(NEW YORK) — Police fatally shot a Michigan man after he allegedly killed his wife and dog, and wounded his daughter, according to law enforcement officials.
Police responded to a call around 4 a.m. Sunday from a woman who had allegedly been shot by her dad, whom police identified as 53-year-old Igor Lanis, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
After officers arrived at the home, they heard gunshots and began to approach the residence when the suspect emerged from the front door and began firing at them with a shotgun, police said.
A Walled Lake police officer and an Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy returned fire, striking and killing Lanis, according to authorities.
Officers said they saw the 25-year-old woman who called 911 at the front door “attempting to crawl from the home” before dragging her to safety, authorities said.
“She stated that her dad shot her and her mother,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “She was transported to an area hospital and rushed into emergency surgery.”
“Currently, the daughter has been stabilized, but obviously she has super traumatic injuries from a shotgun blast to her back and legs,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a news conference Monday.
Law enforcement officials searched the home and discovered the body of a 56-year-old woman who had been “shot multiple times in the back, and it appears that she was also attempting to flee out of the front door,” the sheriff’s office said.
The family dog had also been “shot multiple times and killed,” according to authorities.
The Oakland County Special Investigations Unit and the Walled Lake Police Department are conducting an investigation.
(LOS ANGELES) — Rapper PnB Rock, an up-and-coming hip-hop artist from Philadelphia, was fatally shot Monday afternoon during a robbery at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, police sources told ABC News. He was 30 years old.
Although the Los Angeles Police Department did not officially name the victim, sources at the LAPD told ABC News on Monday evening that the rapper, whose legal name is Rakim Hasheem Allen, was the victim seen in social media videos of the incident captured by witnesses.
The rapper was at the South LA eatery with his girlfriend, according to his social media account, where he shared that he was eating at Roscoe’s in a since-deleted message.
Police said they received a call about a shooting at 1:23 p.m. ET and found a male victim with gunshot wounds. He was transported to an area hospital. According to the LAPD, the victim and a woman were eating in the restaurant when they were approached by at least one suspect who pulled a firearm demanding property. The suspect shot the victim multiple times, removed property and left in a getaway car, according to police.
“What occurred was the victim, along with a female witness, were in this area eating at a restaurant when they were approached by at least one suspect, who brandished a firearm and demanded property from the victim,” LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz said during a Monday afternoon press conference. “The suspect then shot the victim multiple times, and removed property and then left the location in a getaway car.”
Muniz said that multiple shots were fired, and that others on the scene were not injured.
When asked about reports that Allen shared his location on social media ahead of the robbery, Muniz said, “We always are gonna look into the social media,” but added that police couldn’t “verify” that yet.
Police said they are examining surveillance video to identify potential suspects.
Allen released a number of hits that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and was featured in XXL Magazine’s Freshman Class of rappers to watch in 2017.
(LOS ANGELES) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health have confirmed the first death due to monkeypox in a Los Angeles County resident.
The resident was “severely immunocompromised” and had been hospitalized, officials said in a statement.
“Public Health sends heartfelt condolences and wishes of healing to the family and friends mourning the loss of their loved one,” their statement read.
No additional information will be made public for privacy and confidentiality reasons, officials added.
Last week, county officials were investigating the death of someone who had been diagnosed with monkeypox.
There are more than 21,000 cases of monkeypox in the U.S., according to LA County officials.
There are 4,302 positive monkeypox cases in the state — the largest number of cases in the country, California Department of Public Health data shows. About 1,692 people have tested positive for monkeypox in LA County, according to recent data.
In Texas, a Harris County resident who had been diagnosed with monkeypox died last month, state health officials said.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the patient was severely immunocompromised and died at a county hospital.
Health officials have insisted the immunocompromised get vaccinated since they are at an elevated risk of severe disease.
Most cases in the current monkeypox outbreak have been detected in gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men. However, anyone exposed to the virus could become infected with monkeypox, officials said.
According to the CDC, monkeypox primarily spreads through continued skin-to-skin contact with infected people’s lesions or bodily fluids.
In addition to lesions, which can appear like pimples or blisters, the most common symptoms associated with monkeypox are swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.
ABC News’ Alex Stone, Marilyn Heck and Teddy Grant contributed to this report.
