Robb Elementary Mother Claims She’s Being ‘Watched’ by Uvalde Police
A mother of two from Uvalde, Texas named Angeli Rose Gomez, who bravely rushed into Robb Elementary on May 24 to save her children, claims she is now being watched by Uvalde Police.
On the day of the tragic shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers, Gomez made her way to Robb Elementary, only to find that officers had not yet engaged the shooter, who was still inside with a classroom full of children.
In an attempt to take matters into her own hands, Gomez began making her way to the building, only to be detained by a US Marshal on the scene.
“Right away, as I parked, a US Marshal started coming toward my car, saying that I wasn’t allowed to be parked there,” she said to CBS News. “And he said, ‘Well, we’re gonna have to arrest you because you’re being very uncooperative.'”
As Gomez became more impatient and critical of law enforcement’s response, she was put in handcuffs, only being released after a local officer asked the US Marshal to uncuff her.
According to Fox 29 in San Antonio, Gomez said, “As soon as they [police] take me off the cuff I see his arm like, give me a little gateway, because I’m real little so a little gateway where I can just run.”
Gomez hopped a fence and ran towards the school to locate her son’s classroom. After finding and evacuating him and his classmates, Gomez then set her sights on her other son.
By this point, police had begun to engage her again, and she demanded they start evacuating classrooms. Eventually, Gomez’s other son made his way to her safely, along with his classmates.
However, since this display of heroics, Gomez claims she’s been watched by local police, who want her to stop speaking out against the department and their response to the May 24 shooting. According to People, Gomez said she received a call from the department, threatening her with a parole violation for obstruction of justice.
Per the Fox 29 report, “The other night we were exercising and we had a cop parked at the corner like, flickering us with his headlights,” Gomez said. The Uvalde mother also claims that she’s had to separate from her children so they don’t feel constantly watched by local law enforcement.
Gomez is now working with a lawyer, Mark Di Carlo, to file a lawsuit against the local PD, while continuing to participate in Uvalde protests against school police chief Pete Arredondo, who was placed on administrative leave last week. Di Carlo, Gomez’s lawyer, is currently representing 15 parents in the Uvalde area.
The Uvalde Police Department has come under fire nationally for its response to the Robb Elementary shooting, sparking a widespread debate about gun control and the role of police in schools. The Uvalde shooting has resulted in the first major piece of gun reform legislation passed in the last generation.
Per The Conversation, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act allows for “red flag laws,” which permits police to confiscate weapons from anyone they consider a danger to themselves or the community.
The act also closes the “boyfriend loophole,” described by criminal justice professor April M. Zeoli as what happens when “dating partners are exempt from federal laws that prohibit those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanor crimes, or those who are under domestic violence restraining orders, from buying or possessing a firearm.”
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act also dedicates $300 million dollars to mental health services, and $700 million more to implement strategies to secure schools nationwide.
