Original subtitles

[ambient tone]

[resonant guitar music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[turn signal clicking]

♪♪ ♪♪

PERSON: Everybody wants to kind of go back to normal.

But it's never gonna be like that.

I wanted to tell my son, like, you know,

"you're gonna be fine.

Nothing like this is gonna happen."

But I also felt like I would be lying.

'Cause it's like, I can't say that

nothing like this is gonna happen because

it just did.

KIM: Leon, it's time for school, babe.

I think people tend to think

that journalists don't have hearts.

We do. I think about the kids

that I've written about in the past all the time.

Margie's gonna pick y'all up for school in the mornings.

Vic will pick you up. You walk, so that's fine.

Meemaw will come in the afternoons

to help with dinner and homework.

Y'all remember when Lexi would complain

if we went to Donut Palace

instead of Starbucks? - Not Starbucks.

- [chuckles]

[soft guitar music]

♪♪ ♪♪

There are interviews every week.

There are meetings with families,

upcoming DC trips.

It never stops.

But when I come home, I'm Mom.

Are these all of the dogs?

He has all of those comfort dog cards.

Why do you have a collection of them?

They, like, fell out of his pocket.

A lot of Martha.

Axe, Devorah.

13? Is that how many you had?

Yeah?

I have some from work at the newspaper.

- Ooh, give me them. - I will.

That way, you can beat Gia.

All right, put your hoodie on.

I think I just miss who I was before.

I miss the people.

I considered going back, but I don't know

if working right now is in the cards for me.

[soft music]

I have covered child homicides before.

I have requested autopsies.

And now, my daughter's autopsy will be made public one day.

There's a butterfly on the butterfly.

What time is it?

We gotta get going. - All right.

- Bye, baby.

♪♪ ♪♪

[soft music]

- He's licking me.

KIM: [laughs] Lexi!

When somebody asks me, "how would you describe Lexi?"

a million different memories flash in my mind.

- Hey.

Close your eyes.

[laughter]

KIM: I love her willingness to learn.

- Alexandra Rubio is receiving the principal's award.

KIM: And this competitive nature that she had.

PERSON: Go, Lexi!

[cheering] KIM: There you go, Lexi!

[cheering, applause]

PERSON: Go, Lexi. Go, Lexi!

Woo-hoo-hoo! Go, Lexi!

KIM: I loved that about her.

[cheers and applause]

[soft music]

[indistinct police radio chatter]

- Hey, Sheriff. Sorry to bother you.

I know you got your hands full right now.

I just have a quick question, if you don't mind.

I know there's a trooper here on the west side

blocking off the road.

So there is no option for me to be able to get out there.

I need pictures of this scene.

People need to know what's going on.

How do I get to 700--

I know it's a small town, small news,

but it's kind of almost a fast-paced situation.

[camera shutter clicking]

I went to work at 7:00 this morning.

I've had two cups of coffee and one taco.

[laughs] You know?

So my next worry is, I need to get some food in my system.

It's unfortunate, but doing this kind of job,

it's like, what's the next thing?

What's the next big photo?

What's the next unfortunate occurrence,

or crazy thing, or whatever it is?

It's just--

it's the job, man.

The story I heard on the ground was that

this storage container here contained 12 migrants.

Right there is the two-- the two deceased bodies,

the individuals that were in the storage container.

[resonant music]

PETE: Even though we are a news organization,

we still got to pay bills.

Right now, I'm just focusing on keeping the boat going.

He's getting that, too.

The photography, the chasing down of stories, selling ads--

I have too many hats right now.

I shot it a little taller.

- Let's add it up, see what we got.

- Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do right now and then--

Then when Craig offered it to me, I asked him.

I said, can I still be the photographer?

'Cause if I can't,

then I don't want to be general manager.

- 1901 would be the first official Uvalde Leader-News.

It's one of those institutions that grew up,

you know, as the community grew.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

Uvalde is a very complicated place,

like most small communities.

We just happen to have racial divides

and extremely poignant class divides

that maybe not all communities have.

There's a Uvalde that's extremely poor.

And they don't have time

to think about philosophical things.

They have to put food on the table.

Community journalism to me is every bit as rich,

and accurate, and professional,

and important as, you know, the national media.

And in fact, I think in many ways

community journalists are even more committed.

Because they live it day in and day out.

- I'm with the local newspaper.

Could I get your names? - Lucas.

- What's a town without a newspaper?

It's literally a written history.

And it's the only one that's available.

There's nobody else that captures those activities,

that drama, those births, deaths, winning touchdowns.

It's just all in our pages.

[camera shutter clicking]

My staff is pretty incredible.

I would put them up against anybody.

Meghann is brilliant.

She's methodical, a decision-maker.

- I think this one's better than the one that we have.

- My question is--

CRAIG: Julye has more contacts in her Rolodex than any of us.

- Good morning, Mayor McLaughlin. This is Julye.

Would you give me a call when you have a moment?

Thank you, sir. Bye.

CRAIG: Melissa, in the space of a year,

she learned how to put a story together

in a way that really, really grips you.

MELISSA: Just taking a couple more

in case mine didn't turn out.

Thanks, girls. - Thank you.

- My kids are just like me. Everybody was like,

let's go. [laughter]

- Kim Rubio, she's been very much part of our team

over the last decade and brought so much to it.

KIM: While I was at the crime desk,

it was crime, city/county government,

and meeting with police officers

and getting them to tell me,

you know, little bits and pieces

of what I needed for the story.

- You've been bouncing around. KIM: Mm-hmm.

- You were in Washington just the other day?

- Yes. CRIAG: Yeah.

KIM: I owe so much to Craig, specifically--

a chance to provide for my family but still be present.

I worked with really good people.

ALL: ♪♪ Birthday, dear Lexi ♪♪

KIM: Meghann, she made Lexi her last birthday cake.

She's just a really good friend.

You know, my coworkers know my kids.

My kids know my coworkers.

My kids make jokes like, "Mom, you don't really have friends,

you have coworkers." [laughs]

[soft music]

We have five children.

