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Speaker 1: Maria Inojosa. Nose Bayan.
Speaker 2: Puturo Investigates Investia.
Speaker 1: Dear listener, The upcoming episode is about the Uvalde massacre.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of moments of joy and healing,
Speaker 1: but some of it is tough to listen to, so
Speaker 1: please take care. WHOA, Oh my gosh, okay, wait, I
Speaker 1: totally want to do that. It's a cold and rainy
Speaker 1: and gray day in late January in uval De, Texas.
Speaker 1: But this weather is not stopping ten year old Caitlin
Speaker 1: Gonzalez right now. She's running around in a black jacket
Speaker 1: and crocs. She's zooming across her backyard on a makeshift zipline.
Speaker 1: It's attached to two trees on opposite ends of the yard.
Speaker 1: And well, I've never done this before. Do I have
Speaker 1: to get up on this?
Speaker 3: I can push you up?
Speaker 1: Really? Caitlyn looks like she's flying through her backyard. Her
Speaker 1: super long, super dark brown hair is flowing behind her.
Speaker 1: She's bursting with energy. And well, she's very insistent that
Speaker 1: I have to get on this zipline sick this way?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: Are you sure?
Speaker 2: Am?
Speaker 1: I not feeling so good about this? And yeah, I'm nervous,
Speaker 1: but I also really want to take this moment to
Speaker 1: connect with Caitlyn.
Speaker 5: You're ready?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, this is so fun. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is so fun. Now what do I do?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 1: What do I do? Her parents, Gladys and Neftali who
Speaker 1: goes by neph are staring at us from the porch.
Speaker 1: I see them laughing as we struggle to get off
Speaker 1: the zipline, and I'm finally back on my feet, and
Speaker 1: then Kaitlyn grabs me by the hand takes me over
Speaker 1: to a slab of concrete near their house, kind of
Speaker 1: in their backyard, and we start getting ready to paint.
Speaker 1: We're doing abstract painting as a way to heal and
Speaker 1: wind down. Can I start, eh? Do you mind if
Speaker 1: I use my fingers?
Speaker 2: I don't mind at all.
Speaker 5: I'm just trying to figure out what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: Earlier in the day, Caitlyn's parents had told me that
Speaker 1: she can sometimes fluctuate between seeming really happy and care
Speaker 1: free to experiencing severe post traumatic stress, which can cause
Speaker 1: her to shut down and just not engage. About an
Speaker 1: hour before this scene, that is calm and relaxing. I
Speaker 1: actually had tried to speak with Caitlyn in her room
Speaker 1: with one of our producers, and for me as a journalist,
Speaker 1: it was suddenly a very difficult moment with Caitlin.
Speaker 7: I don't know, Oh, okay, okay, are you tired?
Speaker 1: No, She's giving me a very hard time with this interview.
Speaker 1: Caitlyn had shut down. She didn't want to talk to me,
Speaker 1: she wouldn't answer any of my questions. And then I
Speaker 1: felt her desire to push me out of her room,
Speaker 1: and I knew that this wasn't just a ten year
Speaker 1: old acting out. There was something much deeper happening here,
Speaker 1: and I could see it. It was her trauma. A
Speaker 1: year ago, on May twenty fourth, Caitlyn was inside her
Speaker 1: fourth grade classroom at rob Elementary when an eighteen year
Speaker 1: old gunman entered the building. He killed nineteen children and
Speaker 1: two teachers, and he wounded seventeen others with an AR fifteen,
Speaker 1: a type of semi automatic rifle that's designed to kill
Speaker 1: a lot of people in a short period of time.
Speaker 1: It's a weapon of war. But Caitlyn wasn't at war.
Speaker 1: She was in her fourth grade classroom across the hall
Speaker 1: from the gunman. Many of her friends were killed. One
Speaker 1: of them was Jackie Cassarees, Caitlyn's very best friend. It's
Speaker 1: still hard for Caitlyn to talk about what happened at
Speaker 1: rob Elementary. That's why we're outside and painting out in
Speaker 1: the open and not confined in her small bedroom. I'm scared.
Speaker 5: What if I get my hands sturdy? We'll just wash
Speaker 5: our hands, Okay, how nover is my hands to paint?
Speaker 1: Whiz? There's there's always a first starty And now she's
Speaker 1: looking more relaxed and even happy. So tell me about BFF.
Speaker 5: She is funny. Her lap was funny, she snorted.
