- sabrina tavernise
From The New York Times, I’m Sabrina Tavernise. This is The Daily.
In the small and close-knit community of Uvalde, Texas, the killing of 21 people at an elementary school has left few lives untouched. Over the past few days, my colleagues Rick Rojas, Natalie Kitroeff, Eduardo Medina and I set out to tell some of those stories.
- [music]
It’s Wednesday, June 1.
- gemma lopez
Hi.
- rick rojas
Hi. All right, cool. Would you mind just spelling your name for me to make sure I have that right?
- gemma lopez
G-E-M-M-A.
- rick rojas
And your last name?
- gemma lopez
Lopez, L-O-P-E-Z.
- rick rojas
And how old are you?
- gemma lopez
10 years old.
- rick rojas
And just to be sure, you’re her grandmother?
- fernanda moreno
Yes, I’m her grandmother.
- rick rojas
All right.
- fernanda moreno
I have custody of her.
- rick rojas
OK, OK — great, great. So I guess, first off, tell me about today. What have you been doing today?
- gemma lopez
Today, I didn’t just wake up. I woke up at 7 because she just got here at 7. And then we did a lot of stuff. We were playing around. We were playing hide and seek for a little bit. We went to our grandpa’s. And then we were playing around with Alexis, my little cousin.
- rick rojas
OK. And so what grade are you in?
- gemma lopez
I’m in fourth grade.
- rick rojas
OK, so you’ve just been playing and just trying to take it easy today?
- gemma lopez
Yeah, and then we got chicken. We ate it here. And then we were just playing around.
- fernanda moreno
Yeah.
- rick rojas
Nice. And so you were just talking about your classroom being close to there. I mean, would you mind? I know it’s difficult. But what do you remember from that — from that day? What kind of —
- gemma lopez
All I remember was just in the morning, we were just eating breakfast. Then we put on a movie. The movie was I think “The Jungle Cruise.”
- rick rojas
OK.
- gemma lopez
Like, in the middle of it, we went to P.E. Then we played a little bit more of the movie. And then we went to the awards ceremony. And then when I came back, we finished the movie. And then we did, like, a little bit other work. And then we were just playing — we were just messing around, playing around, doing whatever we do. And then all of a sudden, like, unexpectedly, I heard gunshots.
But I thought they were, like, firecrackers, ‘cause kids on their free time, they could mess around and everything. After I heard that, I wasn’t thinking of it as much. And then I just checked the window. Then I saw police officers holding the gun.
And then I heard a gunshot again. And they shot the top of the wall. Then I went in between Jalisa (sp) and Stacy (sp) and went, like, close to my arm.
But I missed my arm. And then, like, I knew something was, like, so wrong. So everybody went under the — first they turned off the lights. And everybody went under the table. They were scared and everything. But I told them to be quiet. Then I heard a lot more of gunshots. Oh, I was crying a little bit. And my best friend Sophia (sp) was also crying right next to me.
- rick rojas
I mean, how do you see her doing? I mean, how — I guess, you see your granddaughter go through something like this. I mean, how do you help her cope?
- fernanda moreno
Well, what she was telling me that she went under the table. And I said, well, that’s good, mama. That’s good. She didn’t run or scream. She just went under the table. I mean, she cried a little bit. But I mean, she didn’t panic that much.
- rick rojas
Yeah, yeah.
- fernanda moreno
Mm-hmm. And it’s good that she turned off the light, you know.
- rick rojas
Oh, so you turned off the light in classroom?
- fernanda moreno
Yes, she turned off the light.
- gemma lopez
Yes.
- rick rojas
Wow. And what made you think to do that?
- gemma lopez
Because we always have all these drills about the lockdowns. And they always say to turn off the lights instantly and go hide. So I instantly just remembered that. So I instantly did it.
- rick rojas
OK, so have there been just like, they told you to do this, or did you actually practice this before?
- gemma lopez
We practiced a lot of lockdown since, like, pre-K or kindergarten.
- rick rojas
Wow.
- [music]
- natalie kitroeff
Your name is Jacob, yeah?
- jacob albarado
Yes.
- natalie kitroeff
A-L-B-A-R-A-D-O. That’s your last name, right?
- jacob albarado
Yes, correct.
- natalie kitroeff
And are you in the Border Patrol?
- jacob albarado
Yes.
- natalie kitroeff
And so were you on duty at the time, or were you —
- jacob albarado
No, I was off duty. I was in my slacks and dress shoes because I had just — I had just left because I was at an awards ceremony.