Despite having both good jobs,

we were living paycheck to paycheck.

I wanted more for my kids.

And I wanted to show them that,

you know, you never stop learning.

So I decided that I wanted to go back to school

and get a college degree.

On my last day, they had a cake in the back.

And they called me back there.

And the cake says, "We hope you fail!" [laughs]

And I know they love me.

But they're going to miss me.

And you know, I was-- I missed them.

So every time they needed some help or--

or I was off from school, I'd come in.

CRAIG: They are a family.

If we hadn't been this close when Robb occurred on May 24,

we would have fallen by the wayside.

[somber music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- Citizenship Recognition goes to Darian Ojeda

and Alexandria Rubio.

MEGHANN: Kimberly Rubio was back for the summer.

Her kids had award ceremonies.

She had texted me the night before

a little concerned, saying, "I know it's my second day,

"but I'll be out for the morning.

But I'll make up for it in the afternoon."

- I was walking towards Meghann's office.

And I looked over to the right.

And Kimberly was sitting there at her desk.

I said something to the effect of,

"I thought I had smelled something."

And that's our way of saying, "hi, Kimberly, I love you."

And she just said, "ha-ha," and made a funny face.

- I left for lunch around 11:40

and immediately got a text from my aunt

to say that she was hearing

there was an active shooter near the school.

[ominous music]

- I stood in Meghann's office and I listened to the scanner.

And I heard an officer say

that we're going to need a lot of helicopters.

I thought, well, that's weird.

- I think I looked at Julye,

'cause it's gonna be Julye's story

and I remember being in that position.

And in your head, you're coming up with, like,

who do I need to call, what do I need to do,

and trying to pay attention to the scanner.

And to me, it was just, it was another story--

probably front page.

- There's a lot of incidences with the human smuggling

where they have weapons.

That's not uncommon down here.

So we're still thinking,

you know, maybe the guy crashed.

He bailed out of the car, shot at somebody.

I was thinking about the story

that I was gonna have to write later.

And then Kim got an alert on her phone

that there was a lockdown at Robb.

KIM: If there's a chase, a bailout,

they lock down all the nearby schools.

So I didn't really necessarily think

my children were in danger.

I just thought, that's standard procedure.

- And we have no idea that this is a school shooter.

No clue. No clue.

PETE: I grabbed my police scanner.

And the shooter had shot someone

and drove towards the school, ran inside the school.

And this is where I see the truck for the first time.

And there's the AR-15 that-- that I saw.

So I saw this rifle, and I said,

all right, good, he's unarmed.

He just ran to hide. He ran for cover.

[helicopter blades whirring] There's helicopters in the sky.

I could barely hear the guy talking next to me

when he was telling me his story about being shot at.

Uh-huh? - And right when I got here,

he jumped out like there with an assault rifle,

shot three times at them and twice at me.

CRAIG: It was a din because these people were

coming from every point of the compass,

flying into Uvalde to respond to Robb,

all this law enforcement.

And the sirens went on, and on, and on.

- I'm texting and calling people, trying to find out,

get a handle of what's going on.

And of course, nobody's answering us

or returning our calls because

they're busy with the situation.

[helicopter blades whirring]

CRAIG: And Pete says parents are fogging into the area.

And the police are divided between those

who were trying to confront the shooter in the hallway

and those who are handling crowd control.

[excited chatter]

KIM: It's just a sea of parents and hysteria.

OFFICER: We need everyone to move back.

KIM: Having gotten there late,

I really didn't know what was going on.

OFFICER: Come on. Come back. It's not complicated. Come on.

PARENT: It is kind of complicated

when we got kids here. OFFICER: Yeah.

KIM: And I remember, you know,

there's yelling at some of the officers.

- Get across the street! - Why are you--

- Because I'm having to deal with you!

Get across the street.

KIM: And I remember thinking like, oh, we kind of

need to let them do their job.

They can't have us close to the school

if there's something going on.

And the officers inside, they have it.

[indistinct radio chatter]

OFFICER: I don't know which one of those.

- OK. That's OK.

- This is probably going to be a story

that I'm gonna need to write.

But then personal feelings started taking over because

we--we got worried, you know--

Kim's our friend. Kim's our family.

And she's got two children at that school.

- I think it was right around this point where I saw

a little girl coming out of one of the classrooms,

where she was bloodied up--

just blood pouring out of her nose area.

I thought she had a broken nose.

- And I remember asking one officer,

though I can't remember his name, like,

"everything's OK, right?"

- [wailing]

- The first time that it got scary was

hearing Angel Garza just start screaming.

KIM: I didn't know then, but I know now that

he was told his daughter was shot.

- [screaming]

- Everything now has changed from this bailout to

a real school shooting is going on.

[helicopter blades whirring]

PETE: I still couldn't process it.

I was seeing it. I was living it.

We were going through a school shooting, man.

♪♪ ♪♪

[sighs]

I was standing next to Kim for a while and, um,

we were just staring, just looking for Lexi,

looking for Lexi, trying to see when she's going to run out.

I stopped taking a lot of pictures

and stopped doing my work because I was focusing on--

on finding Lexi for her.

[voice breaking] I knew I had to find her, so.

- I decided since Pete was at the school

that I would go to the Civic Center

to find out what was going on.

Part of the conversation we had in the office

before I left was,

look for Lexi, and look for Kim.

So I parked my car

and then school buses started showing up.

FATHER: I'm here. I'm here. I'm here, mija.

STUDENT: Mama? FATHER: It's OK.

STUDENT: We can't--we can't leave.

FATHER: Yes, we--it's OK. We're right here.

We're right here. OK? It's OK. We're right here. OK?

Hey, hey, we're right here. OK?

STUDENT: [crying] FATHER: Hey, it's OK.

We're right here. MOTHER: Go, go, go, go, go.

FATHER: Go inside. Go inside.

[ominous music]

MELISSA: I was taking pictures and this lady

started yelling at me about why I was there.

And I said, "well, I'm with the newspaper,

and so I'm just here to see what's going on."

