hello, everyone, i'm kate bolduan. >> and i'm john berman live in uvalde, texas. we begin with breaking news here at the site where 19 children and two teachers were murdered at the robb elementary school right behind me. we learned a short time ago all the victims were inside one-fourth grade classroom where the gunman had barricaded himself. the children were no more than 10 years old. authorities say the killer also shot his own grandmother at her home before carrying out this massacre. this is now the deadliest school shooting in the u.s. in nearly a

decade. officials have identified the 18-year-old shooter. he was killed by law enforcement here at the school. we want to begin our coverage with cnn's shimon prokupecz here with me. shimon, we learned a whole lot of new information a short time ago about this investigation and this timeline. give us the latest. >> yeah, so we learned that police were called after the grandmother of the gunman was shot, that he shot her and then police were called, this is according to the lieutenant with dps that spoke to us this morning and that he engaged the suspect here with the shooter and then went inside and as you said, he barricaded himself in one room, making it very difficult for law enforcement to get inside and then they had to call in for reinforcement and the tactical team and took some time. they got here but took some time to get inside the room. they were facing gunfire from the gunman, exchanging gunfire from the gunman. some of them took rounds.

so there was a lot going on. and it's significant right now, because we don't have a very clear timeline on when exactly police engaged and where exactly they engaged them and what happened after that. but what's very clear at this point is that this gunman was inside this classroom with these children and the adults for quite some time. >> which is horrifying if you think about it, all the deceased in one classroom and the severely wounded in one classroom. this fourth grade classroom where he had somehow barricaded himself and we also learned, shimon, that there was an encounter with law enforcement prior to him going to that room. once he was in the room, there for some time and then the tactical team, another team came in and was able, somehow, to get inside the room a separate way. >> yeah, they got in somehow. that's not entirely clear also. they were finally able to get inside, and neutralize, kill the gunman and then they also tell

us that there were people that were breaking windows. the police tell us to rescue some of the kids. this was really contained to this one area of the school, so that allowed for many of the other students who were outside of these rooms to get out, so there are some questions about that, but the police saying they did everything they could to try to save lives. they called in reinforcement, additional officers in. the border patrol, interestingly enough, was key, instrumental here with their tactical team to get inside their room. but obviously, there are some questions that we still want answered and we're hoping that happens this afternoon. but the press conference. it's not even entirely clear, john, how police got here so quickly. yes, his grandmother's house where he lived was actually walking distance from here. i did the walk earlier this morning, but it's not clear how all of that transpired. there's a 9-1-1 call, police say, how did they find him here? what happens in the moments before that, and then the ditch,

he crashes into this ditch and when we spoke to the lieutenant here this morning, he wasn't entirely sure that this was the intended target. >> much more on this, hopefully coming up. we expect to hear from the governor and law enforcement in an hour and a half from now. shimon prokupecz, terrific reporting. thank you so much. so with that, each hour, we are learning more about the victims of the massacre. cnn learned the names of two of the children as well as one of the fourth grade teachers who was among the dead. cnn's rosa flores is live at the hospital, a hospital that was treating survivors. rosa, why don't you tell us what we are learning about the victims. >> reporter: john, the school district said yesterday that hearts are broken. i can tell you that that is what we're feeling here today in uvalde, texas. at one of the hospitals that treated some of the survivors. we're told that all of the individuals who were transported to this hospital have either

been transferred someplace else, so they have been dispatched from the hospital, but as you said, we are learning more about the victims. now, we've learned the names of four children. four 10-year-old children and also, the teacher. the teacher that was in that classroom. now that authorities have said that all of the victims are from that one classroom. here's what we know about this teacher. her name is ava, a fourth grade teacher and according to the web site, an educator for 17 years. her aunt telling cnn affiliate ksat that they have never imagined something like this happening in uvalde, texas, and they were asking for prayers, not just for this community, but also for this state and for this country. next is a 10-year-old. uziyah garcia. his aunt confirming his name to cnn and his family saying that he was just a great kid that

