Mass shooting timeline: 14 years of violence in Texas
Texas has seen nine mass shootings over the last 14 years while lawmakers have steadily loosened restrictions on carrying firearms. Full Story
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![An Allen police officer stands guard outside Hampton Inn, across from the Allen Premium Outlets after a shooting on May 6, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Gunman kills 8 people at a North Texas outlet mall
The shooter was also killed by a police officer after he opened fire in Allen. Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting “an unspeakable tragedy.” Full Story
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![Police officers block off the entrance to the parking lot of the Allen Premium Outlets after a shooting on May 6, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Authorities announce capture of man suspected of killing 5 neighbors in San Jacinto County
Officials did not specify the location of his arrest on Tuesday night, but they said the suspect was being held at the Montgomery County jail where he was initially taken. Full Story
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![In a still image from video, an aerial view shows an FBI van at a location where a search is being conducted for Francisco Oropesa, 38, who police say shot dead five neighbors in Cleveland, Texas, on April 29, 2023, the day after the shooting.]()
Credit: ABC affiliate KTRK via REUTERS -
FBI, Texas authorities search for gunman who killed 5 neighbors in San Jacinto County
In the face of mass shootings in Texas, state leaders have made it easier to access guns. Full Story
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![In a still image from video, an aerial view of the wooded area where a search is being conducted for Francisco Oropeza, 38, who police say shot dead five neighbors in Cleveland on Saturday, April 29, 2023. The shooting took place the night before.]()
Credit: ABC affiliate KTRK via REUTERS -
Gunman kills 5 neighbors, including child, in San Jacinto County home, sheriff says
The suspect, who is still being sought, had been asked to stop shooting his rifle in his front yard because of a sleeping baby, according to authorities. Full Story
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![The exterior of the Cleveland home where a person killed five people at a home late Friday.]()
Credit: KTRK via REUTERS -
A divided Uvalde hasn’t had time to heal, speakers say
During a Texas Tribune event marking one year since the shooting at Robb Elementary School, parents, mental health experts and faith leaders talked about how the path to recovery isn’t the same for everybody. Full Story
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![Texas Tribune reporter Uriel J. García speaks with Kimberly Mata-Rubio and Veronica Mata at a community event titled "Uvalde: Resilience, Recovery and Healing" at the Southwest Texas Junior College on May 20th, 2023 in Uvalde.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House votes to require panic buttons in every classroom and armed guards in every school
Lawmakers have said school safety is a priority this session, but it is still unclear whether they’ll listen to Uvalde families who want to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21. Full Story
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![Law enforcement officers patrol outside the library of Akins Early College High School in Austin on Sept. 15, 2022. The school was put on "hold" — a step below a lockdown — after a threat on social media was reported.]()
Credit: Roberto Ramirez for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate passes bill to strengthen school active-shooter plans
Senate Bill 11, which aims to get hundreds of districts without adequate safety protocols to adopt one, would also beef up truancy laws. Full Story
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![Educators take part in active shooter training in Pflugerville on August 10, 2018.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
In overnight testimony, Uvalde victims’ family members call on Texas lawmakers to raise age to buy semi-automatic guns
The families of Uvalde shooting victims waited hours to testify at a House committee hearing in support of House Bill 2744, which would raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic guns from 18 to 21. Full Story
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![Friends and families of the victims of the Uvalde shooting wait in a members lounge as they wait for the Community Safety Committee to reconvene, at the state Capitol in Austin on April 18, 2023. The committee will hear numerous bills relating to gun reform, most notably HB2744 which seeks to raise the age required to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
“He has a battle rifle”: Police feared Uvalde gunman’s AR-15
In previously unreleased interviews, police who responded to the Robb Elementary shooting told investigators they were cowed by the shooter’s military-style rifle. This drove their decision to wait for a Border Patrol SWAT team to engage him, which took more than an hour. Full Story
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![The gunman's AR-15 style rifle lays in a supply closet of Room 111 at Robb Elementary School.]()
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Uvalde families ask to join suit pushing for DPS to release public records
The lawyers for some of the Uvalde families say there is “a compelling need” for records into the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary to be publicly released. Full Story
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![Velma Duran, the sister of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary school shooting, confronts Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw after he finished testifying to the Homeland Security & Public Safety committee hearing at the state Capitol in Austin on Feb. 28, 2023. “They stood around and enabled the shooter to obliterate my sister. You couldn’t recognize her,” Duran said to McCraw. “Look at me!”]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
SXSW EDU panelists say the only solution to school safety is to address gun policy and mental health, not one or the other
Gun policy reform is the best way to address school safety, according to experts on a panel in Austin. They also cautioned against doubling down on surveillance technology. Full Story
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![Children arrive to Flores Middle School for the first day of classes in Uvalde on Sept. 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L’Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s new priority bills focus on school safety, requiring districts to adopt active-shooter plans
More than nine months after the Uvalde school shooting, top GOP lawmakers maintain focus on school safety reforms and investments in mental health resources in hopes it will prevent future tragedies. Full Story
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![Mock weapons used to train educators in Harrold in 2018.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Texas superintendent resigns after student finds his gun in school bathroom
The incident comes as lawmakers debate how to make schools safer after the Uvalde massacre and favor measures like arming more educators. Full Story
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![A M&P Shield handgun, small enough to be ideal for conceal carry, in Austin on April 23, 2021.]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.
Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a presser at Uvalde High School on May 27, 2022.]()
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Despite decades of mass shootings in Texas, legislators have failed to pass meaningful gun control laws
State lawmakers have rejected dozens of bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining weapons used in many mass shootings. Instead, they’ve made it easier for residents to get guns and harder for local governments to regulate them. Full Story
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![A group of men embrace during a vigil a day after a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC1E05433300]()
Credit: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters -
Biden rule reclassifying some pistols as short-barreled rifles draws Texas lawsuit
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives amended a rule that classifies guns with “stabilized braces” as rifles, which are subject to different regulations, triggering the objection of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gun Owners of America. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks after being re-elected, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022 at the Haggard Party Barn in Plano, Texas. Paxton defeated Rochelle Garza.]()
Credit: Ben Torres for The Texas Tribune -
Man who killed 23 at El Paso Walmart pleads guilty to hate crimes
The gunman was mirroring rhetoric that continues to be used by some conservative political and media figures, saying that large-scale migration from south of the border is an “invasion” and part of a “great replacement” of white people by people of color. Full Story
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![A lone policeman outside the WalMart in El Paso where a mass shooting took place on Saturday, August 3, 2019.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
As lawmakers begin a new session, Texas mayors want to maintain control of local issues
Mayors from the state’s most populous cities presented their legislative wish list, including economic development and workforce programs, broadband infrastructure and violence prevention. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol in Austin on Oct. 19, 2021.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy for The Texas Tribune -
Uvalde DA gets initial state police report on school shooting but doesn’t expect full investigation for months
The preliminary report has not been made public by either the district attorney’s office or the state. The Texas Rangers are conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting at Robb Elementary. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw listens to a speaker at a Public Safety Commission Meeting in Austin on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. During public testimony, families of the victims of the Robb Elementary Shooting in Uvalde called for DPS Director Steve McCraw to resign.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune