(PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md.) — Officials in one Maryland county said they are going to temporarily enforce a state curfew for teens amid a “troubling” increase in juvenile arrests.
Prince George’s County police officers have arrested an “eye-popping” 430 juveniles so far this year — more than double the number from this time last year, county executive Angela Alsobrooks told reporters during a press briefing Monday.
Carjacking is one area of particular concern, officials said. Eighty-four juveniles have been arrested for carjackings this year, half of whom were under the age of 15, she said. Among the 84 arrested, 34 had prior arrests for a violent crime or gun offense, she said.
“At this point, these kids don’t just need a hug, they also need to be held accountable,” Alsobrooks said. “I know this isn’t the popular thing to say, but the truth of the matter is, it’s a fair question: Where are their parents? Where are the aunties? Where are the uncles and other family members who are responsible for them?”
Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz called the number of juvenile arrests “shocking” and a “significant” jump from last year.
“The vast number of juveniles are out doing the right thing and living a meaningful and positive life in Prince George’s County,” he said during Monday’s press briefing, calling those who are committing crimes “outliers.”
“We can’t arrest our way out of this,” he added.
The curfew was last strongly enforced in 1995, though Alsobrooks said they “feel that the facts and circumstances warrant doing so again.”
The state law requires teens under 17 to be off the streets between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and between 11:59 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, unless accompanied by an adult or if an exception applies, Alsobrooks said.
The county, which is located in the greater Washington, D.C., area, will begin stricter enforcement of the law starting this weekend for at least 30 days, Alsobrooks said. Parents will receive a warning for the first offense, though repeated offenses could see fines up to $250 and children could be released to the Department of Social Services if parents fail to respond, she said.
“Simply put, the enforcement of this law is to protect our children,” Alsobrooks said. “Children 17 years old and younger are not legally responsible for themselves. Neither are police. Their parents are responsible and their families are responsible for keeping them safe. We need everyone working to protect our children.”
Alsobrooks said she sees the curfew as one part of a “toolbox” to keep the community safe, alongside mental health services at schools and a summer youth enrichment program.
The county executive said she is seeking an emergency meeting with the Department of Juvenile Services and will continue to work with the court system to understand “how these kids are being held accountable.”
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy, who was not present at the briefing, defended her office’s record on convictions at a later news conference.
“We absolutely hold people accountable for serious crimes,” Braveboy said Monday, calling the number of juveniles committing carjackings “outrageous,” according to Washington, D.C., radio station WTOP.
Officials in Philadelphia have also implemented a modified curfew for minors in recent weeks in an attempt to keep young people off the streets and safe during a high-crime season. Through Sept. 29, those between the ages of 14 and 17 are required to be home by 10 p.m. Previously, the latest some teenagers were able to be out was midnight. Those under 13 are required to be home by 9:30 p.m.
For those found violating the curfew, Philadelphia police will attempt to reunite them with their families at home or a precinct or bring them to one of several community centers that have been established during the curfew.
(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) — Three hikers died and several were injured over the holiday weekend in Arizona and Utah. Several hikers in Arizona suffered heat exhaustion as excessive heat gripped the West Coast.
A hiker in their 20s died and five others suffered heat emergencies while hiking a trail in Cave Creek, Arizona, Wednesday after running out of water and getting lost on the trails, according to the Scottsdale Fire Department.
The hikers, who were all locals, were removed from the trails by helicopter after emergency responders discovered they were about 4.5 miles from the trailhead, a representative from the fire department told ABC News.
The hiker who died was taken to a local hospital where he died due to heat stroke. The five injured hikers were given fluids and treated on the scene for about an hour before being cleared, according to the fire department.
Also in Arizona, a backpacker was reported dead in Grand Canyon National Park Sunday at around 7:30 p.m. local time. The backpacker has been identified as 59-year-old Delphine Martinez, who was on a multi-day trip, according to the National Park Service.
Martinez was hiking down the Thunder River Trail on Sunday when she became disoriented and later unconscious. Trip members tried to resuscitate Martinez, but were unsuccessful, according to NPS. NPS and the Coconino County Medical Examiner are investigating Martinez’s death and have not released any additional information.
