AP was the first national news organization on the scene the deadly mass shooting, setting the agenda with aggressive reporting on authorities’ response, and sensitive coverage of the victims and their families.
AP Photographer Dario Lopez-Mills and video journalist Eugene Garcia were on the U.S-Mexico border for an assignment on immigration and just leaving a Starbucks on May 24 when they got word of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, some 50 miles away. They immediately gathered their gear and rushed away, arriving to chaotic scenes of police, SWAT teams and newly arrived FBI agents surrounding the school. Then, they went to work — Lopez-Mills making still images and Garcia setting up live video.
“This is going to be a mass shooting. Things are going to escalate,” Central Deputy News Director Kim Johnson had texted them en route. Lopez-Mills remembered the dread he felt. “There were two things I never wanted to cover in my career: a school shooting or an airport crash interviewing the relatives,” he said. “You feel really bad having to cover something so horrendous, but you know you have to do it.”
Police walk near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, following a mass shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers, May 24, 2022.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Gustavo Garcia-Siller, the archbishop of San Antonio, comforts families outside the town’s civic center following a deadly mass school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2022.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
People comfort each other outside the town’s civic center following a deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2022.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
People walk with flowers in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022, to honor the 21 people killed in a mass shooting the previous day at Robb Elementary School. Desperation turned to heart-wrenching sorrow for families of grade schoolers killed when an 18-year-old gunman barricaded himself in their Texas classroom and began shooting, killing at least 19 fourth-graders and their two teachers.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Family members of one of the victims killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School comfort each other during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Crosses with the names of some of the 21 mass shooting victims stand outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Esmeralda Bravo, 63, sheds tears while holding a photo of her granddaughter, Nevaeh, one of the Robb Elementary School shooting victims, during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas, May 25, 2022.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Copies of the Uvalde Leader-News with a black front page showing the date of the Robb Elementary School shooting are seen at a market in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Vincent Salazar holds up a framed photograph of his daughter, Layla Salazar, at his home in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. Layla Salazar was one of the 19 children and their two teachers who were gunned down two days earlier behind a barricaded door at Robb Elementary School. Each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, Salazar would play "Sweet Child O' Mine," by Guns N' Roses and they'd sing along, he said.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Children pay their respects at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
A child writes a message on a cross at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Prianna Ayala weeps as she is embraced at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
A woman pays her respects at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Mario Games, right, with his wife Marisela and daughter Emily, stand in front of a cross with the name of their niece, Nevaeh Bravo, at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Members of the media raise their hands as they try to get questions in for Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw, center, in Uvalde, Texas, May 27, 2022.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Uvalde School Police Chief Pete Arredondo, third from left, stands during a news conference outside of the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. Arredondo is at the center of questions over the police response during the mass shooting at the school.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Members of the media take photos of a map of the Robb Elementary School during a news conference in Uvalde, Texas, May 27, 2022.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
People gather outside the George R. Brown Convention Center to protest the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston, May 27, 2022, three days after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
A member of the National Rifle Association plugs his ears with his fingers as he walks past protesters during the NRA’s annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, May 27, 2022.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Candles are lit at dawn at a memorial site in the town square of Uvalde, Texas, May 27, 2022, for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
The sun begins to set in the town of Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022. After Buffalo, N.Y., and before Tulsa, Okla., Uvalde was shattered by a May 24 mass shooting that left 19 schoolchildren and two teachers dead.
AP Photo / Dario Lopez-Mills
Their swift response to the unfolding tragedy made the AP the first national news organization on the scene. Their photos, video and live shots set the tone for the rest of the week — with the AP delivering dominant, all-formats coverage that explored not only the shooting that left 19 fourth graders and two teachers dead at Robb Elementary School, but inconsistencies in the actions and statements of police.
Reinforcing Lopez-Mills and Garcia, Texas government and politics reporter Acacia Coronado dropped her election night assignment in Austin and rushed the 180 miles to Uvalde, as did sports reporter Jim Vertuno. Immigration reporter Elliot Spagat, already on a long trip along the border himself, redirected his 4.5-hour drive and also made it to Uvalde that night.
As the story developed through the week and more staff deployed, the AP led the way in reporting skepticism on the early declaration by the governor that first responders showed “amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives.” In fact, the gunman was in the classroom for more than an hour.
AP was first to report that the authorities needed a key to enter the room where the rampage occurred. It also had exclusive witness accounts about onlookers growing frustrated with the slow police response. The rich report included a localization guide, political enterprise about gun laws, and an image by photographer Jae Hong, who recognized Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, showing up unannounced to lay flowers at a memorial to the victims — those photos prompted huge interest from British clients and others.
Meghan Markle, duchess of Sussex, leaves flowers at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, for the victims killed in the May 24 mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
The AP launched a series of stories about the children killed and fact-checked conspiracy theories, all the while handling the coverage with sensitivity. At the end of the week, editors shifted some resources to Houston to cover the suddenly newsworthy National Rifle Association convention.
By week’s end, the AP had produced more than 150 video edits related to the mass shooting. On Tuesday, the day of the shooting, pageviews regularly topped 3 million per story on AP News, and AP’s mainbar spot story made the front page of dozens of newspapers, online and print, from Phoenix to Miami to Austin, Texas, just a few hours away.
For a powerful example of the AP at its finest on a major news story that has led to an outpouring of sympathy for the families, questions about police practices and the latest reckoning on guns and school safety, the AP Uvalde coverage team earns Best of the Week — First Winner.
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