The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Duchess lays roses at scene of shootings
The Duchess of Sussex was among people who paid tribute at a memorial for the 19 children and two teachers killed in a school shooting in Texas.
Meghan was yesterday seen placing a bouquet of white roses tied with a purple ribbon at one of the crosses put up in honour of the victims near the site of the massacre.
A spokesperson for the duchess said she took the trip in a personal capacity as a mother to offer her condolences and in-person support to a community in grief.
Meghan, wearing a baseball cap, T-shirt, jeans and trainers, was also seen looking down at the white crosses bearing the names of those who lost their lives to the gunman’s rampage at Robb Elementary School in the small town of Uvalde.
She laid her flowers near the cross of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, which had the words “you will be missed” written on it.
Meghan, who lives in California, was not accompanied by husband Harry during her visit.
On Tuesday, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos used a semi-automatic rifle to shoot pupils and teachers in the deadliest school attack since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
The gunman barricaded himself in a classroom and opened fire until police eventually broke in and shot him dead. It emerged last night that Ramos walked in unimpeded through an apparently unlocked door.
Ramos was then in the building for more than an hour before he was killed by law enforcement officers.
The amount of time that elapsed has stirred anger and questions among family members, who demanded to know why they did not storm the place and put a stop to the rampage more quickly.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine said Ramos entered the school and began his rampage at 11.40am on Tuesday.
Police began trying to get inside an hour later, and at 12.58pm, the teenager was confirmed to be dead.
The school normally has an armed school safety officer on duty.
However, when Ramos arrived on Tuesday “there was not an officer, readily available and armed” and the lone gunman entered the building “unobstructed”, Victor Escalon, a regional director at the Texas Department of Public Safety, said.