And she said, "well, you don't need to be

"taking pictures of us right now.

That's not appropriate."

- Nobody at that point

had yet been reunited with their children.

And then as time went on,

some people were getting reunited with their children,

and Kim wasn't.

We heard that the school was gonna have a press conference

at the Civic Center and Meghann decided

to go out there, too.

- And I saw Judge Mitchell and I said I wasn't asking--

[voice breaking] for the newspaper--

That I just wanted to know for Kimberly and Felix

if he had any information on Lexi.

And he just said that, you know,

he didn't have information on Lexi specifically.

But being that we didn't know anything,

it wasn't good.

[sniffles]

- When everything ended, I just saw a bunch of faces

of parents who lost their children.

And I remember their pain.

[somber music]

♪♪ ♪♪

And it's still there.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I think the longer we waited,

the more it became clear that something was wrong.

Somebody drove us to

the Uvalde Memorial Hospital here in town.

We gave them her name, her description,

what she was wearing. And she wasn't there.

So I said, "I want to go back to Robb.

She's still at Robb."

I had sandals on, so I took those off

and I just ran to Robb.

It felt right being there.

We waited a little bit there and then, finally,

a San Antonio firefighter offered to give us a ride

back to the Civic Center because he said

we just weren't gonna get answers here.

MELISSA: The Civic Center has windows.

[voice breaking] And so...

We see Kim.

There's a group of people around her.

And they're walking her to the windows.

And Meghann and I are watching her through the glass.

And she just falls to the floor.

KIM: I get into a patrol car.

And I asked the driver could he just take me back to Robb.

I told him, "you know me, I won't cause any problems,

I just want to go and just sit."

He just looked defeated.

And he had just to tell me he can't do that.

Of course he can't do that but...

if my feet hadn't been cut up from the earlier run,

I would have just gone myself.

I just wanted to be with her.

[sniffles]

[door opens and shuts]

[ambient music]

♪♪ ♪♪

"I am many things--

"a mother...

"a journalist,

"a student, a runner.

"Now I carry another title, one I wish I could give back.

"I am the mother of a mass shooting victim.

"May 24, 2022,

"the day an 18-year-old armed with an assault-style weapon

"murdered my youngest daughter,

"Alexandria 'Lexi' Rubio, and ten of her classmates,

"along with two teachers and eight students

in an adjacent classroom."

♪♪ ♪♪

CRAIG: It's truly astounding how quickly

the world press responds to

this level of chaos and tragedy.

People began immediately phoning

from all across the country

and, you know, even the world.

And they all wanted to just talk to somebody

about what was happening.

- Oh, it was horrible.

It was--it-- they were calling nonstop.

You couldn't even finish one call.

There was--the phone was just ringing off the wall.

- She was just fielding calls left and right, left and right.

And at that time, it was, what, a couple of hours

after it had happened.

And I had just gotten back to the office.

The hounding of the calls and emails--just constant.

- I was crying.

I think I got approached by two or three

different news reporters

that thought that I was a crying parent.

You know, I just said, no, I'm with the paper.

- Even if we had chosen to talk to any one of these--

these news agencies, we didn't--

we didn't have facts.

We didn't know.

- We don't know who's--who's injured.

We don't know who's sitting in a hospital bed

clinging on to their life.

When I first got all of these pictures,

trying to look through them and, you know,

not knowing what exactly I was looking at,

the only people that hounded me 24/7

and reached out to me was other news agencies.

Because obviously, they weren't here.

So they wanted to know everything from,

"what do you have?

"What are you willing to share with us?

"We have someone right down the corner.

"He'll be there in five minutes.

"Don't worry about going through anything.

We can do all of that for you."

You know, all these, like, really--

those used car salesmen-- talking really fast,

hope you miss all the important things.

I put up my guard. And I realized,

OK, this is-- this is bigger than--

than anything I've ever handled.

I had a real serious talk with Craig.

He trusted my judgment and everyone else did, too.

And that's how we came about these,

I think, 26 pictures that we released,

was because it was the only 26

I was willing to release myself.

♪♪ ♪♪

Why would I want to show a photo of someone who--

maybe a parent-- has never seen before

or doesn't know if their child made it?

We are the Uvalde Leader-News.

This is our town. This is our home.

Could I say that I would have done the same thing

if I was with The New York Times?

I don't know.

But this is our family.

If it happened to one child from Uvalde,

it happened to everyone in Uvalde.

- I asked Meghann on her way out the door

what we were gonna put on Thursday's front page.

You know?

And she said, "I don't know."

And I said to her, well, I think that

we should do a black front page, just solid black.

- We were distraught.

I don't know if we stopped crying, really.

We had touched on the evening before

what to put on the front page.

For historical record, we have to have it, of course.

We have to show that this happened.

But what is actually new?

What is our role?

What is our objective?

What can you say about this?

And what can you put

on the Uvalde Leader-News front page?

- I said, "Meghann, what do you see here?"

And she said, "well, we--

we see just a black page."

And I said, "honey, I just have a hard time with that.

"That's not--that's not how I perceive our coverage.

"You know, we're a newspaper.

"And this is our home and this has happened

"and don't you think our readers expect

something more tangible?"

And she said, "well, we don't think so."

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

So I said, OK.

If this is what you guys want, then I want--

this is what we're gonna have.

- We all sort of felt blank.

Like, grief-stricken but also still in a sort of shock,

disbelief that this had happened.

And I think that the black front page

was a way to reflect that.

And the date is printed on it in white

because it's stamped on all our brains.

In the same indelible way,

we wanted to reflect that in the paper.

♪♪ ♪♪

- And you have not gone back to your house?

- We--we made the decision to go

before we went to the funeral home today.

- How was it? - It was hard.

- I am a sheriff's deputy, yes,

but someone else is on scene, it's their scene.

- This was not an assignment for you?

- It wasn't an-- - This was personal?

- This is me going to check on my babies at Robb.

Like, she said, we have two. That's just me just going.

And I go turn on my radio.