Speaker 1: Caitlyn and Jackie's friendship goes back to pre k while
Speaker 1: she's painting. Kaitlyn now lights up as she talks to
Speaker 1: me about her best friend and about how they met
Speaker 1: at the playground.
Speaker 5: Oh, she was on a swing and her friends weren't
Speaker 5: there that day, uh huh, and she was paying by herself.
Speaker 5: So I asked her share to play with me and
Speaker 5: she said yes, and then we kept talking.
Speaker 1: Ever since that moment they met, they did everything together
Speaker 1: in class, tiktoks, after school, facetimes, weekend hangouts, and summer
Speaker 1: theater shows. Since Jackie's death, Caitlyn hasn't been the same.
Speaker 1: Her parents, Gladys and Nef, have seen those changes firsthand.
Speaker 1: Here's her mom, Gladys.
Speaker 4: Since May twenty fourth, everything about our lives have changed.
Speaker 4: She went from being pretty independent to one that now
Speaker 4: has to share the bed with me because she's so
Speaker 4: afraid of the darkness.
Speaker 1: Gladys says, Caitlyn's always checking to see if the doors
Speaker 1: and windows are locked.
Speaker 4: As soon as our day is coming to an end,
Speaker 4: she starts getting anxious and questioning me, mom, you are
Speaker 4: going to sleep with me?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: And then there's the nightmares at least three times a week.
Speaker 4: I mean, you just feel her whole body shake. It
Speaker 4: takes a while for her to try to calm her down.
Speaker 4: I'll follow her to the bed and just stay there.
Speaker 1: This has become their new normal. Their family and community
Speaker 1: have been scarred by loss and grief and trauma. Gladys
Speaker 1: and Nef have been struggling to get mental health treatment
Speaker 1: for Caitlin, something Texas Governor Greg Abbott promised to the
Speaker 1: victims and their families. Many families also want to make
Speaker 1: changes to gun laws in Texas. They don't want anyone
Speaker 1: under the age of twenty one to be allowed to buy, sell,
Speaker 1: or rent any firearm, including the assault style weapon used
Speaker 1: by the shooter at Robin Lamentary. These efforts have been
Speaker 1: anything but easy from futuro media and PRX. It's let
Speaker 1: you know, USA, I'm Maria no Josa Today a year
Speaker 1: after the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, we bring you a
Speaker 1: story in collaboration with Futuro Investigates. Some of the reporting
Speaker 1: for this episode is based on the PBS Frontline documentary
Speaker 1: film After Uvalde, Guns, Brief and Texas Politics. For months now,
Speaker 1: since the massacre, our team has been following a family
Speaker 1: in their grieving, their healing, and their calls for change.
Speaker 1: As soon as I heard about the massacre in Uvalde,
Speaker 1: which is about an hour away from the US Mexico border,
Speaker 1: I became obsessed with the story. I had so many questions,
Speaker 1: and since then there have been so many twists and
Speaker 1: turns and so many unanswered questions. In the aftermath several
Speaker 1: major developments and the investigation into the elementary school massacre
Speaker 1: that left nineteen children and two teachers dead.
Speaker 8: The most comprehensive report issue to date on Uvalve's mass
Speaker 8: tragedy offers a scathing critique of all agencies linked to
Speaker 8: the response. In the report's words, egregiously poor decision making.
Speaker 9: It's disgusting.
Speaker 1: It makes me nauseated.
Speaker 10: They knew our kids were right behind that hallway and
Speaker 10: that room. They were bleeding to death.
Speaker 1: These inconsistencies have left families of the victims and survivors,
Speaker 1: and the community at large angry with law enforcement and
Speaker 1: their elected officials. Many of them are calling for gun
Speaker 1: reform and a lasting and effective mental health system. In
Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to learn how survivors of the
Speaker 1: the massacre are navigating their trauma and a state where
Speaker 1: guns are ingrained into the culture and where people's mental
Speaker 1: health needs have been historically short changed.
Speaker 11: I have to make snackbags for softball team tomorrow twelve.
Speaker 1: It's a school night, but you wouldn't necessarily know that
Speaker 1: from all of the activity that's going on here at
Speaker 1: the Gonzalez house. Gladys Gonzalez is busy making pancakes, Yes, pancakes.
Speaker 1: Caitlin's shy seven year old sister Camilla sitting there quietly
Speaker 1: with pink barettes in her hair, waiting to be served.
Speaker 1: I visited Caitlin first in January, back when we were
Speaker 1: painting together and playing with the zip line outside. But
Speaker 1: now I'm back and it's a special evening. I was mad,
Speaker 1: You mean you're not hungry? Oh, your mother does not play.
