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Redwood City and other local police departments will increase their presence this week at local schools in response to the killing of 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. The mass shooting comes on the heels of recent gun violence in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park that affected young children.
The Redwood City Police Department said on Facebook it was "committed to the safety of our schools and our city."
"Our officers will continue to remain diligent and monitor any unusual or suspicious activity through increased presence on school campuses," the Facebook post read.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said that while it did not have "information on any credible threats occurring in our schools" deputy sheriffs would be "showing a strong presence around our local schools and will continue to be vigilant."
The Atherton Police Department plans to send extra patrols to rotate around schools in town the rest of the week, said Police Chief Steve McCulley in an email. The nearby Mountain View Police Department plans to do the same, according to its Twitter account.
In Menlo Park, police are "not so much as adding extra patrols, but spending time in and around area schools to reassure students they have a safe environment in which to learn," said police spokeswoman Nicole Acker in an email.
Redwood City Schools Superintendent John Baker sent out an email to parents and staff Wednesday addressing Tuesday's tragedy in Texas.
"The last 24 hours have been difficult for our nation, including for those of us who work in schools for the wellbeing of children," Baker said. I’m sure many of us held our children a little tighter last night as we put them to bed."
Baker went on to give parents resources on how they could speak to their children about tragedy. The school district will have counselors and professional licensed health clinicians available at schools, so students who need them can speak with them.
Redwood City Schools do not operate its own police department and rely on the RCPD, the Atherton PD and the Sheriff's Office.
The Menlo Park City School District (MPCSD) Superintendent Erik Burmeister pointed out in an email to families on Tuesday night that it's "hard to find any comfort" in thinking that the local community is immune from gun violence.
"It was just last week that children in East Palo Alto were terrorized by gun violence at a park where t-ball is regularly played and families enjoy gathering," he said. "And the week before that, a shooting took place outside a home where five of our MPCSD students live in the Belle Haven area of Menlo Park. I share this not to frighten or to heighten emotion unnecessarily. I share this to say that until all children in all our communities feel and ARE safe from gun violence, then no child is."
"There are no words I can share that will make sense of this senseless act," he said. "Our hearts ache for the families of the victims, for the staff and community of Uvalde, and the children who attend Robb Elementary School. Gun violence is a terrorism perpetrated on communities with unacceptable regularity and succession. However, it is the attacks in our sacred child-serving public spaces, like schools, where this violence is simply unfathomable."
One person died and three were injured in a shooting at Jack Farrell Park in East Palo Alto, where families and children playing on May 17. A gun battle between people in an SUV and those in a home on Windermere Avenue in Belle Haven on April 25 was captured on a neighbor's security camera; no injuries were reported.
MPCSD will contract with outside service providers to increase on-site counseling services to students or staff as necessary, Burmeister said.
The district also added resources for talking to kids about violence to its websites homepage.
Other local officials react
Following the incident on Tuesday, Redwood City Mayor Giselle Hale tweeted:
My heart is broken. As a mom, this is unimaginable. As a leader, I am ready to fight to end this gun violence epidemic. Prayers aren’t enough. We must act.
— Mayor Giselle Hale (@gisellemarie) May 24, 2022
San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum said in a tweet: Prayers are not enough. More must be done. He retweeted the following:
Prayers are not enough. More must be done. https://t.co/BBNO0213nU
— WARREN SLOCUM (@warrenslocum) May 25, 2022
Rep. Jackie Speier recalled her own experience.
As a gunshot survivor, I know the pain of bullets shredding your body & the struggle to accept physical & emotional scars. I know the fear of death & the trauma of survivors guilt. No child should ever have to carry this burden. The Senate must pass commonsense gun safety reform!
— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) May 25, 2022
Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted: “Another shooting. And the GOP won’t do a damn thing about it. Who the hell are we if we cannot keep our kids safe. This is preventable. Our inaction is a choice.”
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said he was calling on federal and state legislators to "enact laws to help stop the carnage of gun violence in America."
"At the District Attorney's Office, we continue to aggressively prosecute and punish persons who violate the gun laws we have in California," Wagstaffe added.
MPCSD Trustee Francesca Segr tweeted on Wednesday:
How come it’s easier to get #guns than it is to get #babyformula in this country? As a parent and a school board member in @goMPCSD, I’m thinking of the @uvalde_CISD volunteer school board. How to protect kids when guns are so accessible & ubiquitous? #GunControlNow @CSBA_Now
— francesca_segre (@francesca_segre) May 25, 2022
Portola Valley Mayor Craig Hughes simply said: "What can I say that hasn't been said a thousand times before?" in response to news of the shooting Tuesday.
Atherton Mayor Rick DeGolia called the shooting "horrific" and said it takes him back to the Sandy Hook massacre, in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults, in 2012.
"I am so, so sad for those families," he said. "America has to change our gun laws. If the guns that are available today were available when the Second Amendment was adopted, it would have been written very, very differently. I am glad that the Atherton Police Department take school shooting tragedies very seriously and actively organize active shooter drills in our local schools."
Menlo School in Atherton's head of school also reacted on Twitter:
I was having a pretty good day @menloschool yesterday – got watermelon juice all over myself in 6th grade science and watched our 8th grade girls own our rivals in football – until I arrived home to the sheer horror of children being murdered at school. #itdoesnthavetobethisway
— thanhealy (@thanhealy) May 25, 2022
San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee emailed families on Tuesday, May 25, to acknowledge the tragedy and plans to share more about how county schools work to help students and keep its schools safe.
"How do we express our deep sorrow and despair in knowing that tonight 18 elementary-school children and one teacher from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, will not come safely home from school?" she said. "There is little, if anything, more horrific, more senseless, and more heartbreaking than this news."
State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, weighed in on Twitter on Tuesday, writing:
When covid hit we shut down all activity till we could get the virus under control. How about we shut down all gun sales until we get massacres of our citizens under control???
— Josh Becker (@JoshBeckerSV) May 25, 2022
Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, said on Twitter:
14 children senselessly gunned down, along with their teacher. Another 18 year-old mass murderer with easy access to weapons of mass destruction. 2nd double digit massacre in 10 days. Only in America. Only in America.
— Marc Berman (@AsmMarcBerman) May 24, 2022
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, retweeted a widely shared video of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr's impassioned plea for gun control following the shooting:
Steve Kerr on today's tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas. pic.twitter.com/lsJ8RzPcmC
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) May 24, 2022
"We've lost 19 little angels and two beloved educators to one of the largest mass shootings in our country," she said in a statement on Wednesday. "The most grievous pain is that of a parent burying their child. This can end if the American people insist that it does because the gun lobby is not more important than our nation's children."
The Bay Area chapter of Brady: United Against Gun Violence will host a vigil for the victims of the shooting at the Recreation Center gazebo in Leo J. Ryan Memorial Park, 650 Shell Blvd., in Foster City on Wednesday, May 25, at 7:30 p.m, according to Bay City News Service.
