.
Seven of 11 impaneled jurors selected for the trial when it started in April spent a couple of hours beginning to deliberate a verdict after the conclusion of those closing arguments, but they won’t return a verdict for a few days at least. They were sent home Friday afternoon until Tuesday in advance of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday.
Continue reading...McCraw, using a map of the school as a prop, says the back door at Robb elementary school was left propped open by a teacher.
Salvador Ramos, the shooter, crashed his car outside the school and began firing at two men outside, who were not hurt.
We’re here to report facts as we know them now, and not to defend what was done, or criticize what was done, or the action taken.
Continue reading...Georgia-based Daniel Defense posted an ad on 16 May showing a toddler holding a rifle
The maker of the rifle used in the Texas elementary school shooting is facing fresh outrage over an advertisement featuring a young child posted days before the killings.
Georgia-based Daniel Defense, which manufacturers the gun used in the Uvalde mass shooting where 21 people died, posted an ad on Twitter on 16 May showing a toddler holding a rifle, with the caption: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Continue reading...Massachusetts lawmakers formally exonerate Elizabeth Johnson Jr, who was sentenced to death in 1693
It took more than three centuries, but the last Salem “witch” has been officially pardoned.
Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr, clearing her name 329 years after she was wrongly convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem witch trials.
Continue reading...Study finds pacific rattlesnakes, which can’t control their own temperature, prefer places where the climate averages 80F
Many species are suffering at the hands of a warmer world, but one California inhabitant seems to be enjoying hotter temperatures: the pacific rattlesnake. Their populations across the south-west are thriving, according to a study by researchers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the University of Michigan.
The study found that when given the choice, rattlesnakes – which cannot control their own temperature and rely on the environment for warmth – actually prefer to live in places where the climate averages more than 80F, suggesting they’re likely to do well as the planet gets hotter.
Continue reading...Terrier’s family contacted Guinness World Records after learning younger dog had received honor
The world’s oldest dog has been crowned – stealing the throne from another dog who was only recently making headlines.
Pebbles, a toy fox terrier, was awarded the Guinness World Record this month. Born on 28 March 2000, Pebbles is 22 years old – making him older than TobyKeith, the 21-year-old chihuahua from Florida who was only recently named the champion.
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