According to the National Park Service, temperatures in the inner canyon were over 100 degrees, with the high temperature at Phantom Ranch around 115 degrees. Park rangers at Grand Canyon National Park advised visitors against hiking in the inner canyon during the heat of the day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., saying the heat can cause “serious health risks including heat exhaustion, heat stroke, hyponatremia and death,” according to the National Park Service.
Separately, a 45-year-old hiker in Utah fell to their death Saturday after going missing while climbing near the mouth of the American Fork Canyon, the Utah County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The man, identified as Thomas James Rawe, texted a friend asking him to pick him up near the canyon in 45 minutes. Rawe was hiking or climbing in the area and was on his way down. He sent a picture showing the the steep terrain and the fee booth where the two were supposed to meet up.
At the agreed upon time, the friend arrived and Rawe did not. Rawe had said his phone battery was at 1%, so the friend was not initially surprised to not hear from Rawe, according to the sheriff’s office.
At around 9 p.m. local time, deputies with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a man missing while climbing near the canyon. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team responded and searched for a couple of hours, but because the terrain is dangerous, they called off the operation for the night. They returned early Sunday morning and called for assistance from the Utah Department of Public Safety and one of their helicopters, according to the sheriff’s office.
A helicopter crew member found what they suspected was the body of Rawe on a very steep, rocky slope, shortly after arriving. A Search and Rescue team member was then flown to the area to confirm the body was Rawe and that he was dead. Another volunteer was then flown to the area to secure the body from falling further down the mountain before it was prepared and hoisted to a nearby parking lot by the DPS helicopter crew, according to officials.
While officials are unsure what caused the fall, they said it is likely he “lost his footing or stumbled, then fell and tumbled several hundred feet down the steep slope.”
(WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash.) — The names of 10 people who perished after a floatplane crashed in Washington’s Puget Sound were released on Tuesday, a day after a search for nine of the victims was suspended, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard called off the search around noon local time on Sunday after conducting 26 search sorties it said covered about 2,100 square nautical miles.
“The Coast Guard offers its deepest sympathies to those who lost a loved one in this tragedy,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Xochitl Castaneda, the search and rescue mission coordinator for this incident, said in a statement Tuesday morning.
Those presumed dead from the crash were identified by the Coast Guard as Jason Winters, the pilot of the aircraft, and passengers Patricia Hicks, Sandra Williams, Lauren Hilty, Ross Mickel, Luke Ludwig, Rebecca Ludwig, Joanne Mera and Gabrielle Hanna. Also killed was a child, identified as Remy Mickel, according to the Coast Guard.
The body of only one person aboard the aircraft was recovered, but the Coast Guard did not say which of the victims the remains were identified as belonging to.
The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into the accident.
Capt. Daniel Broadhurst, the incident management branch chief for the 13th Coast Guard District, described the agonizing decision to end the search after no signs were found of the remaining nine victims or wreckage from the aircraft.
“It is always difficult when it comes time to make a decision to stop searching,” Broadhurst said in a statement Sunday. “The hearts of all the first responders go out to those who lost a family member, a loved one or a friend in the crash.”
The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter float plane crashed in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island around 3:10 p.m. local time Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
There were 10 people onboard, nine adults and one child, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
At the time the search was suspended, rescue crews were focusing on Mutiny Bay, west of Whidbey Island, according to the Coast Guard.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate,” the FAA said. “The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates.”
The NTSB said on Twitter Monday that it is sending a seven-member team to investigate the crash.
The plane was traveling from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to Renton Municipal Airport near Seattle when it crashed, the USCG said, with the cause of the crash unknown at this time. The Coast Guard had initially said the plane was traveling from Friday Harbor to Seattle Tacoma International Airport, which it later corrected.
The Coast Guard responded to a report of the crash that was initially said to have eight adults and one child onboard, according to USCG Pacific Northwest. The USCG later corrected its statement, saying there were 10 people unaccounted for in the crash.
South Whidbey Fire/EMS said that its crew was at the scene near the west side of Whidbey Island.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison, Marilyn Heck, Teddy Grant and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A body discovered in Memphis has been identified as abducted school teacher Eliza Fletcher, authorities said Tuesday.
Fletcher’s remains were found on Sunday afternoon in a South Memphis residential neighborhood several miles from where she was abducted, police said.
The grim news came as 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, the suspect in the kidnapping, was set to make his first court appearance.
