event and your hearts should be with the parents. >> geraldo: amen. jean green god bless those families that have to deal with this nightmare. >> jesse: we saw some of the footage of some of the anguish in the parent's faces as they are waiting to hear the news. thank god level 1 child trauma center so close by. that's it for us. "special report" continues with breaking news out of texas. ♪ >> bret: good evening, welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. breaking tonight a horrific school shooting in south texas. an elementary school. kids ages 7, 8, 9. the governor of texas says a teenager in uvalde, texas, west of san antonio walked into that school and opened fire. authorities now saying he massacred 14 children and one teacher. many other children were injured. the shooter was killed by law enforcement. the questions at this hour are stacking up. the biggest, obviously, is why? the investigation is just beginning as is the unimaginable

pain for 15 families getting confirmation of their tragic loss this afternoon. correspondent bill melugin is there tonight live with the latest. good evening, bill. >> bret, good evening to you. unfortunately we are witnessing some of that unimaginable pain you just referenced. the building behind us here in the city of uvalde is the civic center. i can tell you there is a private room in there right now where there are dozens of loved ones, family members parents waiting. waiting for any information whatsoever about their children, about their loved ones, waiting to find out if they are even alive or not. i want to show you this video right here. take a look at this. this is video posted to social media shortly after that shooting took place alleging to show that 18-year-old shooter arriving on campus and walking in to one of the campus buildings with a firearm. now texas governor greg abbott says it is their belief he showed up with a handgun as well as a rifle kind of hard to see

what he is holding in that grainy video there. but it claims to show that shooter arriving on campus before carrying that shooting out. i also want to show you these images of children being led out of the school, bret, you mentioned it right off the top. robb elementary school is for second, third and fourth graders. those are ages 7, 8 and 9. you can imagine the horror of mass shooting first took place. thank flow. ing unfortunately 15 fatalities in connection with school mass shooting. 14 of whom are young children. one. the other shooter shot and killed by responding police officers. take you a look at this video scene of the school. massive law enforcement presence over there right now. we have a camera crew just down the street at that scene who told us the medical examiner just pulled up, just arrived. take a listen to what texas

governor greg abbott had to say earlier this afternoon what he was telling the media everything he knows about what happened here today. >> the shooter was salvador ramos. an 18-year-old male, who resided in uvalde. it's believed that he ahand abandonedhis vehicle and enteree rob elementary school with a handgun and may also have had a rival. that is not yet confirmed according to my most recent report. he shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly 14 students and killed a teacher. mr. ramos, he himself is deceased. and is believed that responding officers killed him. >> bill: bret, we are just two days away from the last day of school here in the city of uvalde. i also want to point out, i just

got off the phone with a cbp source who tells me there was no nexus whatsoever to any sort of border patrol pursuit in connection with this shooting. there were rumors circulating online that this might have started with a border patrol chase or a pursuit. i'm told by cbp sources that is absolutely not the case. they weren't involved. their agents did respond to the school shooting and those cbp sources tell me one border patrol agent was actually injured by gunfire while responding to this school shooting. but they want to make it very clear their agents had nothing to do with the beginning of this shooting. there was no pursuit. their agents just did respond to the shooting to help out. and i'm told by those cbp sources one border patrol agent was struck and injured by gunfire, unclear how serious those injuries are, bret. we'll send it back to you. >> bret: okay. so this is 85 miles west of san antonio. there was some report flag was another family member who was shot or killed? what about that?

>> bill: so the latest information we have on that from law enforcement sources is this 18-year-old, a local here in uvalde, apparently shot and killed his own grandmother in some sort of a domestic incident near the schooling before this all happened. he then got into a vehicle, drove it over to the school, abandoned it, went into the school with firearms, and started shooting indiscriminately. so apparently there was a murder investigation taking place with the shooting of that family member for whatever reason he decided to drive to the school, get out, go inside and just start shooting children and the teachers. and, again, the last horrific numbers 15 dead, 14 kids, one teacher. and unfortunately that number can rise. because multiple hospitals have reported they are treating school children in their emergency rooms. one here in uvalde. another in san antonio treating children as well as one adult. we will have to wait and see if those numbers go up.

