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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How 'Uvalde Mom' director Anayansi Prado captured the heart of a town in trauma
Three years ago, an armed young man entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 students and two teachers. Hundreds of law enforcement officials reportedly stood around the school campus for more than an hour without approaching the shooter. In the midst of the inaction, one mom — Angeli Rose Gomez — pleaded with officers to take action or let her go in to get her two children and nephew. She was apprehended and handcuffed, but ultimately talked her way out of arrest before she sprinted inside the school to grab the kids. Videos on social media captured the moments that Gomez brought her sons and nephew out of the school. The Texas field worker and mother of two was quickly dubbed a hero in national and local publications for her courage. The new documentary film "Uvalde Mom" follows Gomez after becoming nationally recognized — while examining the forces at play in the Uvalde community which allowed for the shooting to take place, as well as the aftermath of such a tragedy. "All I wanted that day was my kids to come out of the school alive, and that's what I got," Gomez says in one pivotal moment in the film. "I don't want to be called a hero. I don't want to be looked at as the hero because the only job that I did that day was being a mom." Read more: Abcarian: The pathetic lessons of the Uvalde school shooting in Texas The feature's director Anayansi Prado was "moved" and "horrified" by what had happened and felt motivated to make a film about the event after seeing members of the affected families on TV. "I saw that there were Latinos, they were Mexican American, that it was a border town, that it was an agricultural farming town, and that really resonated with me and with communities I've done film work with before," Prado told The Times. Prado began reaching out to people in Uvalde shortly after the shooting, but didn't hear back from anyone for over two months due to the inundation of media requests everyone in the city was receiving. The only person to reply to her was Gomez. Ahead of the film's screening Saturday at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Prado spoke with The Times about the process and the challenges of making her documentary. This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity. Was the idea always for this project to be a feature-length film? Or were there talks of making it a short or a series? I've always thought about it as a feature because I really wanted to dive in and understand Uvalde as a character. I wanted to understand the history of the criminal justice system, the educational system. I knew I wanted to make something that was going to be of a longer form rather than just a piece that was about Angeli or something. And a few people told me this would make a great short, but as I uncovered more about Uvalde, I was like, "No, Uvalde itself has its own history, just like a person." Read more: Families of Uvalde school shooting victims are suing Texas state police over botched response When it came to choosing Angeli, was she the first and only person who responded to your outreach? I think the people in town were oversaturated with media coverage, and Angeli was the one that got back to me. What was really interesting is that I learned on that first trip [to Uvalde] about her backstory and I learned about how the criminal justice system had failed her. I saw a parallel there of how the system failed the community the day of the shooting and how it was failing this woman also individually. I wanted to play with those two stories, the macro and the personal. Once I learned who she was, beyond the mom who ran into the school, I was like, "I have to tell this woman's story." How did you go about balancing her personal stuff and the failures that happened on a larger scale? So much of the way the film is structured is reflective of my own experience as a filmmaker. It was a sort of surreal world, these two worlds were going on: what was happening to Angeli and then what was going on outside with the lack of accountability and the cover-up. So that informed the way that I wanted to structure the film. In terms of the personal, it was a journey to gain Angeli's trust. At some point at the beginning, she wasn't sure she wanted to participate in the film, and so I told her, "You don't owe me anything. I'm a stranger, but all I ask is that you give me a chance to earn your trust." And she was like, "OK." From there on, she opened up and, pretty quickly, we became close and she trusted me. I was very cognizant [of] her legal past and even the way she's perceived by some folks. I also didn't want Angeli to come off as a victim and people to feel sorry for her, but I still wanted to tell her story in a way where you get mad at the system for failing her. What kind of struggles did you have trying to get in communication with some of the officials of the city? We used a lot of news [archives] to represent that part of the story. The [authorities] weren't giving any interviews, they were just holding press conferences. So access was limited, but also the majority of the time that we were filming, we were very low-key about the production — because Angeli was on probation and there was retaliation for her speaking to the media. We tried to keep it under wraps that we were filming, so not a lot of people knew about it [besides] her family. Obviously other folks in town [were] part of the film, like her friend Tina and family members. Outside of that, it was too risky to let other people in town know what was going on. Read more: Justice Department report finds 'cascading failures,' 'no urgency' in Uvalde shooting response Ultimately I wanted to make ["Uvalde Mome"] a personal portrait. I was just very selective on the people that we absolutely needed to interview. I'm