(PATERSON, N.J.) — Eight firefighters were injured when two fire trucks crashed into one another while responding to a fire in New Jersey, according to officials.
The trucks were responding to a fire at an electronic store when they collided at Broadway and Straight Street in Paterson, New Jersey, on Saturday, sending one truck crashing into the Golden Mango grocery store and the other into a tree, according to Paterson fire officials.
One firefighter remains in the hospital, a fire official told ABC News.
“Paterson’s Bravest are amazing individuals. Praying for their speedy recovery,” Jerry Speziale, Paterson’s public safety director of police and fire, tweeted.
The fire department in Hackensack, New Jersey, also arrived at the crash scene to evaluate the building and clear out debris, the department said on Facebook.
Riken Patel, the store manager of Golden Mango, told WABC that he was standing near the front of the store right before the crash happened.
“I was there one minute ago and I moved from there, and luckily I moved,” Patel told WABC.
(NEW YORK) — Three young children, one just 3 months old, died after police discovered them unresponsive early Monday on the beach at New York’s Coney Island and detained their mother for questioning, authorities said.
The grim discovery came at 4:42 a.m., about 90 minutes after police launched a frantic search for the children, whose 30-year-old mother was found soaking wet, barefoot and uncommunicative on the Coney Island Boardwalk, police officials said during a news conference.
Kenneth Corey, chief of department for the New York Police Department, said officers immediately performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the children, who were taken to Coney Island Hospital, where they were all pronounced dead. While autopsies will be conducted to determine the cause of death, police suspect the children died from drowning, officials said.
Corey described the children as a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-month-old girl. Their names were not immediately released.
Corey said the incident unfolded around 1:40 a.m., when a relative called 911 and said she was concerned that the mother was going to harm the children.
“I believe she (the mother) had called them and made statements to that effect,” Corey said.
Officers went to the mother’s apartment in Coney Island, knocked on the door but got no answer, Corey said. While at the address, a man showed up and identified himself as the father of one of the children, who also expressed concern for the well-being of the children and told officers he believed the mother had taken them to the boardwalk.
Corey said police immediately launched a search of the mother’s apartment, which was unlocked, the boardwalk, the surrounding neighborhood and the beach. They found the mother on the boardwalk with other relatives, but her children were nowhere in sight.
“She was soaking wet, she was barefoot and she was not communicative to the officers,” Corey said.
He said the search for the children intensified with NYPD helicopters and boats being deployed.
Corey said the children were found unresponsive at the water’s edge near the boardwalk at W. 35th Street.
He said the mother was found about two miles from where police discovered her children.
Corey said the mother, whose name was not released, was detained for questioning, but has not been taken into custody.
(UVALDE, Texas) — “It all goes back to the day of the tragedy,” Javier Cazares, father of 9-year-old Jacklyn Cazares, who was killed in the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, told ABC News.
Javier Cazares is running as a write-in candidate for Uvalde County commissioner in Precinct 2.
“I’m a parent first and my main goal is to fight for what’s right; to do what needs to be done around here,” he said. “Not just for my daughter and her friends who passed, but also for her classmates who survived.”
A cook-off event to kick off Javier Cazares’ campaign took place on Saturday and welcomed community members and several of the self-proclaimed Angel Families who also lost loved ones during the massacre on May 24.
Nikki Cross, aunt and guardian of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia who was also killed at Robb, said she’s confident that Javier Cazares will represent the interests of the families affected by the tragedy. “As a grieving father, he’s got a lot of passion for change,” Cross told ABC News. “He’s just what we need.”
Cazares’s family, among many others from Uvalde, have been to the Texas State Capitol in Austin and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to call for stricter gun control in the wake of the shooting.
Javier Cazares is a longtime gun owner and has never held political office. He’s advocating for what he calls “common sense gun laws,” such as expanding background checks to include juvenile records and lifting the purchasing age restriction to 21.
“After the Parkland shooting in Florida, they were able to change the [state] laws within three months,” he told ABC News. “I’ve never thought about politics, but I want to fight for change and speak for the unheard voices.”
At the cook-off event, the Cazareses set up a rock-painting station for supporters to make decorative rocks for Jacklyn’s rock garden.
Jazmin Cazares, Javier’s older daughter, was there supporting her dad. “It’s not just his kids he’s looking out for — it’s everyone’s kids,” she told ABC News. “Because you don’t want to lose your kid the way my parents have.”