loved everything on wheels. that he loved video games. his grandfather ksat, which is a cnn affiliate in san antonio, that he was just the sweetest little boy. 10-year-old amarie jo garza. the father identified her on facebook and took to facebook saying this. thank you, everyone, for the prayers and help triying to fin my baby. she's been found. my little love is now flying high in the angels above. please don't take a second for granted. hug your family. tell them you love them. i love you, amarie jo. watch over your baby brother for me. and then there's 10-year-old javier lopez. his mom, felicia martinez, telling "the washington post" that just hours before this tragedy, she was at the school. javier lopez was receiving an honor roll. so his mother was there, and his

mother telling "the washington post" that she hugged her son. told him that she was proud of him, she loved him. this mother not knowing this was the last moment that she was going to have with her son alive. telling the post, quote, he was funny, never serious, and his smile, that smile. i will never forget. it would always cheer anyone up. he really couldn't wait to go to middle school. his mother going on to say that he was counting the days, the days to enter middle school. and then 10-year-old jose flores jr. his family said he loved baseball and video games. he was full of energy. that he enjoyed playing and he was a great big brother. john, tough for all of these families. of course, we don't know the names of all of the victims here, but as you know, first family has to be notified and then the public gets to know the

names and then later, the stories of these victims. john? >> the faces. just looking at the faces, rosa, as you are reading the statements from the families and you did a terrific job. i can't make it through them when i try to read them because we all see our own kids in the faces of these children. it could be anyone. these smiles. i do understand that at this point, rosa, the bodies have also now been removed from the classroom behind me. everybody has been identified and the families have been notified. it had to just be an excruciating wait though, for so many of these families that took a long time for so many of them to learn the fate of their children. >> you know, and it's a very difficult process for these families. and john, you and i covered so many of the shootings around the country and they usually end uptaking the families to a

location private place where they're able to notify the families, let them know but there's always that very painful window where these families are learning and waiting to learn if their child is dead or alive. we've all talked to those parents and it's just this excruciating wait. well, now we've learned that authorities have identified all these children, all of the adults to their family members, and now, it's the beginning of this, just, grieving process for these families, for this entire community, for this state, for this country. as we continue to cover these stories. the school officials yesterday saying that hearts are broken. that this is unspeakable violence and there really just are no words to describe how heavy hearts are here in uvalde, texas. john? >> tomorrow was supposed to be the last day of school here, so now these parents are having to

go from planning summer vacation to planning funerals. it's just unimaginable. rosa flores, thank you so much for that report. cnn just learned that the white house is making plans for the president to come here to texas. last night, the president called on the country to turn the pain of this tragedy into action in a primetime address, president biden pleaded with lawmakers to, quote, have a backbone to pass gun reform. cnn's john harwood live at the white house. john, with these new white house discussions for the president to come here. >> john, we'll wait for the details exactly when the president decides to make that trip. it will repeat the trip he made just days ago to buffalo for the other of the two mass shootings that bracketed his trip to asia to both japan and south korea. the president alluded to buffalo last night. he also alluded to the larger string of shootings that have bracketed his years as vice president and president, most

notably, newtown. he repeated as well, the argument for an assault weapons ban which is something he helped to pass as a senator in 1994 only to see it expire a decade later. >> the idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong. what in god's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone? they aren't running through the forest with kevlar vests on, for god's sake. >> reporter: now, a much different republican party provided significant cooperation to pass that assault weapons ban in 1994. that is simply not there now. it is always possible that the republicans will decide it's in their interest to cooperate and it was striking last night when brendan buck, a former top aide to two republican house speakers tweeted that there's a very good chance congress will pass a

background check bill. we'll wait and see, but there's no sign of that tangible cooperation so far and that's why in his remarks last night, president biden expressed outrage as well as empathy for the victims of their families who we will see in person in just a few days. >> all right, we'll await details on that, john harwood, thank you so much for your reporting. joining me now, cnn law enforcement analyst, jonathan wackrow, former secret service agent and then former assistant secretary for the department of homeland security and cnn's senior political correspondent and host of "inside politics sunday," abby phillip. jonathan, i want to start with you and some of the latest news we have. the fact that all of the deceased, all of those seriously wounded were just in one classroom. it's basically the only place this shooter got to. what does that tell you about what took place here? >> listen. what we do know is that the

