While the shooter was in the school for up to an hour, distraught parents outside clashed with law enforcement officers

Gunman stayed in the school for 40 to 60 minutes

Meanwhile, frustrated and distraught parents and other adults outside the school clashed with law enforcement officers, urging the officers to go inside and get the gunman or to let them go inside themselves, video posted to social media appears to show.

“And then (the shooting) stops, and he barricades himself in. That’s where there’s kind of a lull in the action,” Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Uvalde, said, citing what he learned in a briefing.

“All of it, I understand, lasted about an hour, but this is where there’s kind of a 30-minute lull. They feel as if they’ve got him barricaded in. The rest of the students in the school are now leaving.”

Soon, they started hearing gunshots.

“There were five or six of (us) fathers, hearing the gunshots, and (police officers) were telling us to move back,” Cazares told the Post.

“We didn’t care about us. We wanted to storm the building. We were saying, ‘Let’s go,’ because that is how worried we were, and we wanted to get our babies out.”

Hours later, Cazares learned his daughter, 9-year-old Jacklyn Cazares, had been shot and killed, the Post reported.

‘She just died trying to save her classsmates’

A first responder on the scene learned his daughter, Amerie Jo Garza, had been killed as he gave medical aid to a student who emerged from the school, Angel Garza told CNN. Hysterical and covered in blood, the girl said she’d seen her best friend killed — and the girl’s name was Amerie.

As the shooting unfolded, his daughter tried to call 911 on the cell phone she’d gotten two weeks ago for her 10th birthday, he said, fighting tears and holding a framed photo of his daughter receiving an honor roll award.

“She just died trying to save her classmates,” Garza said. “She just wanted to save everyone.”

Support has flooded the community reeling from Tuesday’s tragedy. People wept and hugged at a Wednesday night vigil as “Amazing Grace” played. Residents of Uvalde, Del Río and other nearby towns also waited at least three hours to donate blood Wednesday to replenish the supply at local hospitals, said Mohammed Sayed, director of donor recruitment for South Texas Blood & Tissue.

“This is something that we don’t take lightly,” said Catherine Alvarez, 20, who stood in line with her mother for hours even though she can’t donate blood due to health reasons. “In this community we are all family and if one is grieving, we are all grieving.”

The tragedy in Uvalde has educed outrage from families of victims of prior gun attacks and officials who say a lack of intervention will only lead to more attacks.

Families identify loved ones they lost

The two teachers killed, Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia, had co-taught together for five years.

Mireles had been teaching for 17 years and “was a vivacious soul” who “spread laughter and joy everywhere she went,” relative Amber Ybarra told CNN.

“She made you feel like she was only teaching your child,” said Erica Torres, whose son Stanley was in her third and fourth grade classes. “Like, there’s no other students but him. She made you feel so good.”

Lexi Rubio, 10, had made the All-A honor roll and gotten a good citizen award just hours before she was shot and killed, her parents Felix and Kimberly Rubio told CNN.

Shooter sent messages about his intentions before the attack

Before he began his rampage, Ramos allegedly messaged a girl who lives in Germany about his intentions.

“It’s annoying,” he texted her.

Minutes later, he texted: “I just shot my grandma in her head,” immediately followed by the message, “Ima go shoot up a(n) elementary school rn (right now).”

The girl began chatting with Ramos on a social media app on May 9, she told CNN. Ramos sent her selfie videos and talked about a plan to visit her in Europe, videos and text messages show.

The shooter shot his 66-year-old grandmother in the face before driving to the Robb Elementary, where he crashed his car in a nearby ditch, authorities say. The grandmother was in serious condition as of Wednesday, officials said.

Once he arrived at the school, he encountered a school district police officer, dropped a bag of ammunition and entered the school, Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety said. Ramos then barricaded himself inside two adjoining classrooms and opened fire, DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez said.

The gunman was in the school 40 to 60 minutes before law enforcement forcibly entered and killed him, Texas DPS director Steven McCraw said Wednesday at a news conference.

Ramos was in a standoff with law enforcement for about 30 minutes after firing on students and teachers, said Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Uvalde.

“And then it stops, and he barricades himself in. That’s where there’s kind of a lull in the action,” Gonzales told CNN. “All of it, I understand, lasted about an hour, but this is where there’s kind of a 30-minute lull. They feel as if they’ve got him barricaded in. The rest of the students in the school are now leaving.”

Ramos was a local high school dropout with no criminal history and no known mental health history, officials said. He had just turned 18 and legally bought two AR-15-style rifles and ammunition for his birthday. His grandfather didn’t know Ramos had guns, he said Wednesday.

“If I had known, I would have reported him,” Rolando Reyes said.

Impact of Uvalde shooting felt nationwide

As the toll of America’s mass shootings grows, survivors and families of victims of prior attacks have mobilized a network to help others deal with the trauma.

“We hold their hands and their broken hearts as long as we can and continue the road with them for the rest of their lives if they want us there,” said Sandy Phillips, who lost her daughter nearly 10 years ago during a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

“We always recommend that initially they get the trauma therapy that they’re going to need to treat the PTSD symptoms that they will have from this,” she told CNN. Her son was one of the first responders at Uvalde to help and also had been there the day his sister died.

As Uvalde families are overwhelmed with grief, city officials in Houston are facing calls to cancel the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting there this weekend. But the city cannot cancel its agreement with the NRA, citing contractual obligations, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

Still, the mayor urged legislators and officials not to participate in the event and said the NRA should postpone it.

“Certainly they don’t have to come, and I think it would be respectful for the families who are planning funerals for their children for them not to come,” said Turner. “You should not come.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is scheduled to speak at the NRA conference, argued Wednesday tougher gun laws aren’t a “real solution” and said state officials are discussing how to keep schools safe and address people with mental health challenges.

“This is on you, until you choose to do something different,” O’Rourke said to Abbott, calling the shooting in Uvalde predictable. “This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed, just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.”

National-level officials have also spoken out about Tuesday’s shooting, including US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who called it “a reminder that gun violence is a serious public health threat that must be addressed,” according to a statement.

State officials beyond Texas are vowing to act in the wake of the Robb Elementary attack. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday state lawmakers plan to fast-track several new gun control bills that would go into effect at the end of next month, he said.

“Am I supposed to just leave all the flags at half-mast? They’re still at half-mast from Buffalo. No, I don’t want to,” Hochul said during a news conference Wednesday. “So, we harness this anger, we talk about what we can do. We work with our legislators.”