happy with Tina, who's an activist in town, and Arnie, a survivor of the shooting and a school teacher, [plus] Angeli's legal team. I felt like those were people we needed to tell a fuller story. But we just couldn't be out in the open making a film about her and let people know. What kind of reception have you gotten from people of Uvalde that have seen the film? We had our premiere at South by Southwest, which was great. A lot of folks came from Uvalde and spoke about how, almost three years later, a lot of this stuff is still going on. Every time Gov. Greg Abbott came on-screen, people would scream, "Loser!" It was really moving to have those screenings. As was expected from the folks who are not fans of Angeli, there was some backlash. It's the same narrative you see in the film of, "She's a criminal, don't believe her." It's a town that is an open wound. I just try to have compassion for people. Ultimately, Angeli's story is the story of one person in Uvalde of many that need to continue to be told. And I hope that other filmmakers, journalists and other storytellers continue to tell the story there, especially with the lack of closure and accountability. I'm happy that the film is putting Uvalde back into the headlines in some way; that way we don't forget about it. Had you ever spent an extended amount of time in Texas before? I had been to Texas, but I hadn't done a project in Texas. Because I'm an outsider, it was very important for me to hire a 100% local Texas crew for this film. My crew was entirely Texas-based, from our PAs to our sound to our DPs. I also wanted to have a majority Texas-born Mexican American crew so that they could guide me. We began production in September of 2022 and the atmosphere was very tense. This is a story that is deeply rooted in the Latino community and the tension about the law enforcement in Uvalde. What was it like dealing with that tension and how did you personally feel that when you went into the town? When I got to Uvalde, I saw that the majority of the Latino community had been there for several generations. You would think a town with that kind of Mexican American history, and them being the majority, that they'd be pretty cemented and represented, right? It was really eye-opening to see [how] these folks are still considered second-class citizens. A lot of them are being repressed. And then you have folks that get in positions of power, but they're whitewashed in line with the white conservative agenda. So even those that are able to get into positions of power don't lean towards the community. They turn their back on it. I heard from folks that the history of neglect was what led to the response that day at Robb Elementary. And they're like, "Yeah, that's what happens on that side of town. You call the cops, they don't come. Our schools are run-down." You really see the disparity. This was a Mexican American community that had been there for a long time. It's fascinating how the conservative white community, even if they're the smaller part of the population, they can still hold the power. Get our Latinx Files newsletter for stories that capture the complexity of our communities. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
How ‘Uvalde Mom' director Anayansi Prado captured the heart of a town in trauma
Three years ago, an armed young man entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 students and two teachers. Hundreds of law enforcement officials reportedly stood around the school campus for more than an hour without approaching the shooter. In the midst of the inaction, one mom — Angeli Rose Gomez — pleaded with officers to take action or let her go in to get her two children and nephew. She was apprehended and handcuffed, but ultimately talked her way out of arrest before she sprinted inside the school to grab the kids. Videos on social media captured the moments that Gomez brought her sons and nephew out of the school. The Texas field worker and mother of two was quickly dubbed a hero in national and local publications for her courage. The new documentary film 'Uvalde Mom' follows Gomez after becoming nationally recognized — while examining the forces at play in the Uvalde community which allowed for the shooting to take place, as well as the aftermath of such a tragedy. 'All I wanted that day was my kids to come out of the school alive, and that's what I got,' Gomez says in one pivotal moment in the film. 'I don't want to be called a hero. I don't want to be looked at as the hero because the only job that I did that day was being a mom.' The feature's director Anayansi Prado was 'moved' and 'horrified' by what had happened and felt motivated to make a film about the event after seeing members of the affected families on TV. 'I saw that there were Latinos, they were Mexican American, that it was a border town, that it was an agricultural farming town, and that really resonated with me and with communities I've done film work with before,' Prado told The Times. Prado began reaching out to people in Uvalde shortly after the shooting, but didn't hear back from anyone for over two months due to the inundation of media requests everyone in the city was receiving. The only person to reply to her was Gomez. Ahead of the film's screening Saturday at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Prado spoke with The Times about the process and the challenges of making her documentary. This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity. Was the idea always for this project to be a feature-length film? Or were there talks of making it a short or a series? I've always thought about it as a feature because I really wanted to dive in and understand Uvalde as a character. I wanted to understand the history of the criminal justice system, the educational system. I knew I wanted to make something that was going to be of a longer form rather than just a piece that was about Angeli or something. And a few people told me this would make a