UVALDE – Four months have passed since the unthinkable happened in Uvalde and the lives of 19 students and two teachers were claimed inside of Robb Elementary School.
For many, the pain is just as fresh as it was on May 24th.
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The guardian and unlce of Uziyah Garcia, Brett Cross, spoke out on Twitter Saturday morning, detailing how that day unfolded for his family.
He said it was a day that started like any other until he received an unexpected phone call.
“This time four months ago, it was a normal day. I was at my office getting a booklet made for each of my coworkers that would show their growth in their skills to help get them raises,” Cross said on Twitter. “Two hours from then, I’d get a call that would shatter my world.”
Cross said his wife called him in a panic, screaming that there was a shooter at Uziyah’s school. An 18-year-old gunman had stormed into Robb Elementary and opened fire on two classrooms.
Law enforcement delayed confronting the gunman for nearly an hour.
As Cross bolted to his car and headed toward Robb Elementary, his wife called him again, but this time, he said he could hear gunshots in the background.
“I got another call. ‘He’s in the fourth-grade hallway, and I can’t get ahold of Uzi!’” Cross said. “The shots rang through my phone as my wife was telling me this.”
When Cross got to town, he received a third call from his wife and was told to head to the civic center.
“I headed there, not knowing it would be eight hours of sitting and hoping,” he said. “As busloads of children got off, Uzi’s class never made it.”
Cross said he asked his other 10-year-old child to call his friends to see if they’d heard from Uziyah but had no luck.
Once he heard that Uziyah’s teacher had been shot, that was the moment that Cross knew something terrible had happened.
“I knew then that my little boy wasn’t coming home. I knew that I was going to receive the news I had always dreaded,” Cross said.
Details on the Robb Elementary shooting from Uvalde CISD police and officials were scarce that day until Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference that afternoon. It was then that the governor confirmed 14 deaths.
Cross and his family had been waiting at the city’s civic center for answers on what happened to Uziyah, when he noticed 13 other families waiting nearby.
“I knew. At 7:30 to 8, we got called back to another room. I knew. To hear the words ‘I’m sorry but Uziyah didn’t make it,’ is the moment my world crumbled,” Cross said.
His family returned home, shaken from the news they just received. Cross said he only had three minutes to figure out how he was going to tell Uzi’s siblings about what happened.
“My grief is incomparable to the moment I had to tell them. Some dropped to their knees, one ran to the backyard, one helped me hold the little ones,” Cross said. “The wail of my daughter is a sound that stays with me, just the same as hearing the shots.”
The days that followed were a blur for Cross as he and his family processed the unthinkable with the loss of Uziyah.
Four months later, the aftermath of the shooting looks no different, as little has been done to combat gun violence by state lawmakers and Gov. Greg Abbott, despite the many pleas from the Uvalde community.
“It’s been four months and nothing’s changed. Nobody is being held accountable. Nothing has been done. Us parents should be at home grieving to the fullest, yet we are having to fight every entity imaginable,” he said.
Cross joins the other families of the Robb Elementary victims in their calls for change, action and accountability.
They gathered last month at the Texas State Capitol for the March for Our Lives and continue to plead to Gov. Abbott to call a special session to take action on gun safety.
RELATED: Uvalde shooting victims’ families call on Gov. Abbott to take action on gun safety
Cross said he plans to keep fighting until “real change has been made.”
“Even then I will continue. Our kids deserve better. We deserve better. It’s been four months!” he said.
This time, four months ago, It was a normal day. I was at my office getting a booklet made for each of my coworkers that would show their growth in their skills to help get them raises. 2 hours from then, I’d get a call that would shatter my world. My wife called, screaming
— Brett Cross (@BCross052422) September 24, 2022