shooter entered into the school. we don't have a clear line of sight what his intent was. was his intent to go directly to that classroom or was he spooked? did he think that law enforcement was coming right behind him and he barricaded himself? there's a lot of possibilities around the intent here. the challenge though is that the shooter is dead, so we can't interview him and find out exactly what his motivation was. what we do know though is that he barricaded himself inside that room. that room bail ecame a box of tr and that trauma will live in this community forever. the law enforcement did react very quickly to try to stop and prevent this from happening. however, time will tell, but i think that you're going to find out they were in a position of disadvantage to try to make a dynamic entry without the proper back-up from a tactical team.

so this is a very tragic situation. i know law enforcement, their response was immediate. but again, we now know what the tragic outcome was. >> julia, we know a little bit more about the weapons too. the shooter bought two ar-15 style weapons on separate days around may 20th. and we also know an enormous amount of ammunition. 300 plus rounds, several magazines on him. high capacity magazines. we don't know exactly how many. what does that type of weaponry tell you? >> i mean, this was a hunt. he was out for the kill. i kind of want to say happy birthday because in texas when you turn 18, you are now allowed to do this and that's exactly what he did. so we probably won't find any illegalities in the gun law process. so then it makes you wonder, why aren't we, instead of getting into debates about the second amendment, it would seem as just a regulatory rational thing,

someone buying that quantities so quickly in a short period of time, that is a red flag. we accept a lot of states have these red flag laws, ones that allow families and others to come forward to say, i'm a little bit nervous about this person, and they actually do prove useful. one solution so that we can just try to get some movement besides universal background checks, which also, the data is clear is successful, would also be these time frames happening so fast that, you know, we can talk about police posturing or arming more people in schools which is, you know, not that successful as we've seen, the ability to kill that quickly is really the key factor that we need to look on. these are children. there's no defense. once he's in the room, it's over. and as we saw, just have to be

brutally clear about that. all the words we need to remind people, this is not a policy debate, this is about what it means to send our kids to school safely. >> and abby, i was going to say, the political discussion for you, but somehow, when you call it a political discussion, it makes it sound per jojorative. i mean a policy discussion about how the united states is going to address the issue of gun violence in mass shootings, particularly in schools. maybe not how, but if the united states will address this. and it's hard to get a sense this morning that this issue is being fast-tracked in congress. what do you see? >> yeah, i mean, john, the point of politics is supposed to be to make improvements in people's lives, and that is one area where on this debate, there is nothing happening. there is no movement.

the two sides could not be further apart. and you do get the sense that something is really broken in our politics in this country. this morning, i think the question is, where do we go from here and our colleagues on capitol hill are hearing from lawmakers, senate majority leader chuck schumer, he seems to indicate that this is not the moment for one of these almost, like a show vote, a vote that you know is going to fail, that is designed to show where everybody stands on this issue. i think everybody knows where everyone stands on this issue. the question is, where is there a point of compromise? and i do think that for lawmakers on the hill, especially those who care about doing something, the question is, can they build enough support to do any one thing that can save a life? and i think that that is something that is going to be difficult for folks on the left and on the right to come to

terms with, but that is the question at hand here because since the last time there was a horrible shooting of this magnitude at an elementary school, there has been nothing done and as long as that continues, it seems clear that more people are going to die. >> sobering. abby phillip, julia, jonathan wackrow. what will congress do after this massacre? a democratic lawmaker from texas next. cnn's special live coverage continues, stay with us.