I turn it on and-- [snaps fingers]

Like that, I just hear panic in everybody's voices.

And me, I just address,

got in my unit, took off.

And I get there.

I'm outside for a bit,

then start inching my way a little bit.

And then I get to the building where it's all at.

And I see where everybody's posted at

in front of my baby girl's door.

There's two doors that's there.

It's a 50/50 which door is it.

Once I see them open the door and open fire, I--

I don't--just-- my heart dropped.

- [crying] I left my baby at that school.

- You shouldn't blame yourself.

- I'm her mom. She can't make good decisions.

Who else is there to blame?

[sighs]

[cat meows softly]

- It's a note with the school.

- This is--aww.

From Lexi. - [chuckles]

These are also for you for Mother's--

- For Mother's Day? - Yeah.

In Spanish. She was in dual language.

- Oh, it's the-- when the dual language.

And that's my picture. [chuckles]

- Taken with Lexi.

- Because I take her to parties.

She loves me because I take her to parties,

because I clean, because I cook food,

and I help her with her homework.

- Mm.

- I remember that one.

That's the birthday party we had in the backyard

when my mom bought her-- - The Father's Day gift.

- My mom bought her those earrings.

Yeah, and these are all Mary's.

Mary does the Father's Day and Mother's Day things.

Oh, this is-- this is what I needed.

- What? - This is the tattoo.

I was hoping we would find it because I didn't know

how they could scan it from, like, a photo.

Lexi drew this for me. It says "the best mom.

not only "the best mom, the best, best mom."

That's me. She's underneath me.

It says, "I Love My Mom by Lexi."

I came across it on my Instagram

because I had shared it.

And I was like, that'd be a perfect tattoo, so.

I want to get that scanned and copied.

And it will be my first color tattoo.

I always said I wouldn't do color, but.

The idea is, once our--

once all of our children are out of the home,

we want to have, like, a bedroom all her own.

And we'll have all of this stuff,

all of the artwork and all of her clothes.

We're saving all her clothes.

So that's the plan.

Lexi's.

- Lexi.

[ambient music]

♪♪ ♪♪

JULYE: I know that myself and my co-workers,

we're trying to do our job as best we can.

I wrote a story describing some of the preliminary events

as we knew them at the time.

That narrative has shifted.

I think that people are searching for accountability.

♪♪ ♪♪

We have not heard a lot of

anything from the side of most of the local law enforcement

and the state responders that were there.

PETE: The lack of accountability and knowing

exactly what happened that day,

or the reasons for it happening and the end results,

just has divided this town up.

There is no coming to grips.

There is no healing from that particular day.

Too many questions and not enough answers.

I think that the number-one people that deserve this

is the families, the Rubios and everyone else,

that were affected by that day.

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- Hey, boys.

[softly] Hi, baby girl.

SPEAKER: Cazares, Makenna Elrod,

Jose Flores Junior, Alithia--

- OK, next up, we have Kimberly Rubio.

[clapping]

- What is it, Kimberly?

[cheering]

- I am a mother to five children.

I live in a small town, content with the simple life.

I never dreamt of testifying before today.

What I want no one can give me.

I want my daughter back.

If I can't have her,

then those who failed her will never know peace.

[cheers and applause]

We want answers. We seek justice.

And we demand change.

And we will never rest.

Remember their names.

- Alexandria Lexi Rubio.

PERSON: Lexi! [cheers and applause]

PROTESTER: No justice. ALL: No peace!

PROTESTER: No justice.

ALL: No peace!

PROTESTER: Viva Uvalde! ALL: Viva Uvalde!

PROTESTER: Not one more child!

ALL: Not one more child.

KIM: After we wrapped our head around

what happened to us, what happened to Lexi,

I immediately knew

that I didn't want another mom to feel this way.

PROTESTER: What do we want? ALL: Justice!

PROTESTER: When do we want it? ALL: Now!

KIM: We hit the ground running.

We marched in DC.

I'll never stop.

I have never turned down an opportunity

to share Lexi's story.

Our focus will always be at the federal level because

I want to help as many people as possible.

And that is with the complete ban of assault weapons.

[light chatter]

What we can do at the state level is raise the age

from 18 to 21 to be able to purchase these weapons.

[chanting]

[determined music]

♪♪ ♪♪

JULYE: I see a lot of parents who have seen the footage,

who have read reports, who are very disheartened,

who feel that Chief Pete Arredondo

didn't take actions that he should have.

♪♪ ♪♪

CRAIG: I think people have been looking forward--

maybe too much--to seeing him lose his position.

Once you--you get these things in your mind

that you've got to knock this person off

or this person or somebody's got to be the fall guy

and then you keep going down the line,

at some point, you run out of those people.

And then who do you blame

or how do you come to terms with the tragedy?

As a community journalist, you can never really shed

that sort of mantle of--

of your being in the community,

of what the community means to you.

♪♪ ♪♪

- On a regular basis, I think about

the hiring of Pete Arredondo.

People were so thrilled. He was very well-liked.

He seemed like a good fit for the community.

They definitely knew him as the guy who

would come and get me out of a school board meeting

and tell me my car windows were down and it's raining.

So there is that level of connection that--

that outside media, you know, doesn't have.

It's hard to cancel out all of those things,

just like it is any person.

But there has been some decisions made

that I can't get behind.

♪♪ ♪♪

[indistinct discussion]

BURROWS: The House Committee on the Robb Elementary shooting

will now come to order.

Several officers in the hallway or in that building

knew or should have known there was dying in that classroom

and they should have done more.

Chief Arredondo, he testified that

he felt like he was not in command.

- [speaking in Spanish]

JULYE: We're a small town.

Not only are these officers the ones that police us

and enforce the laws, but they're our neighbors,

they're our friends, they're the people that

we go to the grocery store and the post office with.

And it's very hard to look at somebody

who's an intrinsic part of your community and wonder,

"did you just stand there and let my friend's child die?"

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[coffee machine rumbling]

- So things that I am working on,

I have city and county meetings this week.