The Memphis Police Department said charges of first-degree murder and first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping have been filed against Abston.
Abston was charged over the weekend with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence in connection with Fletcher’s disappearance. On Monday, additional charges of identity theft, theft of property valued at $1,000 or less and fraudulent use of a credit card were filed against Abston, according to online jail records.
Abston is being held at the Shelby County Jail in Memphis on $500,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court in Memphis at 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
Amid the search for Eliza Fletcher, who was kidnapped on Friday, Memphis police announced on Twitter that a body was discovered Sunday afternoon. “The identity of this person and the cause of death is unconfirmed at this time. The investigation is ongoing,” police said in a statement.
Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher and married mother of two, was last seen jogging in the area of Central Avenue and Zach Curlin Street in midtown Memphis, near the University of Memphis campus in southwest Tennessee, on Friday morning at approximately 4:20 a.m. local time, according to the Memphis Police Department. She was approached by a man and forced into a dark-colored GMC Terrain, which then took off, traveling westbound on Central Avenue, police said.
Fletcher’s husband, Richard Fletcher, reported her missing about three hours later, telling investigators that she never returned home from her regular 4 a.m. run, according to an affidavit of the complaint made public Sunday by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the affidavit, police believe Fletcher suffered “serious injury” during the abduction, which was captured on surveillance video.
The video showed a black GMC Terrain initially driving by Fletcher as she jogged, then stopping in a parking lot ahead of her and waiting for her to come by, according to the affidavit.
“A male exited the black GMC Terrain, ran aggressively toward the victim, and then forced the victim Eliza Fletcher into the passenger’s side of the vehicle. During this abduction, there appeared to be a struggle,” the affidavit states.
Citing the video, investigators said the SUV sat in a parking lot with the victim inside for about four minutes before it drove off, according to the affidavit.
The video also captured the same SUV in the area of the kidnapping about 24 minutes prior to the abduction, the affidavit alleges.
Police arrested Abston on Saturday after learning that the registered owner of the GMC Terrain lived at the same residence as Abston, according to the affidavit. As the U.S. Marshals Service moved in to make the arrests, Abston allegedly tried to flee in the SUV but was quickly taken into custody.
During questioning, Abston, who works at a dry cleaners, refused to tell investigators anything about Fletcher’s whereabouts, according to the affidavit.
Abston previously pleaded guilty in 2001 of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery in Shelby County, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
He served 20 years in prison for kidnapping a prominent Memphis attorney at gunpoint, according to a report by The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis newspaper. Abston, who was 16 at the time, forced the attorney into the trunk of a car and made him withdraw cash from an ATM, the newspaper reported.
The attorney managed to escape when he yelled for help and drew the attention of a Memphis Housing Authority guard, according to the newspaper.
Fletcher was the granddaughter of Joseph “Joe” Orgill III, a prominent Tennessee businessman who died in 2018. Her family was offering a $50,000 reward for information that led to her safe return. They pleaded for people to come forward in a video statement released by the Memphis Police Department on Saturday.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The suspect in what police described as a violent abduction of a 34-year-old Memphis, Tennessee woman during her early morning jog is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Tuesday as a massive search for the victim continues.
The suspect, 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, has been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence in connection with Eliza Fletcher’s disappearance. On Monday, additional charges of identity theft, theft of property valued at $1,000 or less and fraudulent use of a credit card were filed against Abston, according to online jail records.
Abston is being held at the Shelby County Jail in Memphis on $500,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court in Memphis at 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
Fletcher, a kindergarten teacher and married mother of two, was last seen jogging in the area of Central Avenue and Zach Curlin Street in midtown Memphis, near the University of Memphis campus in southwest Tennessee, on Friday morning at approximately 4:20 a.m. local time, according to the Memphis Police Department. She was approached by a man and forced into a dark-colored GMC Terrain, which then took off, traveling westbound on Central Avenue, police said.
Fletcher’s husband, Richard Fletcher, reported her missing about three hours later, telling investigators that she never returned home from her regular 4 a.m. run, according to an affidavit of the complaint made public Sunday by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the affidavit, police believe Fletcher suffered “serious injury” during the abduction, which was captured on surveillance video.
The video showed a black GMC Terrain initially driving by Fletcher as she jogged, then stopping in a parking lot ahead of her and waiting for her to come by, according to the affidavit.