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why are we willing to live with this carnage? why do we keep letting this happen? where in god's name is our backbone? stand up to the lobbyists. time to turn this pain into action. >> what are we doing? why do you spend all this time running for the united states senate? why do you go through all the

hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority if your answer is that the slaughter increases as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing. >> president joe biden and senator chris murphy there practically begging congress to do something with regard to gun safety. their pleas coming hours after the 19 children and two teachers were murdered in that texas elementary school. senator murphy came to congress representing the community in connecticut where nearly a decade ago, 26 children and teachers were gunned down at sandy hook elementary school. that is still the deadliest school shooting in american history. yesterday's massacre in uvalde, texas, is now the second deadliest. in the nine years, five months and 12 days since sandy hook, congress has not passed a single substantial piece of legislation related to guns. cnn's manu raju is live on capitol hill with more. manu, what is your sense today?

>> yeah, there's a lot of reaction but the it's a familiar reaction we hear after many mass shootings that have happened over this past year and in the years before which two sides are now or near getting to a place where they could come together and pass legislation to deal with the growing gun violence epidemic that we are seeing across this country. republicans are making clear that they plan to oppose legislation that the democrats plan to move forward in the senate to expand background checks. there's also separate democratic calls to ban semiautomatic rifles like ar-15. that has no support among republicans here and of course, getting any legislation through capitol hill requires the support of 60 senators to break a filibuster. earlier, i caught up with senator marco rubio, florida state, a high school massacre four years ago. i asked him whether or not he

would support expanding background checks. he made clear he is not on board with that approach. >> why not just expand the background checks for more commercial sales even if it doesn't prevent any trangedy, a least some? >> every requires a background check. there hasn't been a single of these mass shooting purchased at a gun show or on the internet. if people want that debate but don't link it to these horrible events. they have nothing to do with it. >> about ar-15s, the semiautomatic rifles necessary? >> if people want to talk about banning guns, they should propose that but it wouldn't prevent these shootings. >> reporter: instead, rubio plans to put forth separate legislation to deal with improving school safety. it's unclear whether or not that will get democratic support. the democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer, promised to move forward on these house pass bills to expand background checks on commercial sales and

private transfers. he has been saying that they would move forward on this for the past year. they plan to move very quickly on this, but even if they were to do so, getting the support of 50, let alone 60 senators is impossible. kate? >> manu, thank you. joining me now for more on this, democratic congressman colin allred. thank you for being here, congressman. i see from your statement you put out after this murder that you feel very much the same way that senator chris murphy does and how he spoke to this from the senate floor. >> yeah. well, thanks for having me on, kate. as i'm sure you did, my wife and i hugged our two boys a little bit closer last night as parents across the country, i think imagined how they would feel if this happened to their child's school. as a parent, this is your worst nightmare, getting a call that your precious baby who you send off to school has been murdered. and as a texan, i'm heartbroken. but as a lawmaker, i feel like

it's incumbent on me and my colleagues to not just grieve but to act, to do something. marco rubio is wrong with what he just said that there's nothing we can do. i refuse to accept that there's nothing i can do to protect kids in schools or places of worship or when going to the grocery store. we don't have to live like this and only major developed country that does live look like because of p of that. >> i want to read what will heard said after the murders. the former republican congressman from texas, represented uvalde during his time in congress. he sent this message out last night. he wrote, i cannot begin to comprehend the immense grief the families are experiencing. pa pardon my language. but if the gop is going to

actually be the pro-life, pro second amendment, pro law enforcement party, it's on us to put forth the best ideas on preventing mass murders. thoughts and prayers are not enough. what we really need the solutions. hurd speaks for a lot of people including republicans, though clearly not many elected republicans, congressman. do you think this happening in texas that there is a chance of changing the views now of elected texas republican? >> i want to thank will hurd for that statement. i think it takes bravery for him to put that out but what i've seen from our statewide elected republicans in the hours after the shooting yesterday, i don't see a lot of willingness to act. and, you know, the truth is, we have to have a democratic, small d democratic response to this. if folks are not willing to put in place policies that will keep our community safe, then they shouldn't be in positions of

