Social media users have responded to Ted Cruz's solution of having more armed police officers in school, following the deadly school shooting that occurred on Tuesday.

As reported by ABC News, Uvalde High School student Salvador Ramos allegedly purchased two assault rifles just days after turning 18 and used them to carry out a mass shooting in Robb Elementary School - all within the span of eight days.

After 19 children and two teachers were murdered at the Texas elementary school by Ramos, the state’s 51-year-old senator, Cruz, suggested that schools would be safer if there were only one door to enter in and out.

"One of the things that everyone agreed is don’t have all of these unlocked back doors. Have one door into and out of the school and have armed police officers at that door," he told Fox News Wednesday.

The senator accused the Democrat party of "empty political posturing" after the tragedy and said that they blocked legislation he introduced in 2013 that would spend $300 million on federal grants to "harden schools to make them safer" with advancements like armed police officers, bulletproof doors and glass.

"If that had happened," Cruz said, "if those federal grants had gone to this school when that psychopath arrived, the armed police officers could have taken him out. And we’d have 19 children and two teachers still alive."

Online users reacted quickly after the senator shared his interview on the social media platform and tweeted the caption: "Enough is enough. We need to act by hardening school security and hiring armed police officers to keep our kids safe."

One person replied under his tweet and said: "We need to ban automatic weapons, not arm schools. Ridiculous. Other countries DO NOT have this issue."

Another person stated: "If police officers weren't able to stop the shooter yesterday then what the hell [makes] you think that hiring [armed police officers] will keep our kids safe?"

Grammy Award-winning musician John Legend commented on Cruz's solution and said: "Evil nonsense. The answer for the NRA and its toadies like Ted is ALWAYS that we need MORE guns. They’d rather 'harden' our schools than deal with the problem. We already have the most guns in the world."

Laura Bassett, the Editor-in-Chief of Jezebel had to remind the senator that armed police were already present: "The shooter got past actual armed police on the scene and made it into the school anyway."

The Republican senator also walked off after Sky News US correspondent Mark Stone questioned him about gun crime across the United States at a vigil held for the victims on Wednesday evening.

Cruz said to Stone: "If you want to stop violent crime - the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this."

Then Stone responded: "But why does this only happen in your country? I really think that's what many people around the world just... they cannot fathom. Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?"

Clearly frustrated, Cruz concludes: "You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You've got your political agenda. God loves you."

Cruz then walked away from Stone, effectively ending the interview.

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz abruptly walked away from an interview after being questioned about US gun laws.

As the nation continues to mourn Tuesday's horrendous events in Uvalde, Texas, Ted Cruz has voiced what he believes to be his solution to shootings in US schools.

It comes after a gunman entered Robb Elementary School on the morning of May 24, and killed 19 children and two teachers. Authorities have named the shooter as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. They have also confirmed that he acted alone in the heinous massacre.

Cruz has responded to the horrific shooting by tweeting on Wednesday: "Enough is enough. We need to act by hardening school security and hiring armed police officers to keep our kids safe."

In an interview with Fox News, he added: "One of the things that everyone agreed is don’t have all of these unlocked back doors. Have one door into and out of the school and have ... armed police officers at that door."

"If that had happened," Cruz added, "if those federal grants had gone to this school, when that psychopath arrived, the armed police officers could have taken him out. And we’d have 19 children and two teachers still alive."

At a vigil held for the victims on Wednesday evening, Sky News US correspondent Mark Stone questioned Cruz about gun crime across the United States.

In a video of the interview, Cruz tells Stone: "There are 19 sets of parents who are never going to get to kiss their child tonight."

Stone then asks: "Is this the moment to reform gun laws?"

"You know, it's easy to go to politics," Cruz responds, before adding: "The proposals from Democrats and the media? Inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people--"

Stone interrupts, saying: "A 'violent psychopath' who is able to get a weapon so easily. An 18-year-old with two AR-15s."

Cruz then adds: "If you want to stop violent crime - the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this."

Stone then asks: "But why does this only happen in your country? I really think that's what many people around the world just... they cannot fathom. Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?"

Seemingly frustrated, Cruz then tells Stone: "You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You've got your political agenda. God love you."

Cruz then abruptly walked away from Stone, effectively ending the interview.

"Senator, I just want to understand why you do not think that guns are the problem," Stone says. "It's just an American problem... You can't answer that, can you?"

BBC News reports that Ramos entered the school carrying a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and high-capacity magazines.

Our thoughts continue to go out to the victims of this tragedy...

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An official with the Uvalde police department has explained why the officers waited so long to breach the fourth-grade classroom that a gunman barricaded himself inside before embarking on a horrific killing spree last week.

Last Tuesday's massacre in the mostly Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a school in the US since 20 children and six adults were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

The 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School at around 11:32 AM. He was armed with a handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle before "horrifically, incomprehensibly" opening fire, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

Before the mass shooting, the teen shot his grandmother, Celia "Sally" Martinez Gonzales, and crashed his car near the school. He was eventually shot dead by US Border Patrol agents. Nineteen children and two adults were killed in Ramos' attack on one fourth-grade classroom.

In the wake of the rampage, people have been questioning why local police did not breach the room as soon as they arrived on the scene.

AP News previously reported that police waited more than an hour to enter the classroom. The young students repeatedly called 911, including one child who pleaded: "Please send the police now."

But according to Steven McCraw, the Texas Department of Public Safety director, it was believed at the time that everybody in the classroom had already been shot dead - in spite of the continued 911 calls.

"The on-scene commander at the time believed that it had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject ... [and] there were no more children at risk," McCraw told reporters on Friday, per USA Today. "Obviously, based upon the information we have, there were children in that classroom that were at risk, and it was in fact still an active shooter situation and not a barricaded subject."

McCraw continued: "When you go back to the timeline, there was a barrage — hundreds of rounds were pumped in in 4 minutes into those two classrooms; any firing afterwards was sporadic, and it was at the door.

"So the belief was that there may not be anybody living anymore and the subject is now trying to keep law enforcement at bay or entice them to come in."

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A local sheriff has revealed how an armed officer who was assigned to the Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people last week, stood outside of the building while the shooting happened and did not intervene.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Isreal confirmed that Deputy Scot Peterson has resigned after he was suspended.

"I am devastated. Sick to my stomach. He never went in," Sheriff Israel said.

According to Sheriff Isreal, Mr Peterson, 54, was serving as the school resource officer of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. At the time of the shooting, Peterson was on site, armed and in uniform. Isreal said that footage from the school showed how Mr Peterson arrived at the building around 90 seconds after the first shots were fire, and he remained outside for about four minutes.

When asked what Mr Peterson should've done upon arriving at the scene, Mr Isreal said: "Went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer."

According to reports, Mr Peterson, who is yet to publicly comment on what happened at the school, now has officers guarding his home 24/7. Sheriff Isreal has also said that Mr Peterson is yet to give a clear answer as to why he didn't go into the building where the shooter was. It's also unclear as to whether he will face charges for his conduct.

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Sheriff Isreal also stressed that he would not be releasing the footage of the incident and might never do so "depending on the prosecution and criminal case" of Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old suspect who is accused of carrying out the shooting.

Cruz carried out the massacre using a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, police say, and he escaped the chaotic scene by disguising himself as a distressed student before being seen and arrested by police later on in the day.

Mr Peterson's role as a school resource officer involved being responsible for the safety and crime prevention in the school. Although, this is the loose definition of the role, and it does vary from school to school.

The resource officer is employed by the police or sheriff's office and is in charge of documenting incidents that happen in the school and has the authority to make arrests, should they be needed to do so. According to the National Association of School Resource Officers, it's believed that there are between 14,000 - 20,000 resource officers currently working in the US.

Local media report that Mr Peterson had been in his position since 2009 and, according to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, he had worked in the sheriff's office since 1985, with records showing that his salary was $75,673.

Stoneman Douglas is set to reopen its doors on Wednesday, with teachers being allowed back into the building on Friday. However, despite the school attempting to go back to 'business as usual,' the three-storey building in which the attack happened is set to be torn down.

While it seems like a major lapse in his duty to keep the children safe, it's impossible to know how an individual will react in such a situation.

A second-grade student has recalled the moment the Texas gunman entered his school on Tuesday and opened fire.

On May 24, an 18-year-old gunman, named by authorities as Salvador Ramos, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas,  carrying a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and high-capacity magazines.

Ramos opened fire on a classroom - killing 19 children between the ages of nine and 11, and two teachers.

The teenager was later shot dead by law enforcement officers.

As the nation continues to mourn the losses of the victims involved in this tragedy, more and more details are starting to emerge regarding the events of that day.

