UPDATED May 28, 2022 with more victims' identities.
United Methodists expressed grief, anger and frustration at the May 24 school shooting in predominantly Latino Ulvade, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead.
As of noon May 25, law enforcement officials identified the shooter as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who like other recent gunmen had purchased two AR-style assault weapons used in the attack and presaged his intentions in social media posts.
According to multiple news reports, law enforcement also began identifying those killed at Robb Elementary School:
- Eva Mireles, 44, a fourth-grade teacher;
- Irma Garcia, a fourth-grade teacher who co-taught with Mireles and was in her 23rd year of teaching at Robb Elementary;
- Uziyah Garcia, 8; whose grandfather Manny Renfro said he was "the sweetest little boy I've ever known."
- Xavier Javier Lopez, 10, who loved swimming and dancing with his brothers;
- Amerie Jo Garza, 10, who received an "A and B Honor Roll" certificate hours before she died;
- Rojelio Torres, 10, whose aunt Precious Perez described him as "very intelligent, hard-working and helpful;"
- Cousins Jackie Cazares and Annabelle Rodriguez, both 10, who were in the same class;
- Jaliah Nicole Silguero, 11, who told her father she didn’t want to go to classes Tuesday;
- Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10, who was Jaliah’s cousin, had many friends and made coffee for his grandparents every morning;
- Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, who loved tumbling and cheerleading;
- Jose Flores, 10, who loved to play baseball, according to his uncle Christopher Salazar;
- Tess Marie Mata, 10;
- Ellie Garcia, 10, whose father said she was "a little doll;"
- Nevaeh Bravo, no age given, whose family called her "princess" in a social media post;
- Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, who loved to play sports;
- Alithia Ramirez, 10, who drew a picture of her deceased friend last year to comfort his grieving mother;
- Maite Rodriguez, 10;
- Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10, who made all A's in school and wanted to be a lawyer so she could "make a difference," said her relatives.
- Miranda Mathis, 11;
- Layla Salazar, 10, who loved to swim and dance to TikTok videos.
According to a press release, Council of Bishops President Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton today urged clergy and laity to go on offense to stop mass shootings like the one that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas.
“My 'statement' today is quite simple: Let’s go on the offense. If you are a pastor, weave our theology of a lived-out faith into sermons that challenge people to convert their fears, angers, racist tendencies, and complicit behaviors into a mobilized witness of the power of God to do far more than we could ever dream of or imagine,” Bishop Bickerton said.
He called on the laity too: “If you are a lay person, determine today how you will take the faith you nurture each week in a pew to the streets, the places where you work, and the homes where you live. If you are a church body, don’t settle for just active shooter training. Determine that you will actively work to transform lives from violence to peace, elect officials that will not settle for inaction, and inject communities with the grace and love of Christ that will alter the course of our current behaviors.”
Writing on behalf of the Council, Bishop Bickerton said he refuses to see this period of our lives as a permanent time of disarray. “Instead, I choose to see this an interim time, a time that will not remain as it is, a time that will not be the standard upon which we experience the life we have been blessed to live. As United Methodists we embrace a gospel and a mission that we state has the power to transform the world.”
The call today is for every United Methodist Christian to go on the offense, stating what we believe the power of God can do in our midst, opening ourselves to power of God at work within us, and doing whatever we can to alter the current course of behavior once and for all.
Click here to read the full statement from Bishop Bickerton.
Bishop Robert Schnase of Rio Texas Annual Conference, where Uvalde is located, issued this statement:
“Our hearts are broken for the people of Uvalde, Texas. We are devastated over the multiple lives lost during the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School. We mourn those who died today and fervently pray for the families of the victims and surround the larger community of Uvalde in prayer. We have been in touch with our own Rev. Steve Peyton and are grateful for his presence and the presence of other clergy on the ground. We are grateful for those who care for the wounded and care for the families. More details will come forth, and we know more will need to be done, but for now the grief is indescribable and deeply painful. Lord have mercy; hear our prayers.”
Bishop Julius C. Trimble, Indiana Area, responded in the form of a litany:
“Weep not for me but for yourselves and your children.” -Jesus in Luke 23:28
It has been said that when an older person dies, we lose a library. What do we lose when children die, especially so tragically? We lose a planet, a star, and pieces of the universe because precious lives have been shattered.
Keep our children safe, O God, because children matter most.
Conversations about what is wrong with our society seem so meaningless when hearts are broken, when elementary school children are slaughtered in a place that should be a safe haven. They are sacrificed on the altar of gun violence.
Keep our children safe, O God, because children matter most.
Our prayers go out to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Lord, have mercy on the students and teachers and parents and friends and communities crushed by the pain of another school shooting. Keep our children safe, O God, because children matter most.
We pray for the families who are weeping in shock and grief. Again. We pray for the teachers and students whose lives were taken on days meant for learning and living. Again. We pray for our county in a state of grief. Again.
We keep witnessing this nightmare over and over. When will it end?
Keep our children safe, O God, because children matter most.
I am thankful that even in the midst of a postponed General Conference, we have not wavered from our Conference-wide dedication to declare that Children Matter Most.
Today, there will be weeping in Uvalde, Texas, and all over the world, for another senseless tragedy. For innocent lives lost.