Speaker 1: Gladys has chosen to make her very famous pancakes for
Speaker 1: Caitlin Camilla, myself and my team. Okay, I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: a pancake because i can't take it any longer. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take one from the middleby I don't know.
Speaker 11: Zero.
Speaker 1: Caitlyn is so vocal. I can tell that she likes
Speaker 1: to be the boss here at her house. And frankly,
Speaker 1: she's looking really relaxed, and she's being super open with me.
Speaker 1: Pancakes for dinner. Do you know the last time I
Speaker 1: had pancakes for dinner probably like maybe thirty years ago.
Speaker 1: That's why I was so excited. In fact, I'm a
Speaker 1: little taken aback by how talkative she is today, because
Speaker 1: remember the first time we met, she shut down in
Speaker 1: her bedroom and wouldn't speak with me. But I had
Speaker 1: a question. How did the Gonzalez family end up in Uvalde.
Speaker 1: So Gladys and Nev sat me down in their living
Speaker 1: room and we decided to talk about that. They tell
Speaker 1: me that they moved here around twenty fifteen, soon after
Speaker 1: Caitlyn was born.
Speaker 4: We just were driving one day and so we just said,
Speaker 4: you know what, Evadi seems like a nice town. We
Speaker 4: just packed up our stuff and moved to you Audi.
Speaker 1: Both Gladys and nev grew up in small towns along
Speaker 1: the border.
Speaker 2: So when we lived in San Antonio, it was a
Speaker 2: faster pace of life for us. We had to adjust
Speaker 2: to that. We just felt that whether it was we
Speaker 2: just liked it and it was a slower pace of life.
Speaker 1: And it was a place where Caitlyn started to blossom.
Speaker 1: She was a great student outler.
Speaker 4: Caitlyn, did you finish your home?
Speaker 1: Kiss?
Speaker 2: Mom?
Speaker 4: Of course, So she's always on top of things, always.
Speaker 1: Caitlyn's parents have always seen so much potential in her.
Speaker 1: Before the massacre, Caitlyn would talk about what she wanted
Speaker 1: to do when she got older.
Speaker 4: She had talked about being a teacher, and then she
Speaker 4: said that she wanted to move to la and join
Speaker 4: like a dance she loves dancing, and then she also
Speaker 4: talked about being a doctor.
Speaker 1: But those dreams that Caitlyn had changed a year ago,
Speaker 1: right after the mass shooting. That day, May twenty fourth
Speaker 1: had started out, in fact as a very happy and
Speaker 1: very special day. In the morning, there was an awards
Speaker 1: ceremony at Caitlin's school.
Speaker 4: So I dropped her off and she's she said, Mammy,
Speaker 4: you better show up early and don't be late, and
Speaker 4: maybe I should.
Speaker 2: We should.
Speaker 4: After awards ceremony, you can just sign me out and
Speaker 4: we can go to Starbucks because that's her she loves Starcks.
Speaker 4: And I said, we'll see Caitlyn.
Speaker 1: She received several awards for library.
Speaker 6: It's won money, yeah, and Caitlin Gonzalez.
Speaker 1: Gladys remembers being so proud of her daughter and her friends.
Speaker 4: I remember seeing Jackie and they were hugging and they
Speaker 4: even took pictures. And she came up to me and
Speaker 4: told me, hey, miss Gonsales, and she said, I really
Speaker 4: love your pancakes and I miss them. And I said,
Speaker 4: you know what, on Saturday, I'll make you some and
Speaker 4: I'll tell Kylen to call you up so you can come.
Speaker 4: She said really yes. I said yeah. And that was that,
Speaker 4: you know. They took their last picture and we went
Speaker 4: off our waist.
Speaker 1: Not even an hour later, Gladys and Neph received a
Speaker 1: voice message on their cell phones.
Speaker 12: Any rob Elementary parents, this phone call is for you.
Speaker 12: Please know At this time rob Elementary is under a
Speaker 12: lockdown status due to a gun Due to gunshots in
Speaker 12: the area, The students of staff are safe in the building.
Speaker 12: The building is secure in a line down.
Speaker 1: Scattered when that happened, Nef, a licensed plumber, was working
Speaker 1: at a nearby school. Turns out that all the schools
Speaker 1: in went on lockdown. Both he and Gladys also received
Speaker 1: text messages from the school saying the same thing. The
Speaker 1: kids were safe, but Nef couldn't leave work to go
Speaker 1: to Rob Elementary and confirm that Caitlin was Okay.