great short, but as I uncovered more about Uvalde, I was like, 'No, Uvalde itself has its own history, just like a person.' When it came to choosing Angeli, was she the first and only person who responded to your outreach? I think the people in town were oversaturated with media coverage, and Angeli was the one that got back to me. What was really interesting is that I learned on that first trip [to Uvalde] about her backstory and I learned about how the criminal justice system had failed her. I saw a parallel there of how the system failed the community the day of the shooting and how it was failing this woman also individually. I wanted to play with those two stories, the macro and the personal. Once I learned who she was, beyond the mom who ran into the school, I was like, 'I have to tell this woman's story.' How did you go about balancing her personal stuff and the failures that happened on a larger scale? So much of the way the film is structured is reflective of my own experience as a filmmaker. It was a sort of surreal world, these two worlds were going on: what was happening to Angeli and then what was going on outside with the lack of accountability and the cover-up. So that informed the way that I wanted to structure the film. In terms of the personal, it was a journey to gain Angeli's trust. At some point at the beginning, she wasn't sure she wanted to participate in the film, and so I told her, 'You don't owe me anything. I'm a stranger, but all I ask is that you give me a chance to earn your trust.' And she was like, 'OK.' From there on, she opened up and, pretty quickly, we became close and she trusted me. I was very cognizant [of] her legal past and even the way she's perceived by some folks. I also didn't want Angeli to come off as a victim and people to feel sorry for her, but I still wanted to tell her story in a way where you get mad at the system for failing her. What kind of struggles did you have trying to get in communication with some of the officials of the city? We used a lot of news [archives] to represent that part of the story. The [authorities] weren't giving any interviews, they were just holding press conferences. So access was limited, but also the majority of the time that we were filming, we were very low-key about the production — because Angeli was on probation and there was retaliation for her speaking to the media. We tried to keep it under wraps that we were filming, so not a lot of people knew about it [besides] her family. Obviously other folks in town [were] part of the film, like her friend Tina and family members. Outside of that, it was too risky to let other people in town know what was going on. Ultimately I wanted to make ['Uvalde Mome'] a personal portrait. I was just very selective on the people that we absolutely needed to interview. I'm happy with Tina, who's an activist in town, and Arnie, a survivor of the shooting and a school teacher, [plus] Angeli's legal team. I felt like those were people we needed to tell a fuller story. But we just couldn't be out in the open making a film about her and let people know. What kind of reception have you gotten from people of Uvalde that have seen the film? We had our premiere at South by Southwest, which was great. A lot of folks came from Uvalde and spoke about how, almost three years later, a lot of this stuff is still going on. Every time Gov. Greg Abbott came on-screen, people would scream, 'Loser!' It was really moving to have those screenings. As was expected from the folks who are not fans of Angeli, there was some backlash. It's the same narrative you see in the film of, 'She's a criminal, don't believe her.' It's a town that is an open wound. I just try to have compassion for people. Ultimately, Angeli's story is the story of one person in Uvalde of many that need to continue to be told. And I hope that other filmmakers, journalists and other storytellers continue to tell the story there, especially with the lack of closure and accountability. I'm happy that the film is putting Uvalde back into the headlines in some way; that way we don't forget about it. Had you ever spent an extended amount of time in Texas before? I had been to Texas, but I hadn't done a project in Texas. Because I'm an outsider, it was very important for me to hire a 100% local Texas crew for this film. My crew was entirely Texas-based, from our PAs to our sound to our DPs. I also wanted to have a majority Texas-born Mexican American crew so that they could guide me. We began production in September of 2022 and the atmosphere was very tense. This is a story that is deeply rooted in the Latino community and the tension about the law enforcement in Uvalde. What was it like dealing with that tension and how did you personally feel that when you went into the town? When I got to Uvalde, I saw that the majority of the Latino community had been there for several generations. You would think a town with that kind of Mexican American history, and them being the majority, that they'd be pretty cemented and represented, right? It was really eye-opening to see [how] these folks are still considered second-class citizens. A lot of them are being repressed. And then you have folks that get in positions of power, but they're whitewashed in line with the white conservative agenda. So even those that are able to get into positions of power don't lean towards the community. They turn their back on it. I heard from folks that the history of neglect was what led to the response that day at Robb Elementary. And they're like, 'Yeah, that's what happens on that side of town. You call the cops, they don't come. Our schools are run-down.' You really see the disparity. This was a Mexican American community that had been there for a long time. It's fascinating how the conservative white community, even if they're the smaller part of the population, they can still hold the power.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Uvalde school shooting: Where things stand 3 years later