but, bret, i just want to add that room in there when we walked by it, we only got a quick glance in it was all the families waiting in there the looks on those faces just horrible. people have been walking by us. we saw them in the hallways, bawling, crying. clearly gotten the worst news of their life it rips your heart tout see that grief right in front of you, bret. unfortunately, sounds like a lot more of that tonight as the families are notified. >> bret: yeah. it's who are risk. truly who are risk. bill, we talk a lot about copycat shooters. we don't know the motive again. waiting for another update from authorities. today's shooting in texas brings back the massacre in school in new newton, connecticut. almost 10 years ago. and it actually has a lot of similarities if you think about it chief breaking news correspondent trace gallagher has that part of the story from los angeles. good evening, trace. >> trace: good evening, bret. when you talk about these similarities, you talk about some of the worst school

shootings in history. just to note we should say that virginia tech really is now listed as the worst school shooting in history where 32 were shot and killed. as you noted, when you talk about primary schools, are the deadliest shooting happened in newton, right? sandy hook elementary school. that's where adam loan zoo first killed his mother first employed at sandy hook he stole her gun and tried to use her identity remember to gain access to the school couldn't so he shot out the front windows that's how he went inside. opened fire and killing 20 students. remember an elementary school just like in uvalde where he killed six and 7-year-olds. he also killed 6 adults the motivation and to be animosity toward his mother than the student or the school. and without his mother being employed there, you know, the odds of him going to the school, even trying to get inside were extremely low. now, if you move on to other

school shootings like marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, nikolas cruz went in he opened fire and killed 17 people. that school had resource officers on campus at the time. but, if you recall, the officers failed to go inside and confront the shooter. which brought a lot of curiosity and criticism to that case and that of course, brings us to the total security picture here that bill alluded to a short time ago. you go into uvalde. they have notified us there are four security officers for the school district. 15,000 people who live in that area. you have got a couple of thousand students in total there are four school resource officers. but it's unclear if any of them were on campus when the actual shooting happened. but we should point out that they tell us there is fencing around the school. but if you see this camera right here, bret. you can see the fencing is not very high. it's maybe 4, 4 and a half feet. very easy to get over. and if you look at the administration building, there

also appear to be gaps on the side that you could walk in to. in other words, no primary gate that you have to check in and out of. and no security checkpoints at that gate. which really, for elementary schools in fairness across the state of texas, across the united states, there are some that are locked down totally from the outside but not many with security gates going in and out. those are kind of relegated to junior high schools, middle schools and high schools. and so when you talk about the sandy hook, the comparisons here. if, in fact, the grandmother was killed. and then this student went in and shot up that school, and shot and killed those young school children, second, third, and fourth graders. the -- yeah, the similarities are just heart breaking and eerie and we will learn a lot more, bret, when we learn more about the social media footprint, the accused shooter in this case, 18 years old, also

a local high school student there, bret. >> bret: yeah, trace, thank you. we will head back for any other breaking details. on the school the robb elementary school's website message to parents please do not pick up students at this time. all students need to be accounted for before they're released to your care. that's been happening over the past hour. let's bring in texas attorney general ken paxton. attorney general paxton, thanks for joining us. first, your reaction to this horrific story and well the emotion there in texas? >> yeah. it's horrible. we have been through this before. so we have seen unfortunately seen this before. it's hard to have words to know what to say. especially you're a parent and you have children and grandchildren. you know, our hearts go out to these families and certainly our prayers as well. we are really sad for these families. >> bret: we were just talking about sandy hook. almost 10 years ago. it was then vice president biden and the white house at that time.

we're told president biden is going to speak about this tonight as he returns from asia. at 8:15 eastern time. oftentimes this and it has already happened and we will check in with capitol hill gets to a political place quickly. and i have heard you talk about concerns about hardening targets. and, in particular, schools. is that the answer from your perspective of something like this? >> yeah. first and foremost, we want to take care of these families. we have a crime victims assistance group that we are sending down right now to uvalde. that's the first step for us is to take care of these families. take care of their medical and psychological needs. just try to help them. second, we need to try to continue to focus on preventing this we can't stop bad people from doing bad things. they will violate murder laws. they are not going to follow gun laws. i have never understood that argument. we can harden the schools points

of access difficult to get through. we can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly because the reality is we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school. so, it takes time for law enforcement, no matter how prepared and no matter how good they're to get there. so having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope. nothing is going to work perfectly. that, in my opinion, is the best answer to this problem. >> bret: do you have any more details than we have about this? >> no. we're still gathering just like everybody else. it obviously just happened. we're going to have people down there very soon. and as you know, this is an horrific mass shooting area. the details of it are going to be not good. but, i don't think we would have any more than what you already reported. >> bret: um-huh. and one of the things that you have talked about is arming teachers. is that a possibility in texas? >> i absolutely think it's a possibility. that's something that should be done. they are the ones on the ground.

