Joseph Guillen
The Washington Post published 10 gory and graphic images from the Robb Elementary School mass shooting on Thursday.
One parent who lost her daughter in the Robb Elementary School shooting said on social media that news outlets, including the Post, are refusing to let the victims rest in peace. However, another parent argued that the public deserves to see the result of gun violence.
The Post published never-before-seen graphic photos and videos from mass shootings over the past decade in a story called "Terror on Repeat: A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings."
Other than the Robb Elementary massacre, the report included images from the Route 91 Harvest shooting in Las Vegas, the Sutherland Springs Church shooting near San Antonio, Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and others.
"The goal was to balance two crucial objectives: to advance the public's understanding of mass killers' increasing use of this readily available weapon, which was originally designed for war, while being sensitive to the victim's families and communities directly affected by AR-15 shootings," the Post wrote in a follow-up explanation also published on Thursday.
Although the Post said its journalists had the victims' families in mind as they assembled the package, Kimberly Garcia, whose daughter died at Robb Elementary, said on X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — that the images were better off being unseen.
"If it's not one thing, it's another," she posted Tuesday. "It's ridiculous that these people can't seem to let our loved ones rest in peace. I'm so heartbroken."
If it’s not one thing it’s another. It’s ridiculous that these people can’t seem to let our loved ones rest in peace. I’m so heart broken.
— Kimberly Garcia (@kim_amerie) November 14, 2023
The Post report included a total of 10 gory images from the aftermath of the Robb Elementary shooting, including one showing 13 body bags in the school's hallway. Other images display the incomprehensible amount of blood in classrooms where the shooter gunned down 19 students and two teachers.
"I walked in there, and you're like, slipping and sliding, trying not to slip because it was bad," Uvalde Border Patrol agent Alexander Cuellar told the Post. "And just the thing I won't forget is the smell."
On Thursday, Garcia in a Thursday X post pleaded with the public not to read or share the Post's images. She said her daughter, along with the child's classmates and teachers, don't deserve the treatment they received from the newspaper.
However, Brett Cross, who lost his son Uziyah Garcia during the Robb Elementary shooting, wrote on X that the public needs to see the destruction and carnage that weapons including AR-15s can cause.Please , please do not share the Washington Post. My daughter being taken from this world wasn’t fair to begin with, it’s not fair how she was taken either. Amerie, her classmates, & her teachers don’t deserve this.
— Kimberly Garcia (@kim_amerie) November 16, 2023
"While these photos are disturbing and truly shocking, it lets you see just a modicum of the scenes that constantly invade my thoughts and nightmares," Cross wrote Thursday in a lengthy tweet.
Cross continued: "Instead, I view these [images] as a warning. A warning to our nation that if we do not stand together, put our foot down and demand our government to do something, then it will be your loved ones body in that bag. Your loved ones blood smeared from being dragged out. Your loved ones funeral."
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.I may stand alone in my thoughts as the Washington Post introduces new photos of the Robb Elementary Massacre, the shooting that took my son Uziyah’s life.
— Brett Cross (@BCross052422) November 16, 2023
With nothing but love and respect to every family out there, from anybody who lost a loved one at our shooting, to the…
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