The Brief 19 students and two teachers were killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting on May 24, 2022. A candlelight vigil will be held in Uvalde on Saturday night. Former Uvalde CISD police chief Pete Arredondo and officer Adrian Gonzales are expected to face trial later this year. UVALDE, Texas - Saturday marks 3 years since the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were killed when an 18-year-old gunman entered the school's campus and opened fire inside a fourth grade classroom. 19 Robb Elementary students were killed in the shooting. Xavier Javier Lopez, 10 Amerie Jo Garza, 10 Uziyah Garcia, 8 Rojelio Torres, 10 Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10 Nevaeh Bravo, 10 Makenna Lee Elrod, 10 Eliahana 'Elijah Cruz' Torres, 10 Eliana 'Ellie' Garcia, 9 Alithia Ramirez, 10 Jacklyn "Jackie" Cazares, 9 Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10 Jailah Nicole Silguero, 11 Jose Flores Jr, 10 Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10 Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10 Tess "Tessy" Marie Mata, 10 Maranda Gail Mathis, 11 Layla Salazar, 10 Fourth-grade co-teachers 48-year-old Irma Garcia and 44-year-old Eva Mireles were also killed. Family members said at the time both died trying to protect their students. What's next A public candlelight vigil, organized by family members of the victims, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Uvalde Amphitheatre. A private event will be held earlier in the night. In 2024, the Department of Justice released a nearly 600-page report detailing the 'cascading failures' by law enforcement on May 24, 2022. Nearly 400 law enforcement officials responded to the campus, but waited for 77 minutes before entering the classroom and confronting the 18-year-old shooter. The police response included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials, as well as school and city police. While dozens of officers stood in the hallway trying to figure out what to do, students inside the classroom called 911 on cellphones, begging for help, and desperate parents who had gathered outside the building pleaded with officers to go in. A tactical team eventually entered the classroom and killed the shooter. The report talked about the vast array of problems from failed communication and leadership, to the inadequate training and technology used by police. A private investigator hired by the city cleared Uvalde city police of missteps. Austin-based investigator Jesse Prado presented his findings in March 2024. Prado stated the department did not commit any wrongdoing or violate any policy. Former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo and school police officer Adrian Gonzales are the only two members of law enforcement to face charges in connection to the shooting. Arredondo and Gonzales were both indicted in July 2024 on multiple counts of child endangerment. Both have pleaded not guilty. Arrendondo, the incident commander, has said he believes he was "scapegoated" for his role in the response. In December, a Texas judge refused to throw out the criminal charges against the former school police chief. Both Arrendondo and Gonzales are scheduled to go to trial in October, according to the Associated Press. This April, Uvalde City Council unanimously approved a settlement with families affected by the Robb Elementary School shooting. The passage came 11 months after the families announced they agreed to a $2 million settlement with the city. Attorneys representing the 19 families of the victims said at the time they were accepting the city insurance payment because the families did not want to hurt the financial status of the city they live in. As a part of the agreement, city leaders promised higher standards and "enhanced training" for current and future police. The city will also build a memorial to the victims and offer resources to support mental health. The city will also pay for the upkeep of the children's graves. A bill dubbed the 'Uvalde Strong Act' passed the Texas Legislature earlier this week. Texas House Rep. Don McLaughlin, who was mayor of Uvalde at the time of the attack and has been actively seeking change to law enforcement policy since, says the bill would correct problems with training that led to police hesitancy in the shooting. The bill would require officers and school officials to meet annually for active shooter response plan development. It also increases officer training specifically for school shooter responses at primary and secondary school campuses. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign the bill into law. The Source Information in this article comes from past FOX reporting, Uvalde County court records, the Texas Legislature and the Department of Justice.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Uvalde Strong Act' passes Texas Senate amid calls for bolder action
A bill that aims to better prepare law enforcement agencies to respond to mass shootings to avoid a repeat of the 2022 massacre at a Uvalde elementary school sailed through the Texas Senate and will likely be on its way to the governor's desk soon — but some fear the measure does not go far enough to prevent future tragedies. House Bill 33, titled the "Uvalde Strong Act," passed the upper chamber unanimously Monday after clearing the House with no opposition April 29. The House is expected to concur with Senate tweaks to the legislation and send it for a gubernatorial signature. On May 24, 2022, three years ago this Saturday, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and killed 19 children and two teachers, marking the state's deadliest school mass shooting. As the tragedy unfolded, nearly 400 police officers waited more than an hour to confront the shooter. HB 33 introduces a slew of new requirements for schools and first responders. It requires school districts and multiple law enforcement agencies to meet together each year