Special Section on Uvalde School Shooting 

It was uncharacteristic of her, but Jailah told her parents she did not want to go to school the morning of the shooting, her mother, Verónica Luevanos, told Univision on Wednesday.

Green was Maite’s favorite color. She was always sporting her pair of lime green Converse tennis shoes. She had hand-drawn a heart on the right shoe. Her mother, Ana Rodriguez, said Maite would always get chicken strips with a side of sliced jalapeños when they went to Whataburger. She described her daughter as sweet, caring and goal-driven. Maite had told her mother she wanted to study at Texas A&M University and become a marine biologist.

Jayce would always bring the neighborhood kids to his family home, just a block away from the elementary school where he was killed. The yard was often packed with children, his grandfather, Carmelo Quiroz, told USA Today. The 10-year-old would make his grandparents a pot of coffee every morning. He wrote notes like, “I love you, Grandpa.” “He was our baby,” Quiroz said.

Uziyah last visited his grandfather Manny Renfro in San Angelo during spring break. They threw a football together, and Renfro was teaching him pass patterns. “Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro told the Associated Press. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.” Uziyah was “the sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said.

Her family members describe her as a girl full of life who brightened the day of people around her. “Jackie was the one that would go out of her way to help anyone,” Jackie’s father, Jacinto Cazares, told ABC News. “It gives me some comfort that she… would have done something to help her classmates in that very scary scenario.”

By Abby Livingston, The Texas Tribune WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday night that he supported an assault weapons ban. But short of that, he said he supports raising the age to 21 to purchase that type of firearm.

By James Barragán, The Texas Tribune State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, said his exclusion from a special legislative committee designed to make legislative recommendations in response to the Uvalde shooting was a “slap in the face” to the people of that community.

By Alexa Ura, The Texas Tribune UVALDE — In the days following the school shooting at Robb Elementary, the streets of this small town were lined by sets of 21. The 21 bows of gauzy ribbon tied to the thin posts of a black iron gate. The 21 candles glowing from the window ledge of the historic Uvalde Grand Opera House. The row of classroom chairs — 19 small red ones and two taller black ones — looking out onto Getty Street. But then 21 turned to 22.

By Jason Beeferman, The Texas Tribune UVALDE — As in many small Texas towns, law enforcement officers here eat free at local taquerias on some days and get complimentary haircuts at neighborhood salons on others. Residents say increased activity from cartels trafficking drugs across southwestern Texas has made them increasingly reliant on Border Patrol and the county sheriff’s department for safety.

Texas Monthly explains why Border Patrol was at the scene of the Uvalde school massacre: "When Border Patrol radios crackled with a request for aid from local Uvalde police on Tuesday, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Agents often act as first responders to emergencies in their communities. The alert on Tuesday, however, was horrific: a gunman had entered Robb Elementary School.