I need to check in with Sabrida

and keep that update going for the municipal election.

- What do you got, James?

- Football scrimmage on Friday night.

Tennis, they opened their season last Friday.

That's where I was Friday morning, covering that.

- And then tonight is the board meeting

for the school district, that open forum,

so that could go three to four hours.

- Yeah, OK. Thank you, all.

- OK. - That's a wrap.

HAL HARRELL: First of all, thank you for being here.

And we offer our condolences to all the families.

The release of yesterday's report, I know,

must be extremely heavy on each one of you.

The House report will help us in our decision-making

as we move forward.

And I would like to turn it over

to the community at this time.

- Why the hell does he still have a job with y'all?

PERSON: Yes, why? Why?

[applause]

HAL: Chief Arredondo is on administrative leave

at this point.

[clapping]

NORMA: Good morning. May I help you?

NORMA: OK, a yard sale? PERSON: Yes.

Plenty of tools, household items.

- OK. This will be $8.50. PERSON: OK.

- Gonna be cash? OK. And your name?

- Melissa.

- Ruiz, right? - Yes.

- I was gonna say, I think I remember you.

- [chuckles] - You look like your mom.

[chuckling] I wasn't sure.

JULYE: We're very close to some of these families.

Mr. Prado, he's not just investigating

one, you know, lieutenant.

He's investigating the whole police department.

So I think our coverage has been maybe

a slightly different approach than some of

the larger news media.

We're not trying to necessarily capture

every moment of the families' pain.

We just want to be here and offer a platform

for what is happening.

MELISSA: I'm gonna put on the end that I called George Hyde.

- OK.

- And I'm going to close it so you can read it.

MELISSA: OK. Anyway, I think we were close.

We're just trying to give an update on what is going on.

[ambient music]

MEGHANN: If you work there, your whole life

is pretty much the newspaper.

We have UMH firearm policy,

Arredondo, what's happening with his employment at UCISD,

100-degree days and no rain in sight,

the teacher, Reyes, who was shot,

and the last student who was still in the hospital

went home last week.

So we just have a lot.

We're all firmly in the middle of it.

I think we're just trying to get through

every day of reporting on it.

And we'll figure out our feelings later.

So the good news is, all of our pages are in color today.

MELISSA: Oh, wow.

- Sadly, we don't have that many stories

with art right now.

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

♪♪ ♪♪

PERSON: We are with you.

- We don't know what to do.

We just want to fight for our children.

And we want them to be remembered.

[sniffles]

We just want to stop being disappointed.

- No matter what happens today,

we're gonna continue our fight.

- Mr. Board President, I move that good cause exists

to terminate the non-certified contract

of Pete Arredondo effective immediately.

- Motion passes unanimously.

[cheers and applause]

- What he should be charged with? Manslaughter.

- Pete Arredondo did not attend tonight's special session here.

Instead, he issued a 17-page statement

calling the termination proceeding "an illegal

and unconstitutional public lynching."

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

JULYE: He is not the only person that was there.

He is one of 376

law enforcement personnel that were on scene.

So while he certainly would bear some responsibility

in the eyes of the families,

that can't be the only progress they see.

These families don't seem to have

a whole lot of other people in the community supporting them.

- "Dear Sheriff Ruben Nolasco,

"this letter serves as notice of my resignation

"as a patrol deputy for

the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office effective immediately."

Sincerely, me.

Oh, hit you with the dog tag. - Love you.

- Love you, too.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

Border Patrol was always my... top-tier job that I wanted.

What I saw was just upsetting.

I don't even know what more else there is to say about it.

I think the video speaks volumes.

You build a brotherhood and,

I don't know, just--

never would have expected it came to this.

♪♪ ♪♪

All right, let's see.

♪♪ ♪♪

Is Sheriff or Chief here, or no?

I am tired. - Was that exhausting?

Was that emotionally exhausting?

- It was just Chief.

I'll meet with Sheriff Monday. - Monday?

What did he say?

- Gonna miss me.

Um--

make sure--

yeah.

You know.

And that they expected it. [laughs]

- Yeah.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[indistinct chatter]

♪♪ ♪♪

SHEILA JACKSON LEE: I call to order

the Congressional Children's Caucus

of the United States House of Representatives

for the historic listening session in Uvalde, Texas.

You're recognized for five.

- My name is Kimberly Rubio. I'm Lexi's mom.

I want to thank y'all for the opportunity

to share her story and my experience.

I apologize in advance

'cause it's just not a good day and I'm not prepared.

I don't have a blueprint for how to live

when your 10-year-old daughter is murdered in her classroom.

But I think the state and our nation

should have a roadmap by now.

This is not the first mass shooting.

It will not be the last until we federally ban these weapons.

So you better get really good really fast

at how to deal with the aftermath.

We need transparency and accountability.

We need resources that are readily and easily available.

I'm just a mom from a really small town.

I have no idea what we need

other than I need my daughter back.

And if I can't have my daughter back,

then I just want change.

I don't just want it. I am demanding it.

And I'm so sorry I can't share her story today.

Because I--

it's just too much today.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- Thank you so very much.

- [sniffles]

♪♪ ♪♪

[somber music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

- Fuck you!

- Oh, my god. - He did not say that.

- Yeah, he did. - I just heard--

♪♪ ♪♪

- And you've already addressed them, have you?

- Not to anyone. - OK. The Beto incident?

Hal Harrell is a lifelong Uvaldian.

I think he's very well known

for his dedication to his students.

There's a difference between being able to, um,

advocate for education for children

and then being someone who can manage a crisis.

I think his retirement comes

in his own realization of his lack of capability

to provide the kind of leadership

the district needs right now.

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

REPORTER: Group of parents and educators wanted to thank him

for more than 30 years of service to this community.

So you could look at tonight's events really as a referendum.

- I want to heal. I want to get better.

And it's really hard when you have a community

that's so divided.

Focus on maybe changing laws or changing protocols,

not pointing fingers at everybody right now,

'cause that's what's tearing everybody apart.

