Texas school shooting live updates: Bodies of nine victims released to funeral homes

(UVALDE, Texas) — A small town in rural Texas is reeling after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school on Tuesday, killing 19 children.

Two teachers were also among those killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, authorities said.

Prior to opening fire at the school, the suspect also allegedly shot his grandmother, authorities said.

The suspect — identified by officials as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School — is dead.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

May 26, 9:54 am
Texas school district cancels school after receiving ‘credible threat of violence’

A Texas school district, the Donna Independent School District, has canceled classes after it received a “credible threat of violence,” school officials said in a letter posted on Facebook. Donna is about 4 1/2 hours from Uvalde.

The threat is currently under investigation and classes will resume on Tuesday, the district said.

“In light of the recent events and in an abundance of caution we will be canceling school district-wide and staff will be working from home,” the letter said. “The safety & security of our staff is our first priority.”

May 26, 7:32 am
Bodies of nine victims released to funeral homes, with more expected today

Nine of the deceased victims’ bodies were released to funeral homes in Uvalde on Wednesday evening, Uvalde County Justice of Peace Eulalio Diaz told CNN.

More — possibly all — of the remaining bodies are expected to be released at some point on Thursday, according to Diaz. It will mark the beginning of the funeral arrangement process for many grieving families in the wake of the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. There are two funeral homes in Uvalde, and both are offering free services to families of the victims.

“My job is to try and get them back home as quickly as possible,” Diaz told CNN in an interview early Thursday.

In a county of less than 50,000 people, there is no medical examiner and the justice of the peace in the state of Texas assumes the responsibility of the county coroner, according to Diaz.

Diaz described his job of going in and assessing the bodies of the dead at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting. He said Irma Garcia, one of the teachers who were killed, was a former high school classmate of his.

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