Speaker 2: I get this text and I believe it, right, I
Speaker 2: believe this.
Speaker 1: Just a few minutes later, Gladys got contradicting information.
Speaker 4: And then I have a friend who caused me. He
Speaker 4: tells me, you need to get to Rob. There's an
Speaker 4: active shooter. And I just felt like like someone poured
Speaker 4: cold water on me, and so I just left and
Speaker 4: I went speeding to Rob.
Speaker 1: Nef was still on lockdown. When Gladys arrived at the school.
Speaker 1: There were cars every everywhere and law enforcement officers barricading
Speaker 1: access to the school. She couldn't get to Caitlin.
Speaker 4: They wouldn't let us pass. So there's people like crying
Speaker 4: and a lot of chaos. And so I was with
Speaker 4: another friend. We were both crying and just hoping for
Speaker 4: the best.
Speaker 1: Both Gladys and Nef have been disappointed with the school
Speaker 1: district's response during and since the shooting.
Speaker 2: I live here, I worked for the school district. It's
Speaker 2: just that I don't see them like I see them before.
Speaker 1: You don't feel protected.
Speaker 2: I don't feel protected at all.
Speaker 1: When Nev speaks, I hear the sadness in his voice
Speaker 1: now knowing that the children were not in fact safe.
Speaker 2: And that's what's so disappointing that pretty much that's when
Speaker 2: the lives start and all the failures.
Speaker 1: Several nine to one one calls came from students and
Speaker 1: staff inside the school that afternoon. They showed what was
Speaker 1: nally going on. The Texas Tribune obtained a copy of
Speaker 1: those nine one.
Speaker 12: One calls about a county number one.
Speaker 3: Hello Mom, you hear me?
Speaker 12: Sorry, there's a want to get by.
Speaker 1: Officers arrived to the school almost immediately and initially approached
Speaker 1: the classroom cautiously, but when the shooter fired, they realized
Speaker 1: the gunman had an ar and then they retreated. They
Speaker 1: didn't breach the classroom for seventy seven minutes. We accessed
Speaker 1: the footage of the responders during those seventy seven minutes
Speaker 1: of waiting, first obtained by the Texas Tribune as part
Speaker 1: of the reporting for the PBS Frontline documentary film After Valde, Guns,
Speaker 1: Grief and Texas Politics. We're going to hear the moment
Speaker 1: when law enforcement learns about the AR fifteen, and at
Speaker 1: that moment we see them stop because the AR fifteen
Speaker 1: is again a weapon of war, so the bullets are
Speaker 1: capable of cutting through police officers standard bulletproof vests.
Speaker 2: These are you know what kind young you know they
Speaker 2: are here, they have a bottle y cytilizing.
Speaker 5: Really, what's the safest way to do is I'm not
Speaker 5: trying to get clapped out.
Speaker 1: Gladys is grateful that her daughter was eventually rescued by officers,
Speaker 1: but she's also been actively demanding more accountability from the
Speaker 1: officers who waited seventy seven minutes to breach the classroom
Speaker 1: where the shooter was.
Speaker 4: But to those that just stood back did nothing, I
Speaker 4: have lost our respect. Can't fathom the thought of just
Speaker 4: standing by doing nothing.
Speaker 1: When we come back, how Caitlin is calling out those
Speaker 1: leaders in her own way. And later we meet the
Speaker 1: descendants of a family who survived a massacre in Texas
Speaker 1: more than one hundred years ago. We learned about their
Speaker 1: connection to Uvalde and their long journey towards healing. Stay
Speaker 1: with us nothing by Yes.
Speaker 3: My name is DeCarlo calling from Washington, DC, And I
Speaker 3: remember exactly where I was when I first listened to
Speaker 3: Latino USA. It was twenty fifteen and I was halfway
Speaker 3: through my Peace Corps service in the Philippines, and listening
Speaker 3: to Latino USA really made me feel seen and connected
Speaker 3: to my Latin during a time in my life when
Speaker 3: I was feeling very disconnected, and from that day I
Speaker 3: was hooked.
Speaker 1: Before the break, we heard how Caitlyn is doing since
Speaker 1: the massacre. She has good days and bad days, and
Speaker 1: her parents are navigating how to best heal from this
Speaker 1: mass shooting. Part of that healing includes looking for the
Speaker 1: right therapy treatment. But it's been harder than they anticipated.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to the story. Caitlyn started
Speaker 1: speaking out soon after surviving the massacre, with a focus
Speaker 1: on gun reform.