[cheers and applause]

ALL: ♪♪ Uvalde High ♪♪

♪♪ Three cheers for you ♪♪

Rah, rah, rah!

[applause]

- This is extremely overwhelming.

I cannot begin to tell you what this means.

That's pretty clever. [laughter]

Y'all do that? - That is.

[indistinct chatter]

- The families never called for Hal Harrell to resign or retire

but I am disgusted by this community.

How dare you decide now,

when a job is at stake to come together, but you stayed home

as we the families have been demanding

transparency and accountability.

To the individuals who spent the weekend

bashing 21 grieving families,

go home and hug your kids and be glad that you can.

Because I'll be at the cemetery

because that's the closest I can get to my baby!

- I don't want to talk you. I'm not talking to you.

KIM: You're on one side or the other.

You either stand with the families

whose children or mothers were murdered,

or you're on the side of wanting to turn a blind eye

and just move on.

- Hey. - Leave them alone.

KIM: Makes me want to pack my bags

and just leave and never come back.

But that's not an option for us.

We're--

we'll be in Uvalde because Lexi is in Uvalde.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

JULYE: There was a huge number.

Over 100 people turned out at the meeting.

Meanwhile, you have parents who lost children

that can't get two people to show up

at a meeting to support them.

There's a very strong attitude

whenever there's a development or anybody posts anything of,

"hey, you're just ruffling feathers.

"You're just creating more problems.

You are the problem."

We get told that at the newspaper, too,

that we need to just stop bringing it up.

MELISSA: Meg. MEGHANN: Yeah.

MELISSA: I'm gonna turn this in to you, but it's for Sunday.

MEGHANN: We're trying to get answers

for the community at large,

even if maybe some of the community

doesn't feel like they need those answers.

We've got six stories that all need to go on the front.

We have too much copy for the space we have.

I feel most of our readership is tired of May 24th coverage.

- OK, I'm gonna tweak my rain story

because I have a few missed rain messages.

MEGHANN: OK.

- I worry about my staff.

It's a good story. - [indistinct]

- Harrell? Yeah.

And your story, Jules, the media docs.

[printer chugging]

- These are the days of our lives.

CRAIG: I can tell that they're feeling it.

And I hate that for them.

Well, Meg, what do you think?

- So pretty much everything has to go.

The AirLIFE feature could hold, though I'd rather it not.

CRAIG: And I don't know how to make it stop

without just saying, you know,

why don't you take a-- take a month off?

And we can't--we can't get by with them gone.

KIM: For the past eight years, Greg Abbott's been in office

and we've just seen failure.

I think people are looking for change.

- This gentleman right here, Beto, from the very beginning,

you know, pledged his support for the families.

- Thank you. Thank you. Carlos, thank you.

[indistinct]. Appreciate it.

Thank you all for coming out,

welcoming us back to the community

of these extraordinary heroes who are among us.

I am following their lead to do their best

to make sure that other parents don't experience

the suffering that they are living through right now.

[engine revving]

And I can think of no other public servants--

KIM: As he's giving a speech, there's vehicles racing by

so that you can't hear.

If that isn't reflective of this community

and our political climate, I don't know what is.

[intriguing music]

- How many you need?

- Just one. - OK. Here you go.

- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.

♪♪ ♪♪

- There's 14 voting precincts.

So I've got to make sure I have 14 spots for them--

the 14 precincts, and then the early voting,

and then the total at the end.

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

- Tony Gonzalez, John Lira, Greg Abbott, Beto O'Rourke.

- These are all early mail-in, right?

- Yes. - James?

Want a marker? OK. - Let's do it.

[soft chatter]

CRAIG: We hold our election parties.

We call it a party because that's what they called it

in 1932 when they started.

Even today, with this crazy social media

and instant access,

people want to stand out in front of the newspaper

and watch these results.

- There you are.

- We missed y'all.

- Yeah, you did.

- Well, you look cute.

- You look gorgeous! - Feel like I look like shit.

- You're good. Your hair-- - Oh, and you did your hair?

You're a foxy lady!

- I fixed my hair. I did my makeup.

And then I stood in the mirror

just kind of staring at myself for a while.

- Yeah? - That's a little vain.

- No, no, it wasn't-- [laughter]

it wasn't--it wasn't that.

You don't need me to go to the courthouse with you?

- They're actually over here now.

But yeah, if you want to go over there

and, like, knock and say, "I need these now,"

that'd be helpful.

Do you need help counting? [laughs]

- So I had a reporter with me today and we were talking.

She's like, "did you ever cover elections?"

And I was like, "yes, my editor made the mistake of

assigning me elections once." [laughter]

If I can pass three of the classes, I can walk.

And then next semester, I'll have to make up

one of the credits.

- So this Christmas, you will be finished, essentially?

- I'm supposed to be, December 10.

I'm like, right after the holidays, I'm coming back.

And that's just what I'm doing.

Because I'm like, I want to be--

I want to be-- - You be whatever.

You want my job? - [laughs]

- I'd love you to have it. - Oh, gosh, no.

- Well, nobody wants that. - I'm not that great.

- [laughs] Yes, you are. - I'm not that great.

- You'd be fine.

- Yes.

- It's so hard to get some one-on-one time with her.

- This is all precincts in, all write-ins resolved.

So final results doesn't get any more final.

[light chatter]

PERSON 1: Are there still boxes out?

PERSON 2: Nope. PERSON 1: That's it?

CRAIG: That's it. PERSON 1: OK, that's it.

CRAIG: Congratulations. PERSON 1: Thank you.

PERSON 2: Well done. PERSON 1: Thank you.

PERSON 3: Congratulations. PERSON 1: Thank y'all.

Wait, I got a little baby in my arms.

[laughs]

[light chatter]

- It's disgusting. - It's disapp--

yeah, it's very disappointing. - It's very disappointing.

I'm very disgusted.

- I don't know what happened to Uvalde Strong,

but this definitely isn't Uvalde Strong.

- This is not Uvalde Strong. This is an embarrassment.

PERSON: "Uvalde Strong" my ass!