“A male exited the black GMC Terrain, ran aggressively toward the victim, and then forced the victim Eliza Fletcher into the passenger’s side of the vehicle. During this abduction, there appeared to be a struggle,” the affidavit states.
Citing the video, investigators said the SUV sat in a parking lot with the victim inside for about four minutes before it drove off, according to the affidavit.
The video also captured the same SUV in the area of the kidnapping about 24 minutes prior to the abduction, the affidavit alleges.
Police arrested Abston on Saturday after learning that the registered owner of the GMC Terrain lived at the same residence as Abston, according to the affidavit. As the U.S. Marshals Service moved in to make the arrests, Abston allegedly tried to flee in the SUV but was quickly taken into custody.
During questioning, Abston, who works at a dry cleaners, refused to tell investigators anything about Fletcher’s whereabouts, according to the affidavit.
Abston previously pleaded guilty in 2001 of especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery in Shelby County, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
He served 20 years in prison for kidnapping a prominent Memphis attorney at gunpoint, according to a report by The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis newspaper. Abston, who was 16 at the time, forced the attorney into the trunk of a car and made him withdraw cash from an ATM, the newspaper reported.
The attorney managed to escape when he yelled for help and drew the attention of a Memphis Housing Authority guard, according to the newspaper.
Fletcher is the granddaughter of Joseph “Joe” Orgill III, a prominent Tennessee businessman who died in 2018. Her family is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to her safe return. They pleaded for people to come forward in a video statement released by the Memphis Police Department on Saturday.
“More than anything, we want to see Liza returned home safely,” Fletcher’s uncle, Mike Keeney, said in the video. “We believe someone knows what happened and can help.”
Anyone with information on Fletcher’s whereabouts can call the Memphis Police Department at either (901) 528-2274 or (901) 545-2677, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND, or dial 911.
(CAMAS, Wash.) — A woman made a daring escape from a moving car after being abducted by a man with a knife who she stopped to help and give water to in the early hours of the morning, police say.
The incident occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning in the 24000 block of NE 28th street in Camas, Washington — about 20 miles east of Portland, Oregon, — when authorities from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an in-progress trespass, according to a statement published by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
“The caller stated that a female was banging on the door saying that she had just jumped from a moving vehicle after being kidnapped,” the statement read. “Deputies arrived on scene and contacted a female in the front yard who appeared in distress.”
The unidentified female told authorities on scene that while she was near Mill Plain Boulevard and Grand Boulevard — about 12 miles west of where she was eventually found by police — a man approached her vehicle and asked her if she had any water, police say.
“She helped the male out by providing him some water and then allowed the male to get into her vehicle,” said Clark County Sheriff’s Office. “Once in the vehicle, the male produced a knife and used the threat of violence to take control of the car and then drove with the female victim to the area of NE 28th Street.”
The female victim told police that when the vehicle began to slow down while traveling along a dirt road near Fern Prairie, Washington, she jumped out of her vehicle and ran toward a residential area where she began knocking on people’s doors and yelling for help.
Officers from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office subsequently launched a search for the woman’s vehicle which they were able to locate a short time later. However, after stopping briefly for authorities once they made contact with the driver, the suspect made an attempt to elude authorities by driving off.
During that brief contact, police were able to observe that the suspect matched the description that was given to them by the female victim and then began to pursue the runaway driver.
“Deputies initiated a pursuit of vehicle,” said Clark County Sheriff’s Office. “The pursuit began at approximately 05:14 am in the area of NE 28th Street/ NE 222nd Avenue and concluded at approximately 05:25 am near NE 2nd Street/ NE 115th Avenue when deputies, with the assistance of officers from the Vancouver Police Department, were able to pin the vehicle when it came to a stop.”
The unidentified driver was eventually arrested and taken into custody. He refused to identify himself when he was apprehended and was booked into the Clark County Jail on first degree charges of robbery and kidnapping, as well as attempt to elude and reckless driving charges.
Police are still working to confirm the identity of the suspect in custody and, due to the nature of this case, Clark County Sheriff’s Office says that the female victim involved in the incident will not be identified at this time.
(WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash.) — A search for nine people presumed dead after a floatplane crashed in Washington’s Puget Sound was suspended on Monday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard called off the search around noon local time after conducting 26 search sorties it said covered about 2,100 square nautical miles.
“It is always difficult when it comes time to make a decision to stop searching,” said Capt. Daniel Broadhurst, the incident management branch chief for the 13th Coast Guard District. “The hearts of all the first responders go out to those who lost a family member, a loved one or a friend in the crash.”
The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter float plane crashed in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island around 3:10 p.m. local time Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
There were 10 people onboard, nine adults and one child, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard recovered the body of one person, the branch’s Pacific Northwest division wrote on Twitter Sunday evening. The Coast Guard said Monday that search-and-rescue crews found no signs of the others.
At the time it was suspended, rescue crews were focusing on Mutiny Bay, west of Whidbey Island, according to the Coast Guard.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate,” the FAA said. “The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates.”
The NTSB said on Twitter Monday that it is sending a seven-member team to investigate the crash.
The plane was traveling from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to Renton Municipal Airport near Seattle when it crashed, the USCG said, with the cause of the crash unknown at this time. The Coast Guard had initially said the plane was traveling from Friday Harbor to Seattle Tacoma International Airport, which it later corrected.
The Coast Guard responded to a report of the crash that was initially said to have eight adults and one child onboard, according to USCG Pacific Northwest. The USCG later corrected its statement, saying there were 10 people unaccounted for in the crash.
South Whidbey Fire/EMS said that its crew was at the scene near the west side of Whidbey Island.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck, Teddy Grant and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(NORFOLK, Va.) — A shooting in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday has left two people dead and five others injured, law enforcement officials said.
The Norfolk Police Department said the incident happened around midnight Saturday into early Sunday morning at a party in the 5000 block of Killam Avenue.
Four women and three men were wounded in the shooting and sent to area hospitals, with two people later succumbing to their injuries, according to Norfolk police.
Several of the victims were students at Norfolk State University, the school said. The university is offering counseling services to students impacted by the shooting.
Zabre Miller, 25, and Angelia McKnight, 19, died at the hospital as a result of their injuries, Norfolk PD said.
McKnight was a second-year student at the school studying nursing, university President Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston said in a statement.
“Angelia’s life was important and every Spartan is a key member of our campus,” Adams-Gaston said. “With our strength, we will continue to work together.”
Authorities said that a fight broke out at the party, where a suspect took out a gun and started shooting. There were reportedly multiple firearms used in the incident, police said.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander called for crime to end in the city.
“Let me be clear to anyone in our community committing crimes and engaging in acts of lawlessness, we will hold you accountable for your actions. The violence must end now,” Alexander said at a press conference on Sunday.
(WEED, Calif.) — A wildfire raging in Northern California took a tragic turn as two bodies were recovered after the blaze swept into a small town, damaging or destroying more than 100 structures, authorities said.
Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue broke the grim news at a community meeting Sunday night, telling residents that the Mill Fire, which has burned more than 4,200 acres near the town of Weed, had claimed two lives.
“It’s one thing to come up here and tell you things, but to look at your faces … it almost brings me to tears,” LaRue said before reporting that two people had been killed and asking for a moment of silence.
The sheriff’s office released a statement early Monday reporting that the two deceased individuals were women, ages 66 and 73. The sheriff’s office said the remains were located on Friday by first responders within the city limits of Weed.
The sheriff office did not provide any further details on the deaths.
The news came as firefighters appeared to be getting a handle Sunday on the Mill Fire while dealing with new challenges being caused by the Mountain Fire, which is also burning in Siskiyou County near the Oregon border.
The Mill Fire was 40% contained Sunday night after burning 4,254 acres since igniting on Friday, according to Cal Fire officials.
The Mountain Fire has grew from 6,451 acres Sunday morning to nearly 9,000 by Sunday night , according to Cal Fire. The Mountain Fire, which was only 10% contained Sunday night, forced the evacuations of more than 300 people living in the remote rural area of Siskiyou County, officials said.
Winds on the ridges of the Mountain Fire were of particular concern for firefighters, who feared they could spread burning embers and ignite spot fires, according to Cal Fire’s update Sunday on the blaze.
Firefighters are battling the dueling fires amid triple-digit heat.