Among other write-in candidates, Javier Cazares is running against incumbent Mariano Pargas Jr. — the acting city police chief on the day of the shooting. Pargas was placed on suspension after the Texas House committee investigating the tragedy released a damning 82-page report outlining the responding officers’ failures to protect students.
Pargas said he’s received support from community members despite the controversy, and hopes his 24-year tenure as county commissioner speaks for itself. “I hope people can remember the good things I’ve done for the community,” Pargas told ABC News. “I want to continue serving the community well.”
The commissioner said he’s proud of his work with low-income children, a community cleanup initiative and an ongoing road improvement plan.
“At the end of the day, it’s up to the people — what they want,” Pargas said. “If they want a change, by all means.”
Meanwhile, at the cook-off, Javier Cazares said Pargas is not doing enough to facilitate change in Uvalde. “I’ve lived in this district for 10 years, and in that time there hasn’t been any change. We have bad roads, bad street lighting, nothing for kids to play on,” he said.
Berlinda Arreola, victim Amerie Jo Garza’s step-grandmother, addressed the crowd: “He may not have as much money in his pocket, but he will work hard for us.”
“No one works harder than an underdog,” she said, “and don’t forget, underdogs have won the Super Bowl.”
Javier’s wife, Gloria Cazares, added, “This is personal for him, and for all of us.”
When asked about his opposition, Pargas said he wishes Javier Cazares and the other write-in candidates the best and offered support if he loses to one of them. “Anything that I can do to help them out once they get into office, I’d be more than glad to,” he added.
(UVALDE, Texas) — The day of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School was funeral director June Ybarra’s scheduled day off. When he got the call about the incident, it was nothing he could have prepared for.
Nineteen children and two teachers died in the May 24 tragedy at the school in Uvalde, Texas — the city Ybarra has called home for about 50 years. Ybarra, 58, was in some way connected to many of those who died. So were many of his colleagues at Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary.
“I don’t think Uvalde or any of us will ever be the same,” Ybarra said.
Taylor Michelle Massey, the manager of Rushing-Estes-Knowles, was at the funeral home on the day of the tragedy. She quickly made calls to get “extra boots on the ground,” knowing immediately that it would be too big a challenge for the small crew.
“We were going to have to be taking care of these families – not just [until] the last child had their funeral. We were going to be taking care of them for years because they are our families,” she said. “Our services don’t stop when final disposition is done. Our services are for a lifetime.”
The Uvalde funeral home planned 16 of the 21 funerals.
The funeral directors and morticians in Uvalde have ushered the city into a long, grueling phase of grieving, anger and sadness. It’s a task that funeral directors have learned how to do well.
But this time, the task was much heavier for the crew at the quaint mortuary. The grief is personal. They say helping the community heal is helping themselves heal as well.
Ybarra has learned a lot about grief throughout his 30 years as a funeral director.
“Before becoming a funeral director, I didn’t think much of life. It was like a fast lane, just get up and go,” he said. “Dealing with death, it just makes you not take life for granted. Because we can be here one day, and we can be gone the next day. I try to live every moment every day, with a lot of joy, peace and love.”
Ybarra still chokes up when talking about his cousin Joe Garcia, who passed away in the midst of planning his wife’s funeral at Rushing-Estes-Knowles. Garcia was married to the Robb Elementary teacher Irma Garcia, a victim of the shooting. Ybarra helped plan the joint funeral for the couple.
He says the job has made him embrace his relationships with people much tighter. He’s “more of a family man, grandfather, a friend, a coworker” than ever – making the most of his connections.
Ybarra is deeply involved in his community – as a head of the Catholic service group Knights of Columbus, a leader in his community at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church and as a coach for school sports teams. As school begins for his students who he coaches in softball, he hopes he can coach them through these tough, new beginnings as well.
After years of planning funerals, he says he no longer finds time for grudges or hate. He urges others to look for a more positive view on the world when things seem bleak.
Throughout Massey’s career, she says she’s found that no one mourns in the same way, and that’s OK.
She said it’s not always a linear progression through the stages of grief: “You can be angry and then have acceptance and then go back to denial. And people need to understand that everybody grieves differently.”
