SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the Texas school shooting (all times local): 11:40 a.m. The National Rifle Association’s incoming…
SANTA FE, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the Texas school shooting (all times local):
11:40 a.m.
The National Rifle Association’s incoming president is blaming the latest deadly school shooting on youngsters “steeped in a culture of violence.”
Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North tells “Fox News Sunday” that authorities are trying “like the dickens” to treat symptoms instead of going after the disease.
He says the disease isn’t the Second Amendment and that depriving law-abiding citizens of their constitutional right to have a firearm won’t stop shootings like Friday’s near Houston that left 10 people dead.
North identifies the “disease” as youngsters growing up in a culture where violence is commonplace.
He listed such things as violent movies and TV shows and drug use, specifically Ritalin, which is used to treat hyperactivity disorder. Investigators haven’t linked the suspect to Ritalin or other drugs.
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10:55 a.m.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has arrived at Arcadia First Baptist Church in Santa Fe, where he hugged grieving parishioners reeling two days after a teenage gunman killed 10 people in his high school.
Monica Bracknell, an 18-year-old senior who survived the shooting, told the governor Sunday morning that she doesn’t think the shooting should be turned into a political battle over gun control.
The teenager was surrounded by dozens of television cameras, photographers and reporters, as she shook her governor’s hand and said she didn’t believe guns were to blame for the shooting she survived.
She arrived at church a day after returning to her school to collect belongings left behind in the chaos of the shooting. She said she and her classmates are “shaken up” but coping.
The governor spoke privately to worshippers as they arrived but did not speak to the media.
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9:20 a.m.
The first funeral for one of the 10 people fatally shot at a high school outside Houston is set for Sunday afternoon.
The Islamic Society for Greater Houston says services for 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student Sabika Sheikh are scheduled for a mosque in suburban Houston.
She’d been attending classes at Santa Fe High School since last August when she was killed Friday.
Her father, Abdul Aziz Sheikh, has described his daughter as a hard-working and accomplished student who aspired to work in civil service and hoped one day to join Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
Her body is to be returned to her family in Karachi, Pakistan.
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9:05 a.m.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is urging a “hardening” of school buildings in the wake of a shooting that killed 10 people at a Texas high school.
Patrick blames a U. S. “culture of violence” and says more needs to be done to keep shooters away from students, such as restricting school entrances and arming teachers with guns.
He tells CNN’s “State of the Union”: “When you’re facing someone who’s an active shooter, the best way to take that shooter down is with a gun. But even better than that is four to five guns to one.”
Appearing on the Sunday talk shows, Patrick did not address details of the law enforcement investigation into Friday’s shooting at Santa Fe High. A 17-year-old student is being held on murder charges.
Patrick tells ABC’s “The Week” he supports background checks for gun purchasers but stresses “gun regulation starts at home.”
