‘Empty spaces, broken hearts’: Uvalde, Texas, in mourning
A heart-shaped balloon floats at a memorial site outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 30, 2022. In a town as small as Uvalde, even those who didn't lose a family member in the May 24 school shooting lost someone. Some now say that closeness is both their blessing and their curse: They can lean on each other to grieve. But every single one of them is grieving. (AP Photo / Wong Maye-E)
By Claire Galofaro, Wong Maye-E and Allen Breed
Working in all formats, the team of Claire Galofaro, Maye-E Wong and Allen Breed collaborated on an extraordinary portrait of a town grieving after the May 24 mass shooting that left gaping holes in its fabric.
In a chaotic and fraught environment with countless journalists gathered around the memorials and overwhelming the family members of shooting victims, the AP trio decided to approach the story differently. They split up, looking for the people in that next circle of relationships: barbers, bus drivers and others who crossed paths with the affected families.
People on the street in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022, are reflected in the window of a beauty school where a painted sign reads “Uvalde Strong,” days after the deadly school shooting that took the lives of 19 children and two teachers. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Josie Albrecht, a school bus driver, visits a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022, for those killed in the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Albrecht had planned a pizza party for that afternoon. But before she could pick the students up and drive them home, an 18-year-old gunman walked into their school and started shooting. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
On May 29, 2022, school bus driver Josie Albrecht, who shuttled Uvalde’s children to and from school, writes a message on a toy school bus she brought to honor shooting victim Rojelio Torres at a memorial site for those killed in the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. “I love you and will miss you,” she wrote on it, and drew a broken heart at the place where he used to sit, in the back. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Raquel Martinez, hugs her two daughters while her husband, Daniel Martinez, comforts their sons outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. The daughters, 15 and 11 years old, stood crying at a memorial; they’d both been taught by the two teachers who died, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A drive-thru convenience store sign displays the words “Pray for Uvalde” in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022, days after the deadly school shooting took the lives of 19 children and two teachers. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
On May 28, 2020, four days after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, Jeremiah Lennon, 8, picks at a sign reading “Uvalde Strong” which he helped decorate and stuck on a utility pole in front of his home in Uvalde, Texas. On May 24 the third grader had been in a classroom next to the rooms where a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School. The gunman tried to get in his room but the door was locked. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
The family of 8-year-old Jeremiah Lennon sits in the front yard of their home in Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 2022. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Eight-year-old Jeremiah Lennon hugs his puppy named Peanut at his home in Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 2020. On May 24 the third grader had been in a classroom next to the rooms where a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School. The 15 kids in his class sat on the ground in the corner, as quiet as they could be, he said. The gunman tried to get in but the door was locked. Jeremiah said he was mad at first, because they were missing recess. He was also terrified: “I was scared I would get shot, my friends would get shot.” – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Eight-year-old Jeremiah Lennon, second from left, plays on a trampoline with relatives in Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 2022. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Empty swings hang still at Uvalde Memorial Park in Uvalde, Texas, May 27, 2022. The places where kids would ordinarily have been playing are closed or quiet after the deadly May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School took the lives of 19 children and two teachers. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Chalk messages in the town square of Uvalde, Texas, May 27, 2022, read “I love you, I miss you,” on a footpath at a memorial site to victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
People in Uvalde, Texas, May 29, 2022, make their way toward a memorial site set up for victims of the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Dorina Davila, left, from San Antonio, places flowers at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 30, 2022. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Dan Beazley, right, and his son Joey Beazley, from Detroit, carry a wooden cross as they pray at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, May 30, 2022, six days after the deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A woman weeps in the town square of Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 202, as she prays at the memorial site for victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Vincent Salazar, father of Layla Salazar who was killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, is comforted as he weeps at a memorial site in Uvalde, Texas, May 27, 2022. Salazar told the AP that each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, he would play “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns N’ Roses and they’d sing along. “She was just a whole lot of fun,” he said. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A woman pets a comfort dog named Gabriel in the town square of Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 2022, at the memorial site for victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Memorial crosses and balloons are reflected in a water fountain on the town square in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
The American and Texas flags are flown at half-staff in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022, two days after a gunman killed 21 in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Morning sunlight is reflected off a road marker indicating the distance to Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 2022. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Two heart-shaped balloons are silhouetted against the sky at dusk on May 17, 2022, at a memorial site on the town square of Uvalde, Texas, for victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. – AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
In part they wanted to avoid harassing the same relatives everyone else was interviewing, but they also wanted to explore the connections within the community. Working long days, all three contributed to AP’s ongoing spot coverage — they did go to the memorials and vigils crowded with TV cameras, but they also visited the places where kids would usually be found: the city park, the community pool, neighborhoods, a candy shop.
National writer Galofaro talked with a doctor and bus driver, then arranged for video and photos. Enterprise photographer Wong found the family of a young boy who had been in the school, and gently convinced them to share their story; she texted the others to meet her at their home. And video journalist Breed pointed out some of the most moving details, like the names carved in the climbing castle in the park.
It all came together in a heart-wrenching story, elegantly rendered in a presentation by digital storyteller Samantha Shotzbarger.
New York-based photographer Maye-E Wong pets Joy, a comfort dog at a memorial to the Robb Elementary School shooting victims on the town square in Uvalde, Texas, May 28, 2022. – AP / ALLEN G. BREED
The package appeared on numerous websites and front pages,including prominent display by the Newark,N.J.,Star-Ledger,and it scored among the week’s top stories for reader engagement on the AP News platform.
The team received compliments from readers on the sensitive and compassionate way they covered this traumatic story. Most satisfyingly,there was the text from Josie Albrecht,the bus driver whose story led the piece: “You all did a wonderful job,” she wrote, adding two yellow hearts and a rainbow bus emoji.