Massey and Ybarra also found that it’s important to lean on one another during times of such great loss, finding solace in those offering help within your circles or seeking out help.
“We’re here for the victims and their families. We’re here for the survivors as well,” Ybarra said. “Because they’re going through some grief and some hard times and they’re traumatized.”
Massey learned much about being a funeral director from Ybarra. In fact, she became a funeral director because of him.
Ybarra helped plan the funeral for Massey’s father when he passed away in a tragic event. His compassion and grace during such a traumatic experience inspired her.
“The way he took care of us and my family – I wanted to do the same thing,” said Massey. “When I switched to the mortuary field, I realized that there’s something that I can do that a lot of people can’t do. And that’s guiding these families and making sure that these loved ones get the proper farewell that they deserve.”
Funeral directors are in the position of not only comforting families during the services, but being around for the long ups and downs of the grieving process.
Massey and Ybarra are now hosting world-renowned grief counselor Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt to speak with Uvalde residents about “tending to your broken heart” following the loss. They are also planning an event for Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican holiday that celebrates the lives of those who have passed.
Massey says the community is going through a vulnerable period – with the tragedy in constant view, a spectacle that others are watching closely. But if Uvalde knows anything, it’s resilience.
“Uvalde is filled with strong people with strong roots and strong heritage. This was something that could have shattered many communities, but it’s not going to shatter us,” said Massey.
She continued, “Whatever we need to do to help keep Uvalde strong, we’re going to keep doing it. Whether it be grief counseling, whether it be just going to have a cup of coffee with you and sit down and talk about your child or talk about your loved one. That’s what we’re here for.”
(NEW YORK) — Twenty-one years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the families who lost loved ones at the World Trade Center and are still seeking to hold them one last time.
For these families, who have yet to receive any remains of their loved ones, the closest they can get is a special section of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum located at what was once the foundation of the north tower of the World Trade Center.
There, behind a blue wall with the message “No day shall erase you from the memory of time,” lies the remains of unidentified victims, along with a room that only victims’ families can access to pay their respects. It includes a window that looks on the rows of cabinets that contain the remains.
“It’s designed in a way that if some families aren’t ready, they can still be close to the remains but not actually view in,” Jennifer Odien, a World Trade Center anthropologist at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), told ABC News’ “Start Here.”
While the museum’s repository serves as a somber memorial ground for those families that have no physical proof that their loved ones perished on 9/11, the forensic team at OCME has been testing samples of those remains to try to make positive identifications in their own lab in Manhattan.
And even though the team said the task has been daunting for 21 years and counting due to the sheer scope of work, they are still determined to give these families closure.
There were 2,753 peopled killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The victims include passengers on American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, first responders and people who worked in the towers. The bodies of the victims were so badly degraded by the explosion and collapse of the towers that remains were still being found as late as 2006, according to OCME.
As of Sept. 1, 1,647, roughly 60%, of the total number of victims, have been identified, according to OCME. The last two recent identifications were made last year. There are 1,106 victims who remain unidentified.
Mark Desire, the assistant director of OCME’s department of forensic biology, told “Start Here” that he went straight to the World Trade Center when the attacks happened and escaped its collapse. The next day he and his team went back to their labs to begin their work assessing the deaths.
“We were beat up and bruised, but this was the biggest thing we had ever seen. There was no way it was going to keep us away,” he said.
Desire said the heat, fire, jet fuel, water, sunlight, mold and bacteria present following the attacks has left many of the remains extremely fragile for analysis so his team has had to grind up tiny pieces of bone to extract DNA.
“Some of these fragments are so small, you get one shot,” he said.
One of the struggles that Desire said his team has had to face is communicating with the families who are waiting for confirmations that remains have matched a loved one.
Every year, the forensics team meets with families on Sept. 10 to give them an update.
“It’s been 21 years. You know, [the parents are] getting up there in age, and when we meet with them they ask if we can promise that…we make sure that the remains get to because all these parents want to do is hold their child again before they die,” he said.
Even on the occasions when the OCME team is successful and report their findings to a family, emotions are still strong, according to Desire.
Carl Gajewski, a DNA lab supervisor at OCME, recalled an instance when the team revealed they made an identification of a man who died on 9/11 just as his family had traveled to New York from overseas. The forensics team delivered the news in person through an interpreter.