they are right there. if we're going to save these kids and stop mass shootings from occurring. we have to have people that are prepared and trained to react appropriately and quickly with urgency because we just don't have the resources to get law enforcement there quickly. this has to be part of the solution. >> bret: yeah. i don't want to go down this road too far there are a lot of people who say there should be fewer guns not more. >> no, i mean, look. i understand the argument but it doesn't make a lot of sense this guy was killing people. he is not going to follow gun law. all that that does is harm law abiding citizens to protect themselves. that's the opposite of what we would like to happen it sounds like a good argument but it really doesn't work and it's exactly the opposite direction that will, i think, actually work. >> bret: texas attorney general ken paxton, we appreciate your time. >> sure, thank you. >> bret: this is an emotional night. there is emotional reaction on capitol hill to this shooting. congressional correspondent chad

pergram live on the hill with the latest with that good evening, chad. >> bret, word of the shooting rocked the capital. we caught up with g.o.p. texas senator ted cruz shortly after officials announced the death toll. >> it is truly horrific. there is nothing more evil than violent criminals targeting children and especially young children. there will be a lot of time to examine what steps could have been taken proactively to enhance the safety and security of the school. right now all of us are just grieving horrific yet another act of evil in mass murder. >> democrat connecticut senator chris murphy has worked on gun control legislation for years. he represented sandy hook when he served in the house. in an emotional speech murphy blasted his colleagues on the gun issue. >> why are you here? if not to solve a problem as

existential as this? this isn't inevitable. these kids weren't unlucky. this only hans in this country. and nowhere else. nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day. >> murphy described this as a choice. he noted that the united states is the only country where mass shootings happen. and he said he was getting on his hands and knees, his term, to plead with senators to find a solution. murphy needed that uvalde, much like newtown, will never be the same. the mass shooting comes on the eve of the senate confirmation hearing for atf director nominee steve duddle balk. he previousliously pushed for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. the senate has only confirmed one atf director since the position was subjected to senate confirmation that was todd jones in 2013. bret? >> bret: chad, i mentioned before, president biden is on

his way back air force 1. and he is going to give a speech tonight 8:15 eastern time. you will see that here live on fox news. he has spoken before as of -- it was only 10 days ago the buffalo shooting in that supermarket. we expect more of the same from his pitch, one would think. what's the thought from capitol hill what we will hear from the president. >> one of the things you are probably going to hear about and this may come up in the hearing tomorrow by duddle balk is this push to pass domestic terrorism. just this afternoon before we got word of the shooting senator jordan leader chuck schumer set up a procedural vote to set up a filibuster it needs 60 yeas. certainly you will hear this again from chris murphy probably on the floor again. he has worked tirelessly behind the scenes trying to find some

sort of common ground. he has done this even when the ♪ been in the news like buffalo or certainly what happened in texas today. this changes the contours of that hearing with duddle balk significantly tomorrow, bret. >> bret: chad pergram live on the hill. thank you. if you are just joining us, a school shooting in uvalde, texas, about 845 miles west of n antonio. 14 children and one teacher according to the governor of texas. we are waiting for authorities with more information. the shooter there an 18-year-old also killed by authorities. joining us now former washington, d.c. police detective police attorney ted williams. thanks for being here on a cuff night. we have had a lot of these tough nights, ted. there has been 27 school shootings in 2022. let alone mass shootings. there have been obviously a number of shootings in big cities that we cover all the time here in chicago and new

york. there are all kinds of camps up here in washington. the folks who say guns are the problem. the folks who say mental health is the problem. but we do, as a country, have a problem. don't we, ted? >> yes. unfortunately, we do have a problem, bret. and i have got to tell you, america is crying tonight. and i can tell you i'm also crying. i remember in 2007 being at virginia tech where 32 were shot and killed there on that campus. and the one thing that has a connection with what took place today in my mind, was i just started thinking these students were let off at school by their parents, and they on a school bus. or they left their home with a hug and now these parents are having to bury their child. they can't hug them longer.

this is certainly something that unfortunately is taking place in america and it really shouldn't. we have got to be, bret, more reactive, i mean, we got to be -- i stand to be corrected. proactive than reactive. we have got to try to find a solution to this. or right now we have got a crime scene there's a great deal of >> bret: what could have been done, ted? we talk about hardening targets. i just talked to the attorney general of texas. didn't seem like they were prepared for this but they took down the shooter pretty quickly. >> well, they did. and the thing about it is,

again, it's because we are more reactive than proactive. you know, bret, we have had this thing about police officers. well, we don't want that many police officers. we want to defund. we want to do this. we need these law enforcement officers in these schools. well, we don't want police officers in school. yes, we do. because we need somebody to protect our young. you just said it earlier, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 9-year-olds that are not coming home tonight. and maybe, maybe, maybe it was a security officer was in that school and i don't know if one was, but they may have very well have been able to take this souter down before he killed 14 of our young and brightest students. this is the end of the school year. where kids should be joyous, be happy.