- natalie kitroeff
You were at an award ceremony for your daughter?
- jacob albarado
Yeah, that’s correct. That goes there at Robb. She’s in second grade at Robb.
- natalie kitroeff
OK.
- jacob albarado
And my wife teaches fourth grade at Robb.
- natalie kitroeff
How did you hear that this was going on?
- jacob albarado
As I was walking into the barbershop, they go, did you hear that? And I said, no. I said, what, what are you talking about? He said, man, I think I heard gunshots. And I said, nah, I didn’t hear anything.
I sit down and get my haircut.
And nothing — we didn’t get started at all. He received a text from his wife that Robb had a shooter. And then I received a text from my wife saying that there is an active shooter. So we just took off, hauling butt to the school as fast as we could.
- natalie kitroeff
You and the barber?
- jacob albarado
Yes.
- natalie kitroeff
Did the barber have a kid in the school too?
- jacob albarado
Yes.
- natalie kitroeff
Oh my gosh.
- jacob albarado
Thankfully, my barber had a shotgun. And I grabbed his shotgun. And I took off running towards the school.
- natalie kitroeff
You’re kidding me.
- jacob albarado
No.
- natalie kitroeff
And he had that in his car or something? Like, did you run?
- jacob albarado
Yeah, he had it in his truck.
- natalie kitroeff
Do you remember what time this was around?
- jacob albarado
I checked my messages — I checked my messages, it was like 11:45, 11:47.
- natalie kitroeff
So what were you thinking when you went in? I mean, when you went in there, were just like, I’m going to save these kids? I mean, what was on your mind? What was going through your head?
- jacob albarado
Oh, seriously — seriously, I need to get my wife out. I need to get my daughter out. But of course, I’m getting everyone else out as well. My wife got out. I was in contact with her. But I was still looking for my daughter. So from that point on, I just said, where’s my daughter? Where is Jada? I ran towards the opposite wing to go get my daughter.
My daughter was past the playground. So I went after her. I mean, I knew where she was at — my wife kept on telling me that she was in the restroom because she was — my wife was in contact with my daughter’s teacher. I was looking for a restroom. I couldn’t find the restroom. But apparently, there’s restrooms inside the classrooms.
- natalie kitroeff
But were you personally looking or were the agents looking?
- jacob albarado
No, like I said, I ran over there. And I was looking for the restroom. I couldn’t find the restroom. And then I told him, I said, we need to get these kids out of here. I take charge of every situation. I’ve had 13 years in law enforcement.
- natalie kitroeff
OK.
- jacob albarado
I don’t know how many years these other guys have. But I take control of every situation.
- natalie kitroeff
OK, so you were leading this team basically.
- jacob albarado
This makeshift team that I made, yes.
- natalie kitroeff
And how did you make — you got to the scene and, what? Did you just see your colleagues and say, like, we’re doing this, or how did you get the team together that fast?
- jacob albarado
Yeah, I ran. I ran across. And I said, what’s going on? The kids are all in the room right now. I said, man — I said, get these kids out of here. I said, these kids — this is our opportunity. This is our time to get the kids out. So I started clearing the rooms.
- natalie kitroeff
And you had just a bunch of your — a bunch of officers were out there. And so you were able to just get together a team right there?
- jacob albarado
Yeah, it’s a small town. Half these guys know me. Half these guys don’t. They realized I was taking charge. And they just listened. I was on the sidewalk. I sent two officers to open up the rooms and send them my way.
And then I had another two officers pointing their guns towards where the active shooter was at. And then I had another two officers set up on the sidewalk so the kids can know where to go.
I cleared out her whole wing of classes, which is like five or six classes. And then I finally see my daughter. And then I start clearing out the other wing. And then I see my daughter’s best friend. I clear out all their — clearing them all out, sending them towards the parking lot so they can get off campus.
So who knows if the shooter is going to be moving around? Who knows? But at that point in time, the shooter wasn’t there so I was getting everybody, anyone I could, off of campus.
- natalie kitroeff
How many kids do you think you cleared out?
- jacob albarado
Five, six classes on one wing, which is about 20 something kids a class, and then another wing, which is another five or six classes — another 20-something kids a class.
- natalie kitroeff
Wow.
- jacob albarado
So easily, I’d say, 200 kids.
- natalie kitroeff
Wow. Did you see your daughter come out? Were you able to give her a hug?