Now, eight-year-old Timothy Silva - a second-grader at Robb Elementary School - has spoken out about the moment Ramos entered the school.

Per CBS News, young Silva was in the classroom next door to the one where Ramos went on his deadly rampage.

He recalls his teacher closing the classroom door and telling her students to hide. "We hid behind desks and chairs," the boy told CBS News.

"We were scared and the teacher started telling us we can pray," he added.

The boy continued: "[The teacher] started yelling and I didn't think it was a drill because they would have announced it. The teacher just went out there and started yanking on our door to go hide."

"I'm glad I wasn't shot," Silva added.

The boy's mom, 40-year-old Amberlin Diaz, told the outlet how she had to wait 40 minutes before knowing whether or not Timothy had survived the ordeal.

"I was thinking that the shooter was shooting everywhere, that it was going to go through one of the walls and shoot him. I was so scared," Diaz said.

The family of 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, who was in the classroom that Ramos entered, has also spoken out to reveal how she survived the attack.

In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, Miah's aunt and godmother revealed: "Miah got some blood and put it on herself so she could pretend she was dead."

Godmother Blanca Rivera added: "It's too much for me to play that scene over and over again, but that's what my sister-in-law said is that she saw her friend full of blood and she got blood and put it on herself."

Rivera also explained that the child is struggling to cope with the trauma of what happened.

"Around midnight my sister-in-law called me and she was just crying, like 'I think it just hit Miah. I think everything came to reality now,'" Rivera said.

A GoFundMe has been launched by Miah's mom in order to pay for her daughter's medical treatment and get her help for her trauma.

As of this writing, more than $340,000 has been raised from nearly 9,000 donations.

Our thoughts continue to go out to everybody affected by this horrendous tragedy...

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New surveillance footage of police officers responding to the Uvalde school massacre has sparked scrutiny online.

In the video, obtained by KVUE TV, officers can be seen waiting outside the Texas elementary school classrooms for 77 minutes while the gunman fired at students and teachers inside, per The Independent.

Nineteen children and two teachers were murdered in the horrific attack on May 24, 2022.

Unsurprisingly, people have been angered by the security footage from the day, which was released by the American-Statesman on Tuesday.

In the video - which was lightly edited to remove the sound of children screaming in the background - officers can be seen standing in the corridor of Robb Elementary school for over an hour before they storm the classroom in which the gunman had barricaded himself.

Particular fury has been caused by two officers, one of whom can be clearly seen checking his phone, and the other of whom pauses to sanitize his hands.

The Independent reports how more than 100 rounds were fired inside the classroom, with the footage showing officers retreating down the hall at one point.

Speaking to CNN's New Day on Wednesday, Uvalde County Commissioner Ronald Garza said of the officers in the footage: "They just didn't act. They just didn't move."

"I just don't know what was going through those policemen's minds that tragic day, but ... there was just no action on their part," Garza added.

Over on Twitter, the response to the footage has also drawn criticism.

"I can't describe how furious this video made me. FULL GEAR these cowards had 20 minutes has after gunman was inside, ALSO notice the guy getting hand sanitizer BEFORE gunman is killed," one person tweeted.

"The cops are literally hiding behind each other - Doing absolutely NOTHING to rescue those kids or anyone in the school during this horrifying time," another outraged user wrote, adding: "Every single one of those cops at the end of this video standing in that hall deserve to be charged with negligence!"

Another asked: "How can they sleep at night?"

Per CNN, officials have strongly criticized the leaking of the footage - which was originally released by the Austin American-Statesman, along with TV partner KVUE.

The chairman of the state House Investigative Committee, state Rep. Dustin Burrows tweeted in response: "While I am glad that a small portion is now available for the public, I do believe watching the entire segment of law enforcement's response, or lack thereof, is also important."

Burrows added: "I am also disappointed the victim's families and the Uvalde community's requests to watch the video first, and not have certain images and audio of the violence, were not achieved."

Parents of the victims have also slammed the leaking of the footage, with Felicia Martinez - the mother of Xavier James Lopez - saying on Tuesday: We want justice for our kids [...] We're the parents who lost our children. We were supposed to do this together first - not for the world.

"We're suffering - and I know the world is suffering too - but these were our babies, our babies who were taken from us. So to the person who leaked it: Screw you."

Our thoughts continue to go out to everybody affected by this tragedy.

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