President Biden, first lady travel to Uvalde to grieve with community after school massacre

Martinez

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden spent an emotional day in Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday to grieve with the community after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a school shooting there last week.

The Bidens first paid their respects at the memorial site at Robb Elementary School, accompanied by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Uvalde County Independent School District Independent Superintendent Dr. Hal Harrell and Robb Elementary School Principal Mandy Gutierrez.

Jill Biden was seen touching the photos of the children at the site, filled with flowers and white crosses in honor of each of the victims.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pay their respects at a makeshift memorial outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 29, 2022.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pay their respects at a makeshift memorial outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 29, 2022.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

PHOTO: President Joe Biden embraces Mandy Gutierrez, the Pricipal of Robb Elementary School, as he and First Lady Jill Biden pay their in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022.

President Joe Biden embraces Mandy Gutierrez, the Pricipal of Robb Elementary School, as he and First Lady Jill Biden pay their in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The president and first lady then attended Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church alongside hundreds of parishioners. As they departed, Biden walked toward a crowd of people who were chanting, “Do something.”

Biden was seen telling the crowd, “We will.”

They then visited with survivors, families of the victims and first responders, according to the White House.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attend mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church after paying their respects at a memorial at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attend mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church after paying their respects at a memorial at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Twenty-one people, including 19 third- and fourth-graders, were killed Tuesday after an 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, used an assault-style rifle to open fire on two connected classrooms at Robb Elementary, according to authorities.

“I’d hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this again,” President Biden said on Tuesday as he addressed the nation following the shooting. “Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, second-, third-, fourth-graders,” he said.

Sunday’s visit to Uvalde is the second trip the president has taken in two weeks to comfort a grief-stricken community following a mass shooting.

On May 17, Biden traveled to Buffalo, New York, to meet with the families of the victims of the Tops supermarket shooting, which is being investigated as a hate crime. Ten people, all of whom were Black, were killed on May 14.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden step off Air Force One upon arrival at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, May 29, 2022.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden step off Air Force One upon arrival at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, May 29, 2022.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Biden addressed both the the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings on Saturday during his commencement speech at the University of Delaware, his alma mater.

“Too much violence. Too much fear. Too much grief,” he said, calling on Americans to work together to make the country safer. “Let’s be clear: Evil came to that elementary school classroom in Texas, to that grocery store in New York, to far too many places where innocents have died.”

ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.

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