- jacob albarado
No, I saw her. I saw her. I spotted her. And it was a big relief that she was fine, yes. I think I might have given her a hug and just kept on moving the kids along.
I did what I was trained to do.
- natalie kitroeff
Hi.
- ricardo garcia
Hello.
- natalie kitroeff
I don’t know if I’m in the right place. I was looking for Rubin.
- ricardo garcia
Rubin, no, he’s not there right now. He’s next door.
- natalie kitroeff
He’s next door?
- ricardo garcia
Yeah, yes, ma’am. He’s next door.
- natalie kitroeff
Yeah.
- ricardo garcia
But he’s not there right now.
- natalie kitroeff
OK.
- ricardo garcia
And with everything that happened to him, it’s just so crazy, so unbelievable. I work at the hospital, so.
- natalie kitroeff
You do?
- ricardo garcia
Yes, I work at the hospital.
Oh my god, I just can’t get it out of my mind. I can’t sleep. Ever since that, I couldn’t sleep. I just can’t sleep. I just, I hear the screaming and everything. I just — everything is just crazy.
- natalie kitroeff
Oh my gosh.
- ricardo garcia
I never thought it was going to happen here. But it did. But it did, so. What’s your name again?
- natalie kitroeff
Natalie.
- ricardo garcia
Natalie.
- natalie kitroeff
Yeah, what’s your name?
- ricardo garcia
My name is Ricky.
- natalie kitroeff
Ricky?
- ricardo garcia
Yes, ma’am.
- natalie kitroeff
Nice to meet you.
- ricardo garcia
Nice to meet you.
- natalie kitroeff
What do you do at the hospital, if you don’t mind my —
- ricardo garcia
I’m a groundskeeper.
- natalie kitroeff
This is at —
- ricardo garcia
I had my grandson — my two grandsons were going to school there. And I have a niece that was going. But they are OK. But they’re just shaken up. I guess they saw what they saw. And it’s just crazy.
- natalie kitroeff
[INAUDIBLE]
- ricardo garcia
But yeah [INAUDIBLE], sometimes I just can’t sleep. I can hear the screaming, the yelling, and what I saw in the kids when they’re bringing them in. I could see the kids when the door would open to the emergency room. You can see the kids when they’re coming in. And it’s just unbelievable.
- natalie kitroeff
When you were hearing the screaming, who was screaming?
- ricardo garcia
The parents when they were getting to know the bad news. They [INAUDIBLE], no [EXPLETIVE] no!
Hitting the walls, I can hear that. I can hear that — the fear, the sadness, everything — the anger they were feeling. My body — I mean, I have goosebumps. I had goosebumps. Man, I’m lucky. Thank you god, but you know, what about the other kids?
- natalie kitroeff
I mean, how many parents did you see like?
- ricardo garcia
Oh man, the whole hospital was full. Whole hospital full — the whole hospital was full. Everybody is going and sitting down, just shocked. And I mean, there’s something that — it’s just something I just can’t get out of my mind. And the nights — sometimes I can’t sleep.
I can hear the echoes of the screaming and the pain they were in, stuff like that. And I think I’m going to go to counseling here tomorrow at the [INAUDIBLE] because I just — this was [INAUDIBLE]. Ever since I saw that, I mean, I thought I would never see something like that. You see it in the movies and hear it [INAUDIBLE].
- natalie kitroeff
When you can’t sleep at night, are you hearing a specific thing that they’re saying?
- ricardo garcia
Yeah, just yelling, no, no! That’s the only thing I can. That’s the only thing I can hear, the parents. No, no! [EXPLETIVE] no, boom, boom! [EXPLETIVE] no, boom, boom! No, no — it’s just, man.
- natalie kitroeff
You’re going to go do some counseling right?
- ricardo garcia
Yes, yes, I got to, miss. It’s just — shaking my hands. I mean, I just feel — I don’t know. I feel weird. I wish I could have done something but I can’t. I just — so unreal.
- natalie kitroeff
Yeah.
Do you think anything is going to change because of all this?
- ricardo garcia
I’m hoping so, Natalie. I’m hoping so. Something’s got to change. I mean, come on. There’s just too much of it.
- natalie kitroeff
I’m so sorry for what you had to go through.
- ricardo garcia
It’s OK. Thank you.
- natalie kitroeff
I’m going to send you a note, OK? I’m going to send you a text.
- ricardo garcia
Yes.