“You see the interpreter’s face, because she realizes in that moment what she’s, what’s happening,” he told “Start Here.” “There was just this visceral release of energy from the mother and father. I think it was like a shockwave that went through us all. I’ll never forget it. And in the end, we were all like crying and hugging and they were hugging us. And that’s a moment I’ll never forget in my life.”
Desire said the office has upgraded its tools and resources with the latest technology and has worked with other scientists around the world to help reach their goal.
And even if his team identifies the hundreds of remains still unaccounted for, Desire acknowledged that no amount of science can ever fill the void that was left behind in the families’ hearts.
“We provide answers. We provide here’s something physical that you’re now able to have a whatever kind of ceremony, reflection, whatever you choose. It’s our job. Our job is, our job isn’t to bring closure. That’s up to the family to decide,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Most of Oregon is in extreme fire danger, as several fires are already burning, evacuations have been ordered in several regions and power has been shut off to thousands of customers due to the high fire risk.
The largest active fire in the state is the Double Creek, which grew by over 41,000 acres overnight, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, which coordinates wildfire incidents for agencies in Oregon and Washington.
The Double Creek Fire, which was caused by lightning, has burned over 147,000 acres in northeastern Oregon since igniting on Aug. 30 and is 15% contained, fire officials said Saturday.
Saturday 🔥 fire update!
2️⃣ New Fires: Goat Rocks & Henderson Spring
1️⃣8️⃣ Existing Fires
✅No new lightning observed.
✅Cedar Creek is 36,377 acres and 12% contained.
✅Double Creek Fire is 142,791 acres and 15% contained. The fire saw 41,814 acres of growth overnight. pic.twitter.com/LrKLks85pK
— Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (@NWCCInfo) September 10, 2022
Evacuations are in effect for the town of Imnaha north to the Snake River and south to Highway 39.
Another concern is the Cedar Creek Fire in western Oregon, burning in the National Forest east of the community of Oakridge in Lane County. The lightning-caused fire has so far burned over 51,000 acres since igniting in early August and is 12% contained, state fire officials said.
“Saturday’s fire activity is expected to be extreme, with long-range spotting and crown runs,” the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal said in an update Saturday.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for communities in the greater Oakridge area Friday night.
“The fire remains outside Oakridge and the surrounding communities but today’s high heat will challenge firefighters as they protect homes and critical infrastructure,” the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal said Saturday.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a fire emergency Friday in response to the Cedar Creek Fire. She has invoked similar emergency acts for the Double Creek fire and the Sturgill Fire in the northeast and the Rum Creek Fire in the southwest. On Aug. 28, she declared a wildfire state of emergency to free up state resources to respond to fires.
One of the latest fires to ignite was a grass fire south of Salem, sparking evacuation orders Friday night. By Saturday morning, the Vitae Springs Fire was 100% contained, city officials said.
State officials warned residents this week that already active wildfires could worsen this weekend, or new ones could start, with increased fire risk due to high winds and high temperatures. Northwest Oregon in particular is facing extreme fire danger, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
To mitigate potential fire risks caused by damaged power lines, power shut-offs are in effect for customers in western Oregon, including some 12,000 Pacific Power customers south of Salem and some 30,000 Portland General Electric customers. The outages are expected to last through Saturday.
All ODF-protected lands are now in Extreme Fire Danger. The next couple of days are critical. Please:
– Avoid open flames or any activity creating sparks
– Never park on dry grass, and ensure tow chains aren’t dragging
– Respect public use restrictions.
All Oregon Department of Forestry-protected lands are also in extreme fire danger, the agency said Friday, while urging people to avoid any activity that could create sparks.
“The next couple of days are critical,” the department said.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Despite her daughter’s fearfulness to return to school in Uvalde and her pleas to learn at home, Sandra Gracia is sending her daughter, Elva, back to school because she can’t afford the online alternative.
“I want to [homeschool], because I think I’d feel more safe…but I have to work,” said Gracia, a single mom.
Just over three months ago, a shooter entered Robb Elementary School where Elva was enrolled and killed 19 of her fellow students and two teachers. Her mother told ABC News her daughter is traumatized after seeing kids coming out of the school wearing clothing marred with blood. Elva’s cousin, Eliahana Cruz Torres, was among the victims.