now we got this sad situation taking place there in texas. it's just troubling to me. >> bret: last thing, ted. you know, in the wake of sandy hook, which, again, is almost 10 years ago, do you think that the country learned anything or did anything to change in different places around the country in the wake of that shooting? remember, sandy hook had 20 killed. again, young children. it was one of the most horrific mass shootings and this could be the most horrific. we don't have final numbers yet. >> no, we don't. and, you know, i'm sick and tired of coming on this set and hearing 10 people killed, or in a subway in new york. 10 people killed. buffalo, new york, then we find outs that sandy hook we find out here in uvalde, at this state 14

killed, and when we do is we mourn, we groan, we gripe, we talk about what we should do in the future and we move on until there is another killing or mass killing in this country. we need to get did together. we need law enforcement. we need law makers to help to save our children. they are our precious children. and they are dying. they are dying in the street. they are dying in these schools. all because people don't want to face the reality. and the reality is that we have got a lot of mentally ill people that have guns. we have a lot of people who shouldn't have guns. having guns. we need to face the reality of it what's going on in this country right now, unfortunately. >> bret: ted williams, we always appreciate your perspective. thank you. sandy hook tweeting out mass shooting at robb elementary

school in uvalde, texas. we are devastated about reports multiple people dead including children. our hearts are with the families and community as this tragic story unfolds. obviously with the unique perspective on that as you look like in uvalde, texas. those families as bill melugin mentioned gathering in a center there, getting the most horrific news about 7, 8, 9-year-old children gunned down by an 18-year-old who then was taken down by authorities. let's bring in our panel, harold ford jr. former tennessee congressman, co-host of "the thd former white house press secretary ari fleischer. ari, you dealt with, you know, a number of these kinds of events and shootings during your time as white house press secretary. we have seen them increase over the years. your thoughts on this day and where we go from here. >> well, the immediate most important thing is the

compassion and the support that needs to be extended to the families and everybody at the school. even those who didn't lose their children. they are traumatized. and that community is going to come together and they need the help from everybody and love from everybody. beyond that it's such a feeling of hopelessness, isn't it? i don't live very far from newtown, connecticut where that killing took place and it changed all the elementary schools in the area where i am from. you can't even get into elementary schools up here anymore. there are double doors. they are locked. if you walk in that first door you can't get through the second door. we're going to have to harden our elementary schools. it's going to take decades. and i'm afraid that is the only practical thing i can think of. everything else will get lost in the politics and the blame game. >> bret: yes, which which is sad in and of itself. harold, your thoughts. you have young children. and on this day, the parents receiving a news is the thing

that everybody just thinks about what if it was me? >> bret, thanks and ari, i agree with you wholeheartedly. my kids were coming in the door from sports as the story was unfolding. as i was beginning to see it unfold on television. i can only imagine every parent. my kids are 7 and 8, any parent with any age child, young child is going to hug even and hug and love even harder and closer this evening. i think ari is right about what we have to do in schools. but one of the things public officials have to be law enforcement or those elected to public office have to ponder at this moment is what can be done differently and what can be done as fast as possible? first, we need to get to the about the of what happened here in this situation. it's obviously i pray for those families. i hope these numbers do not go up. the death toll numbers. but as bill melugin and others

who in his great reporting earlier, what we learned is that the numbers may go up. and even trace gallagher as he covered this earlier. schools and streets, subways, public places like grocery stores, i think we have to be willing to confront the conversation around guns. and figure out there are sensible things we can do. hard charge and highly politicized conversation at times. one thing we know for certain, and i think that your last guest, the former d.c. police detective said it earlier. there are too many guns on the streets. this is not a statement about the second amendment. it's just a statement that too many of the wrong people have guns in their hands and how are homeless people and others getting guns in their hands when they can't feed or support themselves. somehow or another can find the money to buy a gun? again we need to get to the bottom of all of this. there is a lot of heart felt condolences and other things going out to these families in this community. i certainly don't want to

interrupt that those in public life shouldn't shirk their responsibility. we need have these hard, uncomfortable conversations about what we can do to prevent these kinds of things from happening going forward. >> bret: mollie? >> i do think at times like this people do take comfort in talking about political answers to what's happening at this school and so many other mass shootings. and that's fine. i mean, restoring peace and order to our society, it is a political question and it does need to be debated. it's also true that this is evil and that there are things beyond politics that we need to do. we just seem to be a completely broken country that does not love one another. the person who committed this horrible act is responsible alone for what happened. but there are bigger issues in play about how we treat one another. the love we show, whether we value human life and this is something political but it's also something much more than

political. and i think everybody should think about the people in their lives, love one another. think about how to show love to people that you maybe don't normally show love to to address the brokenness and fallenness and to pray for relief from this it that is besieging us throughout the land. in this the second mass shooting in 10 days. untenable what we have here. politics is an appropriate response. but this is something much deeper. there is a moral rot going on that we all need to dig in and try to address. >> bret: thank you. panel, stand by if you would. i want to head to david spunt. he is our justice department correspondent with reaction from doj. david? >> bret, i just spoke to law enforcement source said attorney general merrick garland has been completely briefed as has fbi director christopher wray. right now their teams are gathering here in washington.

