Beto News
Beto O'Rourke comes to Dallas for town hall following Uvalde shooting
Gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke is coming to Dallas for a town hall focused on protecting Texas kids.
According to a release, O'Rourke will be in Dallas on June 1, with an appearance scheduled for 5:30 pm, at Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center Gymnasium, 5150 Mark Trail Way, Dallas.
This is his first town hall since the May 24 tragedy at Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers were killed and 17 more were injured in a shooting by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.
O'Rourke, who went to Uvalde and met with families after the shooting, contends that Governor Greg Abbott has failed to protect the lives of Texas children over the last seven years.
During that time, Texas has experienced six mass shootings. Other topics on the agenda include:
- Texas' worsening foster care system in which children have died or been trafficked in state care
- the February 2021 power grid failure, in which children were among the estimated 246 people who froze to death
- Texas' national lead in the number of children living in poverty
- uninsured children who are unable to see a doctor or receive mental health care
O'Rourke already now-famously confronted Abbott at a press conference held on May 25 about the Uvalde shooting, in which police let an hour elapse while teachers and students were trapped with the shooter inside a locked classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The shooter was eventually killed by a Border Patrol tactical unit.
Abbott initially praised law enforcement for their role in the shooting. The U.S. Justice Department is now reviewing the Uvalde police response.
According to NPR, at least eight more mass shootings took place across the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend.