leadership and they shouldn't be creating these laws. we have an 18-year-old here who could not buy a beer. who could walk into a gun store and buy two assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. the shooter in sandy hook was 20 years old. you know, maybe we could at least agree we should raise the age for purchasing these weapons. and all of these solutions that we're talking about, none of them would stop every single shooting. and they always raise that as an excuse for why not to act but if we can save any lives, do anything to help, let's start doing that. l let's break that ice. i have republican colleagues of goodwill who are good people. i know that their heartbreaks as well on this. i know they can join us to find some solutions. >> reaching out to the republicans today, i often find in my years of covering congress, a lot of members of congress talk about in statements and in public

interviews that they want their friends across the aisle to join them from the left and the right, and then i find they actually, their offices, they never talk to each other. do you commit to reaching out to these republicans to have that conversation? >> absolutely. i'm happy to do it. i have some folks who worked closely with on veterans issues here in my area who i am thinking of right now. who may be candidates to talk to about where we can begin to break this ice. of course, the house has passed legislation and, you know, i'm a member of the house. and so what we're talking about ultimately is also what can get through the senate and what can get 60 votes in the senate. but maybe if we can get enough support for action in the house, that would pressure republican senators to join us in doing the right thing. but, you know, what was said earlier, in an earlier segment about how our inability to act on is a reflection of how broken

our politics is true. if we can't protect kids in elementary schools, i don't know what we're doing. >> as poll numbers show, if society says it wants to see changes when it comes to gun safety, but the elected officials representing society refuse to do so, what does that say? that is a question that really needs to sit on everyone today. and going forward. thank you, congressman, for coming in. coming up for us, we expect a press conference from texas officials in two hours for updates and possibly many updates and more details on what happened in this horrific, horrific massacre at this school. cnn also learning about really troubling messages that the shooter, the killer, did gunman sent hours before this massacre took place. cnn's special coverage continues after this break.

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i'm john berman live in uvalde, texas. this is the robb elementary

school where 19 fourth graders, young children and two teachers were murdered by an 18-year-old gunman. all of the victims we now know were inside one-fourth grade classroom where the shooter had barricaded himself. t they no older than 10 year old and then shot his grandmother before and crashed his vehicle near a ditch near the school before going into the school to carry out the massacre. this is now the deadliest school shooting in the united states in nearly a decade. officials have identified the 18-year-old shooter. police say he had one rifle in his possession when he went into the school. he was also wearing a tactical vest. not clear if there was any armor actually in it. and he was killed, we are told, by law enforcement. we will be hearing from officials in texas at a press conference a couple hours from

now. joining me now though is cnn's shimon prokupecz. we are getting new information just in to cnn about some ominous foreboding messages on instagram from the shooter. >> and this, according to the instagram posts and people we've talked to, this post was hours before the shooting and it was to a woman who he didn't know. randomly chose someone, very bizarre and tagged her in the photo. remember that instagram post had the photos of the two weapons that he had. and he wrote to her and said, i got a little secret. out of the blue, she says this happened. cnn was able to speak to her. she said, just happened out of the blue. she doesn't know him. this is completely random. she then says she's exchanging messages with him and she writes to him, what your guns got to do with me? and he basically said be grateful i tagged you. i'm about to, he doesn't explain himself, and then he writes, i

got a little secret. some indications of something going on. some, perhaps, form of planning of something to happen, but what, we don't know. certainly, law enforcement is very interested in this and this is something that they are reviewing, trying to get a sense of what was going on here. >> this is a real clue that does point toward intentionality for something. i got a little secret. i'm about to, dot dot dot. he doesn't say what. law enforcement at this point not telling us whether they suspect it maybe was just to shoot at his grandmother, whether it was a bigger plan, but it does indicate, perhaps a plan for something. >> keep in mind, this all happens, coincides with the fact he just purchased these weapons. law enforcement saying that this was all the weapons were purchased as soon as he turned 18. legally, that's when he was allowed to purchase these weapons. and then something is going on