communicating with different teams around the country. who are updating them on the situation. specifically the killer and the motive. we heard governor greg abbott earlier mention the killer's fame. exactly what the motive is the weaponry. more of that information will come out. we know number one the attorney general has been brief. he made some comments earlier today at unrelated press conference as this was just starting out that he had been brief. we didn't know the extent of it, bret. we know the flag is going to be lowered at the department of justice. attorney general garland is supposed to be making comments. we don't know if that may be later tonight or tomorrow, burr i can expect that we will hear from the attorney general. possibly even the fbi director as both kin to get briefed. bret? >> bret: david spunt doj. reaction. just getting word north korea has fired a third ballistic missile towards the east sea according to the south korean

news agency just as president biden leaves to come back to the u.s. again, the president is going to deliver a speech 8:15 from the white house about this school shooting happening up his trip to asia. again, if you are just joining us this shooting about 58 miles west of san antonio happened this afternoon. school was in session. >> iran elementary kids 7, 8 and 9 years old. the shooter 18 years old walks in with a handgun and believed a rifle and starts firing indesdiscriminating massacring 14 children so far is the count and one teacher. families are being notified we're told by authorities. details were not that extensive in the early briefing. we expect to have another one from uvalde in coming hours did

you the shooter was taken down law enforcement arriving at that seen. maureen o'connell. maureen, when you hear something like this, what's your first thought and well, just explain what possibly is going on with this investigation if you could. >> yes. well, my first thought, obviously, is this an utter tragedy like no other. but just like every one of these cases we will see a parade of red flags as this investigation unfolds we are going to see all kinds of things that should have potentially been addressed. and there are a lot of ways that they those can be addressed. there are ways to fortified schools. all kinds of programs that do this. the fbi has a very large private-public sector outreach program infraguard and that program puts on all kinds of invaluable training where we shore up classrooms. we teach teachers how to lock them down. we teacher then how to identify some of these red flags before

these situations happen. and i also think that that r. this anti-police narrative is forcing people not to call police when they have these type of concerns. these type of concerns have to be addressed and we have to get in front of then. >> bret: how do you tell your kids about this? >> it's not easy. i mean, this is horrible. small children being slaughtered by a lunatic. i mean, i don't know how to find the words to each describe describe it to you let alone to your other children that are going to have to go off to school for this next week. this just beyond shocking. i would like to see a national push toward, instead of parents buying their kids all these tools and toys and games, invest in the classroom to make it safer. there are companies out there that will do that. they will come out and they will do threat assessment of the whole school. they will say this is an area of

vulnerability that you might want to address. and this is how we would address it and they have -- i mean they have blankets that you can put up on the wall that are colorful and beautiful but they are ballistic blankets. there are ways to obscure the classroom windows so that the shooter can't have target acquisition. i mean, there is just a million tools out there. but it's -- and we have been banging this drum for years. let's start investing in our kids and in the safety of our children. fret pretty last thing. some state have these red flag law did not see it in new york in the buffalo shooting. red flags missed. >> bret, it's got to be a

multi-prong approached. you can call the police all you want if you don't have probable cause to lock them up certainly in this day and age people who committed murder are out with ankle bracelets on. our options are shore up schools. i heard the earlier person say four armed guards at every school. i'm not such a big advocate of that you know, i think one school resource officer ought to be enough. i do think there are literally hundreds and hundreds of things that we can do to make our schools safer for these children. and i think that's what our focus needs to be now. because nothing else is working. and we cannot have another incident like this. although, unfortunately i think we both know will there will be another school shooting. >> bret: maureen, thank you so much for your expertise and comments. we appreciate it. >> thank you, sir. >> bret: joining us now brady trimble from dallas, texas, actually covering the primary

there in texas. it is election night. by that shooting, the tone of these races certainly has. all of the candidates are weighing in. kathy garcia on the republican side. she canceled all election night activities because of the shooting. and tweeted that her heart breaks for the people of uvalde. we all mourn the loss of so many innocent lives, including young children and families who are having to endure tremendous pain and loss. she says she also wants to thanked courageous actions of first responders who are on the scene. this is a time for all texans to come together in support of the

south texas community. another heated race we were following was between long-time congressman henry quay as and cisneros of them weighing in on what happened henry cuellar saying is he heart broken over the shooting at the robb elementary school. 15 families the south texas community and the entire nation are in mourning. let us pray for peace. let us come together for our neighbors that need support and let us remember the bright lives we lost today. he said. jessica cisneros, his opponent, taking a similarly mournful tone saying this is a devastating tragedy. how many more mass shootings do children have to experience before we say enough. sending my condolences to the children and families in uvalde who are experiencing this unthinkable tragedy. so, bret, this likely won't change the outcome of any of these races that we are following, but you can see each of them mourning this evening