- natalie kitroeff
I’m going to also [INAUDIBLE].
- ricardo garcia
Thank you [INAUDIBLE].
- natalie kitroeff
All right, Ricardo, right?
- sabrina tavernise
We’ll be right back.
- dr. ronald stewart
So I’m Dr. Ronald Stewart. I’m a trauma surgeon at University Hospital in San Antonio. And I’ve been here for, I guess, more or less 40 years.
- sabrina tavernise
Oh, wow.
- dr. ronald stewart
And I’ve been faculty since 1993.
- sabrina tavernise
So you’ve seen a lot of trauma surgery over the years.
- dr. ronald stewart
I have. I’ve treated lots of patients with firearm injuries and gunshot wounds over the years. And then we had the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church mass shooting.
- sabrina tavernise
That was the shooting in 2017, if I’m not mistaken, right?
- dr. ronald stewart
Yes.
- sabrina tavernise
Where 26 people were killed.
- dr. ronald stewart
Yeah.
- sabrina tavernise
On that note, Dr. Stewart, I wanted to turn to Tuesday and the shooting in Uvalde.
- dr. ronald stewart
Yes.
- sabrina tavernise
So bring me back to the beginning of that day. How did it begin for you? What was the morning like?
- dr. ronald stewart
So I had a 7 a.m. meeting. Then I had another meeting with our chief medical officer, just normal daily activities. And then sometime at around, I guess, probably around 11:30 or noon, I got notification that there was first responders responding to a shooting with an elementary school.
- sabrina tavernise
What was the first thing that came to your mind?
- dr. ronald stewart
The first thing — the first thing honestly, I think, would be sadness, emotion of sadness — the first emotion.
And a wish to hope that it’s not accurate, that the report’s not right.
But then really just probably a few seconds later, it’s like, OK, so our job is to prepare at that time for whatever comes our way.
- sabrina tavernise
And what’s the first thing you see once people start to arrive?
- dr. ronald stewart
We received three children and one adult. And you have children who were elementary-age children who, they’re small. And critically ill patients are intubated. And these wounds are — the wounds that we saw were typical of high-energy wounds from high-velocity firearms.
Typical 12 muzzle velocity of say, 800 to 1,200 feet per second — a handgun muzzle velocity, you have an entrance wound. And you may or may not have an exit wound. And you have two holes. And that’s what you have with these sorts of wounds. You have big defects in tissue. It’s destroyed. It’s open. That’s what we were seeing.
- sabrina tavernise
And Dr. Stewart, what will you most remember from that day?
- dr. ronald stewart
To me, people working together to help another person, a child, when they need it the most is the most beautiful thing. I’m a photographer. And I consciously look for beauty in the world.
But the most beautiful thing that I see is people working together to help somebody when they need it the most. It’s like watching a symphony that all the parts are different but all working together towards a common goal. That, I will remember. That’s the beauty. That’s the beauty.
- [music]
Probably the thing I remember the most negative is a conversation with a child who’s describing the events — the events of the scene, the horror of the events, the actuality.
We weren’t asking what happened. They just started talking about what happened. That to me is the most — the thing I will remember.
- sabrina tavernise
Yeah.
- dr. ronald stewart
And you know, I feel kind of bad and guilty in that maybe I feel like I’m focused on how I feel a little bit. But — because obviously, the impact to the patient and families is nothing compared to anything that I go through or we go through. It’s nothing. It pales in comparison, you know? But.
- sabrina tavernise
Yeah.
- [music]
- eduardo medina
I’d love to make sure I have the spelling of your names correct, if that’s OK?
- kimberly rubio
OK.
- eduardo medina
Kimberly Rubio, right?
- kimberly rubio
Yes.
- eduardo medina
I got K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y?
- kimberly rubio
Yes.
- eduardo medina
And then Rubio, R-U-B-I-O?
- kimberly rubio
Yes.
- eduardo medina
Sir, would you be comfortable if I include your name in there?
- felix rubio
That’s fine.
- eduardo medina
Perfect. How do I spell it?
- felix rubio
Felix, F-E-L-I-X. And then Rubio.
- eduardo medina
Would you be comfortable if I include your daughter’s age in the story as well?
- felix rubio
That’s fine.
- kimberly rubio
She’s 10.
- eduardo medina
10, perfect.
- felix rubio
They need to know how old she was.