here, and he posted these messages and just randomly picks someone out of the blue and tags her. so we don't know exactly what's going on here, but certainly, troubling, concerning and something that law enforcement is reviewing and there are tiktok messages, but, you know, john, other than this, there isn't a big social media presence with this gunman. and certainly, that's something that law enforcement, they've been going through all this stuff. like, when we saw the shooter in buffalo and all of that social media, and we see other shooters. there's nothing like that with this individual. at least as much as law enforcement has told us. >> at least not that we know of yet. this may be the first clue toward a little something. perhaps we will hear more about this. again, we wait for a news conference to take place a couple of hours from now. we are expecting more details. shimon prokupecz, thank you. we'll let you get back to your reporting. we seem to learn more every few minutes. so coming up, this massacre

here, especially hard for parents who have lost their children in other mass shootings. we're going to speak to the father of a sandy hook victim ahead.

welcome back. we'll be headed back to texas shortly as we also get ready for a new update that will be coming from texas officials about the massacre that took place at robb elementary school. we'll get you back there shortly. we're also watching capitol hill right now as baby formula makers and the agency responsible for regulating them both are facing questions this morning from congress. lawmakers trying to find out what went wrong to lead the country to this crisis state of a nationwide baby formula shortage. jacqueline watching this hearing, what have you heard so far? >> moments ago, we heard lawmakers and fda commissioner dr. robert califf talk about how we got to this point and some comments that stood out to me.

how three companies manufacture 95% of the u.s. market when it comes to baby formula. we should have a list of the manufacturers here. abbott makes up 42% of the market, and there's also the two other companies as well. and as we know with this baby formula shortage, we will hear from some of the manufacturers as part of this hearing. but as we look at how we get to this point and the timeline, there was already a shortage connected with the covid-19 pandemic, but then a voluntary recall from abbott really exacerbated the shortage in place and that's how we got to where we are. in 2019, there was a cronobacter detected at the facility and then contamination tied to illness and deaths and just this year, there was an fda inspection. here's what fda commissioner dr. califf had to say about this

inspection. take a listen. >> frankly, the inspection results were shocking. standing water, cracks in the key equipment that present the potential for bacterial contamination to persist. particularly in the presence of moisture. >> so those were comments made just moments ago, and again, kate, we plan to stay across this and see what other information comes out of this hearing today. kate? >> thanks so much, jacqueline. i appreciate it. coming up next for us, we are going to return to our breaking news. the horror that's hit another american city and another classroom full of young children. we're going to speak to one parent who knows exactly what the families of uvalde, texas, are going through right now. out here, you're more than just a landowner. you're a gardener. a landscaper. a hunter. because you didn't't settle for ordinary. same goes for r your equipmen. versatile, powerful, durable kubota equipment. more goes into it.

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when sandy hook happened, you know, i think the whole nation took it hard because these were little kids and who is going to kill little kids like this on purpose? and the attack is just -- let's say what are we doing? >> unbelievable, unimaginable.

shocking. this tragedy isn't none of those things. it should be. it's within the realm of possibly. no one knows that more than the parents who have gone through this very thing. like the parents of the 20 children and six adults who were murdered at sandy hook elementary in connecticut ten years ago. mark bardon is one of those parents. his 7-year-old son was murdered. he is the co-founder of sandy hook promise. he joins me now. mark, when you see this news, when you see it all, how does it affect you now ten years after losing your daniel? he'd be what 16-years-old now? >> i'm sorry. our daniel would -- it's almost ten years now for us. it's daily. we constantly are absorbing the

impact of daniel's murder. he was shot to death in his 1st grade classroom and that's not something that happened to us nearly ten years ago. it's defining our existence. what else defines my existence is the work i did at sandy hook promise in defending other families. the first thing we think about when we hear this news is those families and what they are going through and as i tell you, last night, my wife jackie and i were sitting at home quietly trying to understand the news that we are hearing. she turned to me and said, this is their friday. this is their friday night. and i knew exactly what she was talking about. she was referencing our friday night of december 14th, 2012. our house is filled two family and we had to tell our surviving older siblings, daniel's older siblings what had happened and i don't wish that on any other