and certainly changes their response in terms of having any campaign event. they are more focused on grieving families just two hours away from laredo. >> bret: thank you from dallas we appreciate it we were pointing out, speaking of texas, governor greg abbott. former president trump, senator cruz scheduled to speak at the nra annual meeting in houston on friday. three days from now. obviously after this shooting and that will get a lot of attention because of all of the surrounding voices that are pong popping up on capitol hill and elsewhere about what this means and what should come next. bill melugin is back on the scene. bill, we don't have really any more information than the initial authorities when they came out and governor abbott really provided the most information. are we expecting another news conference soon? >> bret, we don't have any word on another press conference later on this evening though we

likely will see when given the magnitude of the event that took place here today. one new piece of information is we have learned that a u.s. border patrol agent was struck by gunfire while responding to this mass shooting at this school. robb elementary school here in uvalde. cbp sources confirming that to us. also pointing out they say border patrol agents were not involved in any sort of pursuit in relation to this incident. there was a lot of speculation and the rumor mill was going on line that this was some sort of immigration related chase. cbp sources say that's absolutely not the case whatsoever; however, because their border patrol officers are armed and law enforcement they answered the call when this went out regarding the shooting here at this school. and one of those border patrol agents were injured responding to this mass shooting. it's just unclear how serious those injuries are. we are now at the scene of the shooting. the school is behind us now. they cleared the media out of there that's where a lot of the families are gathered waiting

for information. i know i sound like a broken record. i can only imagine what those parents were going through. it was such a somber mood when we walked into that building. so quiet you could hear a pin drop. some people crying, hugging each other in the hallways when the doors opened those families looking for information. just looking at those faces in there is something that will sit with me for the rest of my life. those are all parents waiting to find out if their children are alive tonight. keep in mind this is a school for second, third, and fourth graders. we are talking 7, 8 and 9 9-year-olds, bret. our cameraman just told us he just spoke with a father who has a 10-year-old daughter who is missing tonight. is he looking for her. he provided us a photo of her. and he doesn't know where she is right now. can you only imagine what's going through that dad's heart and his mind right now. send it back to you. >> bret: quickly, paint the scene about authorities on or about the scene. i'm sure it's massive and what

kind of presence and what are you seeing? >> yeah. streets blocked off as far as the eye can see. right in the middle of a nished. right off camera there are homes, neighbors if texas dps troopers everywhere. the medical examiner has arrived on scene here. so, bret, you have covered these things. these are massive law enforcement presences. and streets blocked off pretty much every direction you look. >> bret: yep. unfortunately i have covered a number of them. bill melugin we will head back for breaking details. thank you. joining us kenneth s. trump president of the national school safety and security services. thanks for joining us, your thoughts on this evening? >> bret, i have worked more than 30 years in the pre-k through 12 school safety and security field. it is still a punch in the gut to anybody when we have a mass shooting. it's a double punch when we are talking about our youngest children. what we did see today is that quick response that we have trained for for decades now with

emergency response. school district got out a message to parents. initiated lockdown district wide which is smart not just at that site h a student parent reunification procedure. but this is the beginning of a long hall for this school community like we have seen. i have worked or parkland, sandy hook, san bernardino and other school shootings in various capacities. and these healings go on for years. >> for decades. i still have friends from back in jonesboro in 1998 who worked on that shooting that still every one ever these incidents opens up those old wounds. you are going to hear calls for increased physical security for metal detectors, for cameras, for access control and all of these things that can make us feel safer but a lot of the things that make school safer are actually less visible. supervision of children, relationship for those threats that council from within.

the one way we find out about school shootings, kids who come forward and tell an dution what any crust? in almost all ever the cases i have analyzed over my career. the nic fix call and seeing officials throw money into the physical security. we are dealing with a human behavior problem. warning, early warning signs. dealing with kids with social-emotional stressors and anxieties. adults and kids who have undiagnosed mental health issues. not everyone most will not be violent. those who have been shooters do tend to have some of those concerns. so this is complex. and it's not going to be fixed quickly. but it's going to have shock waves across the country. i have worked in the aftermath

of columbine, sandy hook. not only texas and that community but schools across the nation tomorrow and throughout the summer in prption for the opening of the next school year are going to be working on training their staffs, evaluating their security. that's going to be the top line of discussion over academies in an already stressed school environment coming off of downline learning and pandemic context. >> bret: as we are talking here we are trying to get more on the ground sound from people there just getting some different soundbites in. this is a father. take a listen. >> i have april-my daughter was at school where they were shooting. and i was waiting for her -- more details and nobody ever called me back on the detail and now i come back in town looking for my daughter and i can't find her now.