Families are faced with new considerations as they navigate shared grief, an ongoing investigation involving their school district’s police department and increased security measures that some find insufficient.
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
The first day of school this fall looked different for every student in Uvalde. The public school district in Uvalde gave families a virtual and in-person option, though each presents unique challenges.
A week before the first day of school, the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board announced 136 students were enrolled in the virtual academy — that figure dropped to 59 on the first day of school, with a total student enrollment of 3,724 students, according to the district. Less than 2% of students in Uvalde have opted to learn from home through the school’s offered program.
The school district did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for overall student withdrawal numbers. This figure would include students who have chosen to homeschool using a third-party program.
Fernanda Moreno, grandmother to fifth grader Gemma, who attended Robb Elementary School, is sending her granddaughter back to school for a sense of normalcy.
“I want her to take the fear away from her and go ahead…leave everything behind and go to school, and forget anything…you know, go to school and everything and move on,” Moreno said.
Gemma added that she learns better in a traditional school environment. A predominantly Spanish speaker, her grandmother said another contributing factor in their decision is that she doesn’t feel capable of helping Gemma with virtual school because of her limited computer skills.
The 2016-2020 U.S. Census reported that 29.7% of households in Uvalde County do not have a subscription to broadband internet, almost 15% above the national average. According to the same report, 19% of the population lives below the poverty line. Almost half of the Uvalde County population speaks a language other than English at home. All of these factors impact whether virtual learning is a feasible option for families.
Without reliable internet access, kids can’t learn online. In an environment where learning is presented in English, an available, fluent and digitally-literate English speaker is necessary for concept-grasping and homework. In Gemma’s case, this is her family’s barrier to opting for at-home learning. The statistics indicate a significant portion of Uvaldean families, as in the Gracias’ case, don’t have the means to stay at home with their children when they must work.
Other parents can accommodate their children for at-home learning, but the option doesn’t come without its own challenges. Tina Quintanilla told ABC News her daughter, Mehle, made the decision to homeschool remotely outside of the district’s virtual offering.
“It was her choice. It was solely her choice. I asked her what she wanted to do. And she said she was not ready to go back to school,” she said.
Quintanilla said that triggering reminders of the shooting are pervasive throughout the district, and that her daughter simply doesn’t feel safe. She said security issues, which she claimed have long been a problem, have not been properly addressed, which is why her daughter is opting for virtual learning.
“If she don’t feel safe, she’s not going to go,” she said.
The school district previously announced an elaborate security enhancement plan that includes an installment of 500 cameras, the hiring of school monitors and a supplemental deployment of 33 Texas Department of Public Safety officers, among other initiatives.
Parents like Quintanilla still find fault in the initiative, as the enhancement plan’s completion will occur sometime after the start of school and officers who responded to the shooting are permitted to return this fall, despite public scrutiny and outcry from the community.
Another downside to homeschooling is a lack of socialization. Quintanilla said her daughter is not only missing her friends who tragically died in May, but also old and new friendships that come with a traditional, in-person school setting.
“When we were kids, we wanted to have our friends and run and play and be kids. And now these kids think about school safety, and that’s horrible,” she said.
Adam Martinez also worries about the missing social component, but that hasn’t changed his plan to enroll his children in UCISD’s virtual academy. A parent to two kids in the district, Martinez said he and his wife can’t send their kids back because the children are terrified. Their 8-year-old son, Zayon, was a student at Robb and present the day of the shooting.
“He’s said that the cops aren’t gonna protect him if it happens again,” Martinez told ABC News.
Even if they weren’t fearful, Martinez said, he refuses to allow them back onto campus until the district finishes the security installment and provides answers from their investigation.
On the morning of Sept. 6, the first day of school, a portion of the exterior fence at Benson Elementary was being re-installed as children got off their buses. The fences at Flores Elementary were also incomplete; construction workers could be seen drilling holes for fence posting as students entered school buildings. The UCISD website shows a progress graphic that indicates camera installation has only been completed on one of the eight schools in the plan.
When asked how his family will manage homeschooling, Martinez said his wife’s maternity leave, at least for a few months, will allow her to assist their kids. The rest of the year’s logistics, he said they will figure out.
“Even if we didn’t have options, we can’t send him if he’s scared to death,” he said.