…but they do not grieve alone. Prayer warriors, I plead with you to resurrect prayer bands and prayer walks. We should never leave the hurting to mourn and grieve alone. At a distance or up close, we bear each other’s burdens and share each other’s tears.
Keep our children safe, O God, because children matter most.
God, show us how to do more: A prayer in response to violence
United Methodist Communications published this prayer written by Aimee Cox, director of children's ministries at Christ United Methodist Church in Franklin, TN:
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those in Uvalde, Texas.
We recognize, however, that this isn’t enough.
Mobilize us, God.
We do not want to be desensitized to violence.
Stir something deep within that empowers us to stand up to violence of all kinds but most especially to the violence that hurts your sweet children.
Give us words to speak truth to power.
Show us how to use our hands, our feet, and our hearts because we know that you require more from us in these times.
Provide us with the strength only you can provide as we seek to protect all of your children.
We pray for the healing of those who are in critical condition, for the parents and families who are grieving, and for this community who has suffered a great loss.
Amen
This prayer was written by Aimee Cox, director of children's ministry at , and was published on May 24, 2022, by United Methodist Communications.
Interim Bishop Deborah Kiesey of the Iowa and Dakotas conferences issued a statement:
“How long, O Lord, how long?”
Once again we grieve the senseless loss of life from violence. At present, we've learned 18 children and one teacher lost their lives when a gunman entered an elementary school in Texas and open fired.
As our hearts are broken, we can hardly imagine the overwhelming pain of those families whose children went to school on an ordinary May morning, and who now would never come home.
We have seen this violence too often.
We have cried for loves that would never be fulfilled.
We have watched the grief of those families whose lives were forever changed by those bullets.
We have offered our “thoughts and prayers” ...
Again ... and again ... and again.
In the words of the Psalmist: “How long, O Lord! How long?”
Let us do more than shed our tears and offer our prayers.
Let us work diligently to stop this senseless violence.
Let us work to alleviate the deeper causes of this violence.
Let us enact sensible laws that might have stopped this tragedy.
And let us always and everywhere be agents of peace.
“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belong the kingdom of heaven.”
Bishop John Schol of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey conferences issued a statement:
Speak tenderly, comfort my people says God. -Isaiah 40:1
Dear Friends in Christ,
There are no words.
Shootings and killings in the last two weeks of African Americans in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, an Asian-American church in Southern California and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, leave us all hurt, wondering and angry. We grieve for those who died and for their families. We pray for their souls, their peace and their comfort.
What good is it if you claim to have faith but don’t do anything about it? -James 2:14
Something is wrong, something is broken, and we are not protecting children, people of color and other vulnerable populations from rage, hatred, guns and mental illness. As a nation and even more so as a church, we are failing to preach, teach and act to bring an end to the sins of hatred, division, racism and cure the illness such as mental illness.
We live in a time when politicians, as well as community and church people, speak in ways that create further division, fear and even rage. We even cheer when someone representing our views spews hatred and harm. Our encouraging “our side” or saying or doing nothing only inflames incivility and violence. If you say you have faith and do nothing, or if you say you have faith and your words create division, it is not faith in Jesus Christ.
We all can pray and comfort those who mourn. Today we are called to support one another because acts of hatred like these can open up old wounds of those around us. Be sensitive to one another and comfort each other.
Let us also work together to end the sin of racism, ensure that guns are not getting into the hands of people who will commit violence, advocate for better and more mental health care and offer a witness of Christ that does not tolerate those who spew hatred, division and violence.
I call all of our churches to pray this weekend and find specific actions your church will take to stand against, and do something about, the hatred and violence in our communities and in our world.
Bishop Ken Carter of the Florida and Western North Carolina conferences offered a prayer encompassing the shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo NY and Laguna Woods, Calif.:
Almighty God,
our prayers rise like incense.
When we cry out to you,
the Psalms teach us,
you answer.
The massacres of the innocent,
in Buffalo, in Laguna Woods,
in Uvalde are known to you.
Our schools, our churches,
our supermarkets are pierced
by violence, racism and hatred.
We sit now in the darkness
of yet another grief, and
we cannot be complacent.
We are our sister’s keepers,
our brother’s keepers.
We pray for those who have lost so much.
We pray for those motivated by a culture of death.
We pray for the anger that we harbor within ourselves.
And, as we pray,
We know that we can and must act.
We name those
who have been murdered.
We seek the development of sane gun laws, and we honor governmental leaders with the courage to enact them.
And we commit ourselves to the way
of Jesus Christ, who is our peace,
and who has broken down the dividing wall of hostility that is between us.
He is our judge and our hope.
Come, Lord Jesus.
May our swords become plowshares,
may our killing fields blossom into a garden.
Guide our feet into the way of peace.
Amen.
United Women in Faith (formerly United Methodist Women) issued ta lament:
“O Lord in your mercy, hear our cries for the families crushed with sorrow by the loss of their children and loved ones in yesterday's school shooting in Texas. Lord have mercy on our nation that continues to deem this recurring murder of our school children an acceptable price of "freedom." Lord heal our collective mind and help our politicians muster integrity and courage to act so that we can stop this carnage and pain.”