i'm going crazy. i don't even know how to talk no more. nobody knows where my daughter is at right now. >> bret: oh. you know, can you imagine that feeling? >> we're both parents. >> hasn't been told. can't find his daughter. and is in limbo right now there are other families like that. you know, you said there is going to be a change and there is going to be shock waves. it's almost 10 years since sandy hook. almost 10 years, so, where is the impetus for the change that you are talking about? is there a road block to it? where -- you are if there this business. where are you seeing the speed bump or the road block to making the change that you are talking about? >> yeah. we're both parents. and literally i had chills down my spine as i have listened to that parent. look, there are two things that we know after this. first is we are roller coaster

society. roller coaster public awareness, public policy and public funding. after high profile incidents, everybody's attention is on it. but the resources often fade away and the focus fade away. time and distance from high profile incident breathe complacency and fuels deny. second piece is school safety has been so politicized increasingly over the last three decades since the columbine tragedy. it becomes a political football typically over the gun debate and particularly and people hunker down and go back into their under their turtle shells, go into their extreme corners and nothing gets done. it's worse really today, bret, policy size, funding wise and programmatic wise than it was after columbine a couple decades ago because it has become such a political issue. this is one thing we're already hearing some of that

politicizing of it as this unfolds. and somehow we have to stop like we did are a 9/11, our leaders, and just cut the political rhetoric. cut the political platform agendas and using these are a tool to advance a particular philosophy or platform and just say what are the best practices? many of the things that we learned at least in a school setting were put in place after columbine. decades ago. but those best practices are forgotten or pushed to the wayside because of the political environment. at least in terms of policy and resources. we say quick fixes. i can tell you that we have already seen this in recent months after the other mass shooting where state legislatures and other funding entities are putting out a few million dollars at their respective states for hardware and equipment and technology. and, yet, we are dealing with a much deeper problem. we can't get time for training on professional development staff in school to do two or

three hour inservice. >> bret: yeah. okay. kenneth, lost your audio there but we really appreciate your time and your expertise we as a society have a problem. wherever you want to put the blame. we as a society have a problem. and that is clear. there are other stories today. we want to bring you one of them that also deals with texas. >> bret: we have alarming news plot isis terrorist to assassinate former president george w. bush? sparking new criticism of president biden's immigration policy but the details on this story are pretty remarkable on this day. gillian turner is here with details and obviously you have been following this shooting which is horrific but we wanted to get this story in as well. >> yeah. good evening to you, bret. the suspect in this other incident is an iraqi immigrant, his name shahab ahmed shahab.

he has been arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate president george w. bush. this after being under fbi surveillance in months. and in columbus court in ohio today. according to the attorney's office he quote originally entered the u.s. in september 2020 on visitor visa in march 2021 filed a claim for asylum with u.s. citizenship which is pending review. he was also being charged with trying to smuggle other iraqis across the u.s. southern border to help executed his assassination plot. >> they were going to choose to come across the mexican border because that was the easier way to get access to our country. >> the former president's nephew says the crisis at the southern border is now a threat to national security. >> and even biden's administration estimated that 23 members of the fbi terrorist watch list came across our border. imagine the amount of undetected terrorists that came through our

borders. and, so this confirms the national security issues and underscores the importance of securing our border. >> shihab traveled to dallas last november for surveillance mission. he shot video of the bush institute and the surrounding neighborhood. freddy ford who is chief of staff to the office of george w. bush today tells fox news in a statement president bush has all the confidence in the world in the u.s. secret service and our law enforcement and intelligence communities. the court affidavit reveals shihab was all along talking to an fbi informant unwittingly divulging the details of his plot to the u.s. government at every turn. at one point he asked point blank whether, quote: four to six individuals were enough to kill former president bush. now, because shihab was under fbi surveillance. the physical threat we are told to president bush remained very low throughout this episode. as for shihab's future smuggle a person into the u.s. is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and aiding and abetting

the murder of a former u.s. official can bring up to 20 years, bret. is he looking at 30 tops all tolled. >> bret: amazing the details that went into strong him and we wanted to get that story out there. gillian, thank you. >> yes. >> bret: again the major story we are following breaking out of uvalde, texas again about just west of san antonio, at least 15 killed. 14 children, one teacher at this elementary school, robb elementary school. the shooter was killed as well. we are just receiving word from speaker pelosi just put out a statement in the last minute. words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage of the cold blooded massacre of little school children and a teacher at robb elementary school today. this monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their creams dreams, falling in love and even starting a family of their own. the hearts of all americans are broken as we pray for the families left forever shattered

and a community left forever scarred by the grief of losing a loved one. and she goes on. she says across the nation americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days. this is a crisis of existential proportions for our children and every american and she says that there needs to be common sense bipartisan life-saving legislation, which she said the house has passed. joining us now texas republican congressman michael burgess, a medical doctor, also congressman from texas just outside dallas. congressman, your thoughts on this night? >> well, obviously this is a devastating, heart broken for the community, for the first responders, for the doctors and nurses at the hospital. this effects everyone. and i'm not quite sure to what speaker pelosi was referring but i do know through ferguson and i have a bill passed the house last time also passed the house

this time. waiting over in the senate. it's for behavioral intervention guidelines called the big act and can't help but think that something like that would be helpful. >> bret: yeah, we are just getting word the fbi is on the scene where the suspect, salvador ramos reportedly shot his grandmother: it happened before the school shooting according to authorities. and everyone in the doj the fbi director have all been briefed and meantime you have an atf nominee who is going to a hearing tomorrow and the fbi director we are told will be on the hill as well to discuss the bureau's budget requests and likely these questions will bubble up as well. congressman, how do we as a society deal with this and it's recurring question that we have been asking in different ways and depending on where you are. we lost your picture there.

