‘It’s On You!’: Beto O’Rourke Storms Gov. Greg Abbott’s Press Conference on Uvalde Shooting
“It’s on you!” Beto O’Rourke screamed at Texas Governor Greg Abbott as he and other state officials held a press conference on the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 kids and two teachers on Tuesday.
O’Rourke, who is running as a Democrat for Texas governor, approached Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and yelled, “The time to stop the next shooting is now, and you are doing nothing.” O’Rourke continued to bellow as Patrick called him “out of line and an embarrassment.” Someone else then called the Democrat a “sick son of a bitch” for daring to speak out on behalf of terrified children and their parents.
WATCH: Beto O'Rourke confronts Texas Gov. Abbott as state officials share details of the mass shooting in Uvalde.
O'Rourke: “You are doing nothing. … This is totally predictable.”
Lt. Gov Dan Patrick: "You're out of line and an embarassment." pic.twitter.com/x68fo3v4UZ
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 25, 2022
Throughout his campaign, O’Rourke has criticized Abbott’s support of guns, and after the shooting on Tuesday called on the governor to cancel his planned appearance at the NRA convention and urge the organization to relocate the event outside of Texas.
Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend’s NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas.
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) May 25, 2022
After O’Rourke was escorted from the room, Abbott asked people to “put aside personal agendas.” But outside the press conference, O’Rourke told reporters, “Now is the time to stop the next shooting … In each case we say this isn’t the time. Now is the time — like, literally right now. That’s why I’m here.”
“Now is the time to stop the next shooting … In each case we say this isn’t the time. Now is the time — like, literally right now. That’s why I’m here.”
— Texas gubernatorial candidate @BetoORourke on Gov. Greg Abbott saying now is not the time to politicize a shooting pic.twitter.com/iTsnpDx0Pk
— The Recount (@therecount) May 25, 2022
The murders in Uvalde are the latest in a string of mass shootings in Texas. In 2019, a gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso — O’Rourke’s hometown.