“Weather continues to be hot and dry with poor overnight relative humidity recoveries,” Cal Fire said Sunday.
The agency said firefighters will remain focused on defending structures and expanding containment lines around the two blazes.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou County to support the response to the fires.
The mayor of Weed, meanwhile, reported new details on the Mill Fire, which ravaged her town of more than 2,600 people, injuring several people as they fled the flames and damaging or destroying at least 132 structures, including many homes.
Mayor Kim Greene told ABC News the Mill Fire started Friday in an old warehouse at the town’s lumber mill, the Roseburg Forest Products, which sits near a park and a cluster of homes she said were nearly all destroyed.
“My co-worker’s husband ran in and said, ‘There’s a fire,'” Greene recalled. “By the time we go out the front door to see, [there] was just a big puff of black smoke. You could hear the small explosions.”
Fanned by 30 mph winds, Greene said the blaze spread quickly, jumped a set of train tracks and swept into a neighborhood.
Green said many people had only minutes to escape. An ABC News crew observed several walkers and wheelchairs abandoned along streets as people fled for their lives. Numerous vehicles sat charred in roadways and driveways of homes completely destroyed.
The Mill Fire, according to Cal Fire, caused more than 1,000 people to be evacuated.
Firefighters got a break from the high winds on Saturday, but high temperatures continue to be a challenge, Cal Fire officials said. The temperature in Redding, in Northern California, was expected to be 111 degrees on Monday.
Capt. Robert Foxworthy of Cal Fire said the high temperatures are forcing firefighters to take precautions to protect themselves physically.
“It makes it a little bit tougher physically on those firefighters that are working on the ground,” Foxworthy told ABC News. “You have them making sure they are hydrating and making sure they are getting good rest cycles, making sure those folks are getting good meals and nutrition so when they do go and work on these fires in those conditions, they are the best they can be to deal with those conditions.”
ABC News’ Alex Presha and Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.
Flores Elementary School is pictured in Uvalde, Texas, on Aug. 21, 2022. – Kat Caulderwood/ABC News
(UVALDE, Texas) — When gunfire broke out at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, teacher Elsa Avila said her fourth graders followed lockdown protocols.
“I slammed my door. I turned off the lights, and I told the kids, ‘Let’s move, let’s move. Let’s go, let’s go.’ They knew what to do,” she told ABC News.
As soon as they hid in a corner of the classroom, they heard gunfire in the hallway, Avila said, and the kids started crying.
When Avila stood up to check on her students, she said she felt a gunshot pierce her abdomen and she fell to the floor.
“The kids are terrified,” she said. “I was in so much pain. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk.”
She said her fourth graders comforted her and told her, “It’s going to be okay…We love you.”
The gunman never entered Avila’s classroom. She spent weeks in the hospital recuperating.
As the summer drew to a close, Avila, an educator for more than 30 years, knew she wasn’t ready to return to school.
Tuesday marks the first day of classes for the Uvalde school district, over three months after the May 24 massacre that killed 19 students and two teachers. The school year, which usually starts in August, was pushed back to give everyone more time to prepare for the new year.
With Robb’s doors shuttered, students from that school will be moved to one of three other district elementary schools.
The students who were wounded at Robb left the district and are now attending Uvalde’s Sacred Heart Catholic School, where classes started in August, according to the diocese. In the wake of the massacre, Sacred Heart said its enrollment more than doubled to over 100 students.
Some Uvalde families, critical of the school district’s safety protocols, aren’t ready to send their kids back to classrooms and are opting for homeschooling or virtual learning. Uvalde’s school district said it created a new virtual schooling framework so children can learn from home and access counselors and other resources remotely.
Eight-year-old Zayon Martinez, who was at Robb the day of the massacre, is one of those choosing virtual learning as he starts third grade.
Zayon didn’t act like himself for weeks after the shooting, his dad, Adam Martinez, told ABC News. Zayon is starting to get back to normal, he said, but still has nightmares and is extra cautious.
Early in the summer, Adam Martinez said he knew his 12-year-old daughter and Zayon wouldn’t be ready to return to their classrooms.
“We started putting pressure on the school board and the police, city council,” he said. “We were demanding actions like more school safety, firing the cops, fencing, bulletproof windows.”
The district soon “started moving a little faster” with the new protocols, like fencing and a larger police presence, he said.