-- depending on where you are, it depends con how you answer that. [no audio] >> bret: i think we lost your shot there, congressman. if we get it back, we will head back, because i really wanted that answer. let's bring back our panel harold ford jr. co-host of "the five." mollie hemingway and ari fleischer. mollie, i kind of wanted that ena. we will see if we get the congressman back. because, to your point earlier, this degradation or whatever you want to call it sliding of norms seems to have led to more of these things. and, you know, you can talk about different motivations, different things that everybody points to, but, it's happening more and so we as a country, whether you are republican, democrat or something like this happened? we all want to believe there is some way that we can control evil in our society and on the one hand, there is nothing you

can do because of the pervasiveness of evil. but, on the other hand, there are things that we can each individually try to do to look out for our neighbors who are in need, to care for those who are among us. and this is shootings are a very horrible example of the rot that's going on in our country. but there are so many things, whether it's rising rates of addiction, decline of family formation. suicide epidemic, people feeling alienated from themselves and from their communities. you know, lack of good economy and labor situation. we have so many examples going in you kind of wonder what's it going to take for us to all focus on, again, loving one another, thinking about how we can help each other as a country, as town and as a state. moments like this, if you are looking for something to do that's a good way to focus thinking what you can do to help

out your nearest neighbors and need what you can do to help. >> bret: we have congressman burgess back i wanted to bring him into the panel conversation if i could. you heard that question what we as a society could do differently. we are almost 10 years after sandy hook. and we're still in this place. congressman, i know you want to answer this question. we just lost your feed again. we're going to get that internet fixed up in texas. what do you think of that? decline dignity and goodness in the country. unfortunately we are experiencing that and evil has been a part of society since introduction of mankind we need think about what we are doing that's not enough. i listened to the former fbi

agent maureen o'connell what we need to make schools safer. i listened to the gentleman from the national public safety school services company policy makers as we think about immigration and inflation. there are things i don't have all the answers to it. it's not a political assault on anyone or even indictment on anyone, but it is a call for us as a nation of all types political bang grounds whether a can we do to make schools safer and streets safer. >> bret: okay i think i got the congressman i will toss to him and see if works.

congressman? >> yes, sir so, sorry for the bankruptcy. look, we just did something on this in my district staff in school. voluntary program seems to be one that can be copied in other locations. i realize that's not the total answer but that does seem like an important part of this. you think there is something congress can do? what are you thinking? >> in this instance it's entirely local. in the school district. on a larger point. yes. there is interventional guideline bill i think that's what speaker pelosi was referring to we have passed it in the house two congresses.

i think it would be a great idea for the senate to take it up. >> bret: what do you want to hear from president biden tonight, congressman? people need help. people need pandemic. the families and first responders and doctors and nurses at the hospital locally what a horrific tragedy they will be carrying with them the rest of their lives. >> bret: we appreciate your time. viewers who want to help especially in south texas there is blood and tissue drives. blood drives. they are running low on blood sending it to area hospitals. you want to give blood that's a way to give back. ari, last word from you. have you dealt with presidents delivering big speeches. president biden will deliver one tonight. his message compassion and love. i will be curious how he pivots off of that to talk about

national policy and of course gun control. what will he say? he is a party that wants to speak out strongly on that issue. bret, i got to just say if the government federal or state levels had the means to solve these problems they would have been solved a long time ago. which makes me question how far the government's role can indeed really be if there is one link among these killers, not only these killers but other killers we have seen, it's that they you up in homes without fathers. >> bret: looking live by the way ari at andrews air force base. the president coming home from his asia trip, air force one there at andrews. in an hour and 15 minutes he will deliver the speech. sorry to interrupt. go ahead. >> yeah, it's just one big piece, fatherless children or children grown up with absent fathers. that's the strength and direction, particularly these young men who head violence early in their life. it's a huge topic we as a nation

need to start to address it. >> bret: thank you so much. thank you for joining us on this horrific night. at least 15 a dead in uvalde, texas. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. hug your children. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and still unafraid as you look at the flags at half-staff at the white house. jesse watters is next. >> jesse: tonight we start with a fox news alert a shooting a town of uvalde, texas. >> 2:30 p.m. shooting incident uvalde school in texas. school has children that are in second, third and fourth grade. >> jesse: this is every parent's worst nightmare, children gunned down in their own school. the situation is still developing but texas governor greg abbott addressed the tragedy earlier. >> the shooter was saffold ramos, an