LeBron James led the calls for action following the deaths of 14 children and a teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.
James wrote in a tweet: ‘There has to be change! HAS TO BE!! Praying to the heavens above to all with kids these days in schools.’
In an earlier tweet, the Lakers star wrote: ‘My thoughts and prayers goes out to the families of love ones loss & injured at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX! Like when is enough enough man!!! These are kids and we keep putting them in harms way at school. Like seriously “AT SCHOOL” where it’s suppose to be the safest!’
LeBron James led the calls for action with this message
Chris Evans also called for gun reform. The ‘Capt America’ has previously called for common sense gun reform
Salvador Ramos, 18, a local high school student was named as the perpetrator of the attack by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott. Abbott initially identified the suspect Salvador Roma.
Earlier that day, Ramos shot and killed his grandmother. The attack is one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history and the worst school shooting at an elementary school since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012.
‘Captain America’ star Chris Evans tweeted: ‘F***ING ENOUGH!!!!’ Evans has previously called for ‘common sense reform’ with regard to guns in the past.
Just a few hours after the shooting, President Joe Biden ordered that all United States flags at government buildings and military bases worldwide be held at half-mast.
Salvador Ramos, 18, a local high school student was named as the perpetrator of the attack by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott
Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a tweet that ‘Thoughts and prayers are not enough.’ She added: ‘After years of nothing else, we are becoming a nation of anguished screams. We simply need legislators willing to stop the scourge of gun violence in America that is murdering our children.’
Fellow Democrat and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker tweeted: ‘Children went to school today and were killed in a mass shooting. Another American community shattered by gun violence. Another round of thoughts and prayers. They’re hollow words if we continue to do nothing to end the violent, unrelenting, preventable shootings in our county.’
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said of the massacre: ‘I’m heartbroken for the victims of today’s horrific shooting in Texas. You should be able to go to school, and to church, and to the grocery store without needing to worry that you’re not going to come home. It’s past time to put an end to these needless tragedies.’
President Joe Biden has announced that US flags at government buildings and military bases will be held at half mast in the aftermath of the massacre
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy tweeted in the immediate aftermath of the shooting: ‘Oh my god. I’m shaking. I’m just shaking all over. With fear. With anger. With resolve.’
Later, Murphy appealed for legislation to address gun violence on the Senate floor asking his colleagues: ‘What are we doing?’
On the other side of the aisle, Texas Senator Ted Cruz said in a message: ‘Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde. We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding. Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.’
Actress and activist Alyssa Milano called out Democratic Senators Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin as well as Cruz for supposed in action on progressive issues. Milano wrote: ‘F*** you, Ted Cruz. F*** Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema. How many children have to die?’
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong chimed in saying: ‘America, we’re better than this. Deepest condolences to the families.’
In his message, Armstrong was retweeting former Miami, Austin and Houston police chief Art Acevedo who wrote: ’14 lives lost and we do nothing. It angers me to see so many elected officials on the right offer thoughts and prayers and easy gun access, and on the left too many coddling violent criminals. We need to address gun violence in a comprehensive manner, and we need to do it now.’
Meanwhile talk show host and long time opponent of America’s gun laws, Piers Morgan, tweeted: ’14 schoolchildren and a teacher at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas have been shot dead by an 18-year-old gunman. Absolutely horrendous. I don’t know what else to say about these endless US gun massacres – it’s for Americans to resolve but where is the will?’
Activist Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime, was killed in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, tweeted: ‘I am speechless. Another school shooting. At least 2 dead, including kids. Multiple injured.’
The founder Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America Shannon Watts tweeted: ‘According to the Governor of Texas, the gunman who killed at least 15 people in Uvalde is an 18-year-old who lives in the community. He had a handgun and may have been armed with a rifle, too. In 2021, Texas lawmakers lowered the age to carry a handgun to 18.’
Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York tweeted simply: ‘Goddamnit.’
MSNBC Contributor Sam Stein wrote: ‘Sorry, but this tragedy isn’t “unimaginable.” We saw ten people killed at a grocery store last week! We saw an elementary school shot up with 20 kids dead less than ten years ago. It’s very much imaginable now.’
Poet Amanda Gorman, who read her work ‘The Hill We Climb,’ at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021 tweeted: ‘It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity—it’s inhumanity.’
Former NFL star RGIII tweeted: ‘A deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas happened today. How many innocent kids’ lives need to be lost or put in danger for us as a country to change our approach to guns? How many people have to die for our country to realize WE HAVE A GUN PROBLEM?’
Actress Mia Farrow said about the shooting: ‘Politicians make a CHOICE to do NOTHING to protect our children, our neighbors, us. We have more mass shootings than days in the year. This doesn’t happen in other countries. What are we doing?’