“But as I told my children that, they didn’t care,” Adam Martinez said. “They said, ‘Who cares if there’s cops or not? They’re not gonna go in, they’re not gonna protect us.'”
A state investigation found the police response to the school shooting was delayed 77 minutes and plagued with failures. A special committee in the Texas legislature issued a report that found school district police chief Pete Arredondo “failed to perform or to transfer to another person the role of incident commander.”
Arredondo was fired on Aug. 24.
His lawyers said in a statement that day that he couldn’t have served as incident commander because he was on the front line and that officers were unaware there were others in the room with the shooter.
The legislature’s report also found failures in facilities maintenance and advance preparation, including insufficient security at points of entry and a “culture of noncompliance by school personnel who frequently propped doors open and deliberately circumvented locks.”
District superintendent Dr. Hal Harrell announced new security measures this summer, including assigning 33 state public safety officers to the district; installing 500 cameras; creating one single point of entry at each school; and hiring a “campus monitor” responsible for walking the grounds and checking the gates, locks and doors.
Avila, who isn’t returning to teach as she recovers, said she’s not sure what will make students and parents feel comfortable to transition back to classrooms, because she sees a lot of holes in the district’s protocols.
Avila said Uvalde’s schools need better training, nothing that teachers had been trained for a “lockdown,” but not an active shooter.
“I know if the shooter’s in the building we should be trying to get out. But we were never trained on, how are you going to get out if there’s somebody in the building?” she said, noting that the classroom windows didn’t open.
She said some of the protocols — locking doors and turning off lights — were a hindrance to police who had no idea they were in the classrooms.
The district said it’ll conduct “extensive professional development and training on campus security, campus and district protocols.”
Avila’s also concerned about staff communication. She said she texted her principal saying she’d been shot, but said that wasn’t shared with police.
The district has promised to “evaluate and audit communication and WiFi” at its campuses.
While the district is now providing mental health resources, Avila said she’s worried about the students whose parents aren’t comfortable letting their children meet with counselors.
And although Uvalde is offering virtual learning, Avila said she didn’t find online school during the pandemic especially effective.
“A lot of them don’t have adult supervision during that time…so it’s up to the child to be disciplined and follow along. And we just didn’t see that happening,” she said.
Adam Martinez said his wife will be at home to monitor their 8-year-old and 12-year-old’s virtual learning. The family plans to reevaluate online schooling at the end of the semester.
Venessa Rendon is sending her three children back to in-person school, including her son who attended Robb.
“In my home, virtual is not an option. I feel that their interaction with their peers, and then being in a classroom setting, is more beneficial to them,” she said.
Junior Andrea Perez said her mom wanted her to try virtual learning, but she felt it’d be too difficult to learn that way. Her cousin who attended Robb isn’t going back to in-person learning yet, she added.
Senior Jazmin Cazares, whose 9-year-old sister, Jackie, died at Robb, is also returning to the classroom.
“I’m mentally preparing myself,” she said. “I’m ready to be back, to try to find a little normalcy in my life, but it’s really rough.”
Cazares found it hard to stay focused during COVID-19 virtual learning, so she chose in-person to get more interaction with her teachers.
“Everyone’s a little divided” on back to school, she said. The teen said she thinks the district hasn’t “done much” to upgrade security.
“If you don’t feel safe at school, if your parents don’t feel like you’re safe at school, don’t go. There’re so many other options,” the teen said.
Veronica Mata, whose bubbly 10-year-old daughter, Tess Mata, was killed at Robb, is returning to her job as a kindergarten teacher at another elementary school in Uvalde.
“Teaching was always something that I wanted to do. And I know that Tess would have wanted me to go back,” she told ABC News. “I think if I would have stayed home, it wouldn’t have been good for me.”
“She always loved teaching,” her husband, Jerry Mata, added.
Veronica Mata said she feels safe going back to the classroom.
She added, “We want the accountability. But we can’t let that anger take over our lives. Tess wasn’t an angry person and I think I cannot live being angry all the time.”
ABC News’ Josh Margolin, Olivia Osteen, Jim Scholz, Lucien Bruggeman, Joe Diaz, Kiara Alfonseca, Kat Caulderwood, Brian Mezerski, Mireya Villareal and Patrick Linehan contributed to this report.