- eduardo medina
I don’t know where you’d want to start. But something we’ve been asking today is if parents were there at the school when the officers were there, and if, so what you saw and what you made of the response there from the law enforcement?
- kimberly rubio
We were there for — first of all, we had two kids on campus. My son is in second grade. And my daughter was in fourth grade. We went to his award ceremony at 8. And we left. And we went back — her’s was at 10:30.
She got two awards, a good citizen award and the honor roll. We took pictures with her. And then my mother-in-law said that we would get her ice cream after school.
- felix rubio
She loves ice cream.
- kimberly rubio
She loves ice cream. She always wants ice cream.
- eduardo medina
It sounds to me like she was a brilliant girl. Can you tell me more about that? Was she always very studious?
- kimberly rubio
Always. My husband has said it before. She is the student every teacher wants because she does everything that’s asked of her. You never have to tell her to do her homework.
She does everything. She’s very competitive. They have a program for math to help them. And they get points. And she was just back and forth with this one student one year because —
- eduardo medina
She wanted to be first.
- kimberly rubio
Yes, she wanted to be first.
- eduardo medina
Wow.
- kimberly rubio
She’s shy, really quiet. We talked about this, though. When she had a point that she wanted across, she made it. She would speak up.
- eduardo medina
And sorry, I should have had this be my first question. But it’s just come to mind now. How do I spell your daughter’s name?
- kimberly rubio
A-N-D-R-I-A. And then Lexi, her nickname, L-E-X-I.
- eduardo medina
That’s Alexandria Aniyah Rubio.
- kimberly rubio
Yes.
- eduardo medina
A powerful name, that is.
- kimberly rubio
When we talk about it, I always think about what it sounds like when they call them at graduation.
[CRYING] We waited a long time and couldn’t come up with a name forever.
- felix rubio
Very last minute.
- kimberly rubio
Very last minute, they told us, hey, if you want to leave tomorrow, we need you to fill this out now.
[INAUDIBLE], it was perfect.
- eduardo medina
It’s a beautiful name.
- kimberly rubio
Yeah.
- eduardo medina
I would love to know from you, if there are particular messages you want to make sure people understand from someone who’s at the core of this terrible tragedy.
- kimberly rubio
We live in this really small town in this red state. And everyone keeps telling us that it’s not the time to be political. But it is. It is.
And I don’t want this to happen to anybody else.
You know, when I got home, my mom told me that the governor was here and that he wanted to come and meet with the families. And my first thought was, my Lexi doesn’t even like him. She was really little. But we talked about this stuff at home.
And we talked about women’s rights. And she was a budding feminist, you know? Like, she was —
- eduardo medina
Yeah.
- kimberly rubio
[CRYING] And it’s not right.
It’s my baby, and I don’t want anybody else to go through this.
- felix rubio
And this is her husband, Lexi’s dad.
- eduardo medina
Hi, sir.
- felix rubio
And like my wife said, we just want to get the point across. We hear it all the time. Someone needs to come up with a solution. This is painful. It really is. Our baby was taken. And she’s taken.
- kimberly rubio
They don’t care about Lexi. They don’t care about my baby. I don’t even understand why anybody needs these kind of weapons.
- eduardo medina
I suppose we —
- kimberly rubio
Is it really worth my baby? Is it really worth all of these babies?
- [music]
- sabrina tavernise
On Tuesday, funerals for the children killed at Robb Elementary began in Uvalde. Many of them will be buried in specially-designed caskets decorated with their favorite sports and cartoon characters.
- [music]
- sabrina tavernise
We’ll be right back.
Here’s what else you need to know today. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court blocked a Texas law that would ban large social media companies from removing posts based on the views contained in them. The case is moving through the lower courts. And the 5-to-4 vote suspends the Texas law while it is being litigated. Supporters of the law say it was an attempt to combat what they called Silicon Valley’s censorship of conservative views.
The law was prompted in part by the decisions of some platforms to bar former President Donald Trump after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The case may well eventually end up at the Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a dissent that the issues raised in it were so novel and significant that the court would have to consider them at some point.
Today’s episode was produced by Diana Nguyen, Asthaa Chaturvedi and Clare Toeniskoetter, with help from Will Reid and Eric Krupke. It was edited by Michael Benoist with help from Lisa Chow, contains original music by Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Corey Schreppel.
Special thanks to Jack Healy, Frances Robles, Josh Peck, Edgar Sandoval, Jazmine Ulloa, and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.
That’s it for The Daily. I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.