Just saying.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

♪♪ ♪♪

KIM: That really felt like a slap in the face.

I'm a part of this community.

So are the other victims' families,

so are the injured,

so are the survivors that were there that day.

This community watched this tragedy unfold.

And it still wasn't enough.

♪♪ ♪♪

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

KIM: Before all this, I had never even been on a plane.

Now, each time is to DC.

- Hi. - Hello.

- Hi, I'm Meg Mistry. I'm the producer.

- Oh, hi. Kimberly. Nice to meet you.

- We're actually around back. - OK.

- Would it be OK if I meet you on the other side of the gate?

- Mm-hmm.

- And I could potentially have Martha come.

- Hi, there. Martha. - Nice to meet you.

Kimberly. - Nice to meet you, Kimberly.

- Hi. Meg. - Hi, Meg. Nice to meet you.

- Do you want to come with me? - To do makeup?

- We'll do makeup. It's just, you know, like,

light touch-ups for the camera

but I won't have them put too much on you

or anything like that. - OK.

MAKEUP ARTIST: We can make this happen right here.

PRODUCER: Is everybody's phone on silent or off?

- There's so many pieces of legislation

that we have to pass.

- And honestly, there's just a lot of guilt.

I feel like I didn't do enough to prevent this tragedy.

[soft music]

- Is that a Peet's Coffee?

No. - Where?

- It is! - What is it?

- My mom's gonna be so jealous. Peet's Coffee.

P-E-E-T-S. - Oh.

Girl, I can't tell anything when you--

plants have words like "catnip."

I'm like, what's the "peet coffee"?

[laughter]

And that's the White House.

- We can take a selfie so we're both in it.

- That's what me and Felix did.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I joked with Rubio that

we had to go across the country

just to have coffee.

Because we've made plans a lot

to go to dinner,

or go have coffee, or do something.

But she's been so busy

that we really haven't had any time

where we could go just sit down and talk.

So I'm sitting in my hotel room.

And my watch came up with an alert.

And it was the Texas Monthly story with the headline

"My Daughter's Murder Wasn't Enough."

And I just kind of fell back a little bit.

Because like, here I am,

far away from home, sitting in a hotel

in a city I haven't been to, waiting on my friend

who's been just put in this position of just--

you know, nobody would want.

And on my watch, I get a news alert about my friend.

Um...

A really weird feeling.

Hopefully, one day,

we'll have her more in our house rather than our TVs

and, you know, just texting here and there.

So we can--we can hope.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

- Is my hair OK?

- Yeah, your hair looks great.

KIM: I couldn't have done it alone.

A lot of support from home and a lot of support

from Saint Mary's.

Sorry.

- I think she'd say she liked my makeup.

[laughs] [sniffles]

I think she would have been

complaining about lunch being late. [laughs]

But I think she'd be really proud of me.

I guess I just had this idea that

all of my kids would be with me today.

I had a photo idea I wanted.

This is just not how I wanted to do this.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

ANNOUNCER: Sofia Fuentes.

[yelling, cheering]

[announcer calling names]

[cheering, applause]

ANNOUNCER: Magna cum laude,

Kimberly Rubio, history.

[cheers and applause]

[applause]

KIM: I see my kids and they're all with

their little cell phones recording

and just huge smiles.

And it just makes me think I did a good job raising them.

[cheering, applause]

I wasn't done raising Lexi.

[cheering, applause]

[cheering, applause] [bell ringing]

- Clap it up for Mom. [laughter]

- Mom, you didn't tell me you were gonna cry.

- My cap is falling.

DAUGHTER: [muffled] You look so pretty.

Oh, I saw Julian with his camera out.

♪♪ ♪♪

[kiss]

[camera shutter clicking]

Come on, Julian.

♪♪ ♪♪

PERSON: One, two, three.

[camera shutter clicking]

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

KIM: I had thought about going back to work

in January after the holidays.

But the holidays hit harder than I expected.

Hearing all the cheerful music,

Christmas decorations, and gifts,

it's just a reminder that the world is moving on.

But we're left stagnant.

Aww, from her coach.

Now we're getting closer to a year

and I don't know how good I'll be.

I think I could still write crime.

But could I sit down with officers?

That I don't know.

♪♪ ♪♪

I just keep thinking, like, is this really my life?

Is she really not here?

CRAIG: It seems the family members are looking for

some way to honor their children.

How do you do justice to a child who was killed?

But we're gonna try and we'll do this magazine

and devote a full two pages to each child and teacher.

So the families, as you were saying,

contribute this information, this information.

- And we would either take a picture

or, if they've had a picture made,

we would put that there.

- And then we'll divvy up families?

- Yeah.

- Good job, Meg.

- OK.

So we're always seeing these kids

and then you see them grow up.

[voice breaking] And then these

are just 19 kids we're not gonna see grow up.

This is the final story.

I wasn't sure a few weeks ago that all of these pages

would actually come together

but then, in the end, it seems to be.

PETE: I think it's very important

to preserve who the people were.

So I'm hoping that we're able to gather enough sponsors

or people that want to take part in it

and make it possible for the public.

So our plan is not to make any money off of it.

It's just to make it happen.

- Let's check the page numbers with our contents.

- Uh, Elijah's gonna be 12.

- Uziyah?

- OK. Uziyah's over here. He's gonna be 18.

Meghann spent a lot of long days,

long nights, weekends working on this,

working with the families to

try to find a way to represent their children

and just allow people to

remember the good things about them

in addition to just the tragedy that we all know.

[resonant music]

♪♪ ♪♪

CRAIG: The South Texas Press Association membership

is down from a high in the 60s and 70s to about 32.

- Thank you. - You bet.

- [chuckles] Good to see you.

- But it feels like, every time we get together,

there's another piece of the group

that's gone out of business or lost their will.

Papers across the country are folding right and left.

We got news deserts popping up.

It's just that print is no longer sustainable.

Our revenues are half of what they were ten years ago.

♪♪ ♪♪

- Now, we do have a lot of awards to give out.

So we're going to start.

