'Infinite Pain': Sandy Hook Reacts To Texas School Shooting

NEWTOWN, CT — At least 19 students and two adults have died in a shooting at a Texas elementary school Tuesday. For many in Connecticut, the shootings have ripped open wounds never completely healed following a startlingly similar gun violence episode in 2012 when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Po Murray, the chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance, a grassroots gun control advocacy group formed shortly after the Sandy Hook shootings, said her organization was "devastated."

"For the past decade, we have warned all Americans, including elected politicians across the nation, that if a mass shooting can happen in Sandy Hook, then it can happen anywhere."

Murray called upon Congress to immediately pass an assault weapons ban bill introduced by Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline and California Sen. Diane Feinstein. The legislation would forbid the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also drew upon the parallels between the Sandy Hook and Robb Elementary School tragedies.

"My heart breaks as I re-live the shock & grief of Sandy Hook ten years ago, knowing the infinite pain that will hit these families in Texas," Blumenthal tweeted. "This senseless violence will stop only when Congress matches thoughts & prayers with action."

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., saw the latest school shooting tragedy as a call to action.

"Oh my god. I’m shaking. I’m just shaking all over," Murphy posted on Twitter. "With fear. With anger. With resolve."

Murphy then took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to make a dramatic plea for stronger gun control legislation.

"Sandy Hook will never ever be the same. This community in Texas will never ever be the same," Murphy said. "I'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that makes this less likely. I understand my Republican colleagues may not agree to everything that I may support, but there is a common denominator that we can find."

Texas Gov. Rick Abbott identified the Robb Elementary School shooter as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a local man. The shooter was armed with a handgun when he entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and was believed to have been killed in the shooting by law enforcement officers, Abbott told the press.

It is possible he also brought a rifle into the school, but that has not been confirmed, Abbott said.

The shooting in Uvalde, outside San Antonio, is in fact the deadliest at a U.S. elementary school since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. It also comes four years after a gunman killed 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area.

The Texas governor said he and his wife "mourn this horrific loss & urge all Texans to come together," but State Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan, whose 2nd Congressional District includes Newtown, urged the governor to do more.

"It has been nearly a decade since Sandy Hook & gun safety legislation has been repeatedly blocked by Congress. American gun violence is an epidemic. My heart is with Ulvalde. But thoughts & prayers are not enough," Democrat Allie-Brennan tweeted.

State Republican chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called the second school shooting in Texas in two years "an absolutely heartbreaking tragedy." She added she was "praying for the people of Uvalde after this senseless act of violence."

Gov. Ned Lamont directed flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff, in accordance with a proclamation by President Joe Biden.

"One life taken by gun violence is too many, but 15 innocent lives, including 14 children, is an utter tragedy," Lamont said in a statement. "Nearly ten years after Sandy Hook, Connecticut knows this feeling all too well. Our collective hearts and prayers go out to the families in Uvalde trying to process the unimaginable."

Lamont likened gun violence to a public health crisis, and said it was "incumbent upon lawmakers everywhere, whether it’s Connecticut, Texas, or our nation’s capital, to rise to the moment in addressing this problem."

The Republican nominee for Connecticut governor, Bob Stefanowski, said he had "no words that suffice in the wake of tragic loss like we're seeing in Texas. Praying for the loved ones of those left behind to mourn."

Posting on Twitter, State Sen. Will Haskell, who represents District 26, likewise had "no words yet. Just heartbreak for the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends and family whose hearts were broken today. And sadness for yet another community traumatized by gun violence. And fury that our country continues allowing this to happen."