for planning and training, and it mandates annual mass shooting exercises. It requires the Texas Department of Public Safety to make agreements with local agencies detailing how the departments would coordinate with one another during an emergency. The legislation also gives responding officers the ability to override an incident commander and take control of a scene if the officer believes the response is inadequate or the situation is unsafe. It requires responding agencies to prepare a preliminary report by 60 days after an incident. "This tragedy has exposed critical failures in law enforcement preparedness, response coordination and school safety protocols, making it clear that Texas must take action to address our current shortcomings and future readiness for active shooter situations," said Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. More: 'Uvalde Strong Act' passes unanimously out of Texas House Committee: 'One step closer' The bill is the first from freshman state Rep. Don McLaughlin, who was Uvalde's mayor during the 2022 shooting, and was identified as a priority by House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who led the lower chamber's investigation into the botched shooting response. McLaughlin, a Republican who now represents the South Texas town of about 15,000, praised the bill's passage in a statement Monday. "This is about keeping our schools safer and making sure law enforcement and first responders are never set up to fail," McLaughlin wrote. "We owe it to the families to take action that actually matters. HB 33 does that." But San Antonio Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, said "more must be done" to heal from from the shooting and prevent future tragedies. "We need to do better on common sense gun safety solutions. We need to do better on how we take care of people after these things happen. We need to do better on victims compensation funds," Gutierrez said on the Senate floor. "I promise you, and sadly, this will happen again, no matter how many pieces of legislation we put up, until we begin to truly look at the root problems that are hurting us in this state on gun violence." Brett Cross, whose 10-year-old son Uziyah was killed in the Robb Elementary shooting, told the American-Statesman on Tuesday at the Capitol that the bill won't stop future tragedies but is instead a "reactionary measure ... just to placate people." "If (McLaughlin) wants to put out a bill that will actually save children's lives, that could have saved Uziyah and all the other ones in Uvalde, it would have been to raise the age (to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21). It would have been red flag laws. It would have been safe storage laws. It would have been universal background checks; to end the gun show loophole," Cross said. "The Republicans, especially in Texas, do not care about the youth. They do not care about our children. They care about the money that they make from the NRA." Staff writer Bayliss Wagner contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature OKs Uvalde Strong Act to bolster shooting response
Hamilton Spectator
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Texas lawmakers OK former Uvalde mayor's effort to fix police failures in Robb Elementary attack
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers on Monday passed a plan sponsored by Uvalde's former mayor to fix police failures laid bare by the hesitant law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022, sending the bill to the governor days ahead of the third anniversary of the massacre. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed and 18 people were injured in one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Saturday is the anniversary of the attack. The measure given final approval by the state Senate and sent to Gov. Greg Abbott is dubbed the 'The Uvalde Strong Act' and is meant to correct the problems in the slow and often chaotic law enforcement response that day with better training and coordination between agencies and basic equipment requirements. Nearly 400 local, state and federal officers waited more than an hour to force their way into a classroom where the gunman was before killing him. Terrified students inside the classroom called 911 as parents begged officers — some of whom could hear shots being fired while they stood in a hallway — to go in. The bill's author, first-year Republican state Rep. Don McLaughlin, was Uvalde mayor at the time and was critical of the law enforcement response that day. 'The Uvalde Strong Act is aimed at fixing the breakdowns in communication and coordination that were exposed in the Robb Elementary shooting,' McLaughlin said. 'This is about keeping our schools safer. ... We owe it to the families to take action that really matters.' The bill requires school districts and law enforcement to meet annually to develop active shooter response plans, and mandates officers be trained on how to respond to an active shooter at primary and secondary schools. The measure also requires enhanced incident command training and mutual aid agreements among agencies. School districts would be required to have at least one breaching tool and ballistic shield available at each campus. And the bill requires emergency medical service providers to file reports if they are called to an active shooter scene. Multiple investigations into the law enforcement response found cascading problems in training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned whether officers prioritized their own lives over those of children and teachers. Former Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo and former school police officer Adrian Gonzales have been charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled for trial in October. The families of the victims have several lawsuits pending in federal and state courts, including a $500 million lawsuit against Texas state police officials and officers.