human being and our hearts are broken. our hearts go out to these families today and from now on. >> you mentioned daniel's siblings. i was thinking about them today. you can be sure that many of these children, they have siblings, too. we often talk about parents hit by this tragedy. but how are they doing today with this? >> i thank you for asking. this is challenging for them. you know, they have been living this last almost ten years without their little buddy, their little brother daniel. and he was violently ripped away from them and the siblings of the families at robb will also now be on this pathway, on this journey. i guess all i can say, all i can offer from me, personally, if there is ever a time that any of these families would find any

comfort from talking to me or my family, that i would absolutely extend that offer to them. >> i was going to ask you about that. because one -- there are so many children that we have to learn the names and faces. but four of the children, we know their names and faces. the father of ann marie, he posted on facebook, i am already losing it. he said, please don't take a second for granted. huck four family. tell them you love them. he says i will -- if you could speak to him, what would you say to him? >> i would say there is no wrong way to go through this process, just to do whatever works for you and to allow the people that want to help you to help you and to immerse yourself in the love

of your family and let those that want to be around you be around you and let them help you, take time to yourself. for me, we were very fortunate that we had our warm and loving family surrounding us and our wonderful community surrounding us and we were very fortunate to have all that love and support and i hope these families can feel some of that, too. and once again, if there is any role that i can play going forward to talk to clyde with, i'm here for you. >> how do you find the resolve? another father of another child killed in another shooting, from heartland. he said when this happened, the whole meaning of life is gone. how do you get from that place to where you are now? >> we have had time, kate, and i

sort of refocused my energy, i. guess, or tried to be a lovable husband to my wife jackie and father to james and senatety to try to help them through this to the best of my ability. i kind of focused my energy on that and i will tell you, it was hit or miss. i remember clearly when in the days or in the aftermath, i remember jackie and i laying on the floor in the kitchen just in a pile just sobbing and weeping and not wanting to go out. we said to each other, i just want to die. james and senatety came from somewhere in the house. they piled on to us, wrapped their arms around us and cried with us and said, it's going to be okay. so our 10-year-old, our 12 elder were the ones kind of helping us. so i say when you speak to these parents, you just have to immerse yourselves in the love that's available and help each

other through one minute to the next and that's what i am still doing to this day is one minute to the next and i am doing the work i do with sandy hook promise to prevent this pain from visiting other families and it's the best way i can think of to honor my little daniel. >> and i'm sorry, i can't pull it together and you are the one who's lived this and your strength is awe inspiring work. can you talk to me about sandy hook promise. go ahead, i'm sorry. >> i was going to say don't feel embarrassed or ashamed. my advice to families, there is no wrong way to process this this affects all, this affects all of us. we need to remember that. the students who were in that school, the staff who were in that school, the surviving siblings and parents and churn of these victims, the members of the community, there is concentric circles of impact

that extend far beyond the victims and we need to be aware of that as well and that's a real thing and so your reaction is just a human reaction. you are empathizing and feeling this. i guess that's what i would ask folks is to take that anguish and outrage that you feel now and hold onto it. let it last. let it activate you beyond the news cycle and roll up your sleeves and do something. if you are already doing something, see if you can do more. have conversations. get other folks engaged. this doesn't have to happen. it doesn't have to be inevitable, the way we live. there are solutions. we can prevent this from happening. we just need everybody on board to do it. >> mark bardon, sandy hook promise. you are doing beautiful things in this horrible world, but there is still beauty and light to be seen and are you a part of it. thank you so much. >> thank you, kate.

>> thank you. but then today, remembering the nations of the children and the teachers at robb elementary school as we close today, who we know so far and there is so much more to learn. cnn's special coverage continues. another crazy day? of course—you're a cio in 2022. but you're ready. because you've got the next generation in global secure networking from comcast business. with fully integrated security solutions all in one place. so you're covered. on-premise and in the cloud. you can run things the way you want —your team, ours or a mix of both. with the nation's largest ip network.

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