First place, Editorial Writing Division III--

Craig Garnett of the Uvalde Leader-News.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you.

- Photographer of the Year.

The judges said your work on the school shooting

is enough to be tops, but you also captured everyday life,

which was dearly needed.

Photographer of the Year is Pete Luna

of the Uvalde Leader-News.

[cheers and applause]

Journalist of the Year. The judges said,

"Melissa Federspill is the journalist

"we all wish we had on our staff.

"She covers the hard news extremely well.

"And she captures individuals' thoughts and emotions.

"Her column gives the readers insight into her personality

"and why she is a journalist.

Well done on all levels."

The Journalist of the Year,

Melissa Federspill of the Uvalde Leader-News.

[cheers and applause]

CRAIG: I've never been to a convention

wanting so badly to win and be recognized

and at the same time wanting so badly

not to be recognized,

not to even have to be there.

Because these awards are, you know,

they're basically written in blood.

And that's--that's-- that's horrible.

♪♪ ♪♪

But because of what our staff endured in putting it together

and providing the coverage--

it's a perverse thing, I guess, but I wanted them to be--

I wanted them to be recognized

for what they've had to go through.

This year has not been about making money.

You know, this year has been about just getting it done

and doing the absolute best we could

to honor these kids and what happened.

And so once that's over, we may be--

we may be out in front rattling our pencil cans.

[laughs] You know? But--

but for now--um--

for now, this is just the way it's gonna roll

and we'll be fine.

- Skipped one.

All right.

See what we got.

Smells like the printing.

[softly] That's good.

I just wanted it to be perfect and...

I think it's perfect.

MEGHANN: Just thought it was important now.

PETE: It's beautiful.

Look at that cover.

- Mm. I like the way that the side-to-side works on this one.

PETE: You do? - Mm-hmm.

- I think the cover is so nice. - Yes.

- Can we get this all the time? - Yes.

JULYE: It's so pretty.

NORMA: It's beautiful.

- [sniffles]

MELISSA: This one looks good. JULYE: It's so gorgeous.

PETE: It's gorgeous. - [sniffles]

JULYE: You put one on Craig's desk?

PETE: Yeah.

[soft music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- I thought that going back to work

would make me feel a little normal again.

But after my trip to DC with Meghann,

I feel like it makes it, to me,

more obvious how different I am.

So there goes that expectation.

♪♪ ♪♪

Yay, I get my parking spot.

Hey.

- Hi, Kimberly. How you doing? - Good.

- Ready to rock and roll? - Yeah.

- This could be-- - Looks so nice.

- I hear we have a new employee.

- I know. - [laughs] Hi, sweetheart.

- They let me in without even interviewing me.

- Oh, I'm so happy to see you. - It's good to see you.

And happy belated birthday. - Thank you, honey.

So when Pete fires you, that's not the end.

- Ah. - OK?

- Where do I go from there?

- Other side or upstairs. [laughter]

- Just start jumping around. - Yeah.

- I'll just start jumping around.

- We've got--we've got backup.

- Just please don't put me in bookkeeping.

It'll be the end of the entire business. [laughs]

- I don't think you could hurt it very much at this point.

- Hey, 30s. - [laughs]

- Thank you. - There you go.

- Mm-hmm.

- Well, I can add this to my collection.

I have a "staff writer," an "assistant editor,"

and now "advertising executive."

I think--I don't know if it was supposed to say that.

- What, "ad executive"? - [laughs]

- You can still use it even after I fire you.

- Oh, I'm gonna keep it.

Look.

- Oh, yay. - [laughs]

- Um, no, I don't like the title, though.

- [laughs] - Uh--

- Pete said that they printed 1,000.

And whenever I'm--been giving them out to everybody,

then I can maybe think about helping you out.

- OK, well, 1,000 is pretty easy.

KIM: I don't see myself reporting.

I'm not me anymore.

I guess trying to figure out

what I do now, where I go from here,

I think advertising is a nice place to start.

It's different, but it's still familiar

in the sense that I'm still working for the newspaper

and with people that I love.

[uplifting music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[light chatter]

♪♪ ♪♪

JULYE: Yeah, this community-- whether they like it or not,

we're all tied together.

And the things that happen here

affect everybody that lives here,

even if they don't want them to,

even if they act like they shouldn't.

MELISSA: When, you know, a tragedy like that

befalls a community, it's the people that live here

that can tell the story the best.

PETE: If you asked me, are we doing a good enough job

keep the doors open? Yes, we are.

Will it close?

It's possible, but you can't say that

it happened because we were shitty.

♪♪ ♪♪

MEGHANN: The one thing I really like to think about

is this voicemail Pete got

back when he was still circulation manager.

And she said, "I love my paper.

"I have to have my paper. I need my paper!

I need to know what's going on."

♪♪ ♪♪

Sometimes when I think no one's reading,

I think about that voicemail. [laughs]

♪♪ ♪♪

- Wow.

- Oh, wow. - How beautiful.

- This is beautiful.

CRAIG: My only hope for this paper is that it continues.

Because I just don't see how a community functions

without somebody holding up a mirror.

- This is my cousin.

- This is my sister's, um, niece.

- That's my husband's-- his niece.

And then I lost my nephew, my sister's son.

CRAIG: Who's gonna document what happens day to day?

Who's gonna keep a history that people look back on

with pride or even sorrow

at some of the things that happened?

- It's joyful because we're remembering them

and hurtful because this happened.

- Who holds government accountable?

It's an impossible thought to me.

♪♪ ♪♪

[soft reflective music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[tattoo pen buzzing]

KIM: As soon as, like,

I kind of wrapped my head around everything

and people started, like, going to get tattoos

of, like, the "Uvalde Strong,"

I knew instantly which image I wanted to commemorate Lexi

and this was it. It's me and her.

And it's her version of us and I just--

I like to see myself through her eyes.

Eventually, I'm gonna do the whole arm,

just everything for her.

So this is just the beginning. [chuckles]

It's perfect. Thank you so much.

ARTIST: Yeah, love it.