Speaker 7: A school is a place where a teacher and charloud
Speaker 7: should feel safe, like.
Speaker 1: Caitlin's first rally was in July of twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: when she and people from the community marched from rob
Speaker 1: Elementary to the town square.
Speaker 4: It went from just when invitation from Jacqueline's mom Hey, Caitlyn,
Speaker 4: do you think you can speak at the at the rally,
Speaker 4: and so she said yeah, sure.
Speaker 1: Shortly after, Caitlyn took on Uvaldi Police Chief Pete Aredondo
Speaker 1: at a school board meeting.
Speaker 2: Last we have a miss Caitlin.
Speaker 1: Gonzalez is one of the few officers who faced consequences
Speaker 1: after the delayed response at rob Elementary. He's the man
Speaker 1: many believed was in charge that day at the school,
Speaker 1: though Aredondo said he never considered himself the incident commander.
Speaker 7: I have messages for p Rnando and all the law
Speaker 7: enforcements that were there that date. Hurning your badge and
Speaker 7: stepped down. You don't deserve to wear one.
Speaker 1: At that school board meeting, Aredondo was fired. Gladys and
Speaker 1: f are in awe of their daughter's fearlessness.
Speaker 4: I do you know she was going to say that,
Speaker 4: you know, and we were all taken by surprise, the strength.
Speaker 1: What's going on for you? Tell me what you're feeling.
Speaker 4: Just you know that I'm proud that is that she's
Speaker 4: proud of her. You know that despite her the sadness,
Speaker 4: she's shown resiliency and she's still trying to shine light
Speaker 4: in the darkness.
Speaker 1: Since that day at the school board meeting. Caitlyn has
Speaker 1: spoken at about ten rallies and glad to say they've
Speaker 1: actually received some pushback. People have accused them of coaching
Speaker 1: their daughter.
Speaker 2: And that's just so far from the truth. With her speeches,
Speaker 2: she does them all. We don't even we've tried to
Speaker 2: prove freedom, she won't let us. It's very disrespectful for me.
Speaker 2: I take it so offensive because I'm thinking, here's Kaylen.
Speaker 2: She believes in something, and she's willing to go out
Speaker 2: there and talk to people and try to convince people
Speaker 2: about the way she feels. How many people have the
Speaker 2: guts to do that, to get up in a podium
Speaker 2: and talk, and at such a young age.
Speaker 1: I can't help but wonder, though, if Caitlin's advocacy is
Speaker 1: also rooted in a very particular response to her trauma.
Speaker 4: She's a different person the day that I dropped her
Speaker 4: off on May twenty fourth, and it's something that we're
Speaker 4: going to have to deal with as a family together.
Speaker 4: But at least we have her because other families aren't
Speaker 4: as fortunate to be in the situation.
Speaker 1: Soon after the mass shooting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced
Speaker 1: the opening of the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center, a temporary
Speaker 1: mental health facility on the outskirts of Valde. Like many
Speaker 1: Republicans in the state, Abbott blamed the massacre on mental health.
Speaker 13: I asked the sheriff and others and got the same
Speaker 13: answer from the sheriff as well as from the mayor
Speaker 13: of Evality. The question was what is the problem here?
Speaker 13: They said, we have a problem with mental health illness
Speaker 13: in this community.
Speaker 1: With just one psychiatrist in the town and no dedicated
Speaker 1: mental health hospital or residential treatment center, Uvalde is a
Speaker 1: mental health desert like many small towns in the US.
Speaker 1: When did you realize that Caitlin needed therapy, that it
Speaker 1: was not just going to be enough to hug her
Speaker 1: And what did you decide to do then?
Speaker 4: I'd say that same night, I knew she was going
Speaker 4: to need help. And because I have experienced in mental
Speaker 4: health I used to be a mental health caseworker children's caseworker,
Speaker 4: I knew she was without a doubt going to need help.
Speaker 1: In Uvalde, one in four residents live in poverty, which
Speaker 1: is more than the national average. Over the last year,
Speaker 1: Futuru Investigates has spoken in Uvalde with more than a
Speaker 1: dozen people about the tragedy, the aftermath, and their grieving.
Speaker 1: They said that it's difficult to find an affordable therapist
Speaker 1: in town. The Resiliency Center was supposed to provide free,
Speaker 1: ongoing mental health resources like crisis counseling and behavioral health
Speaker 1: care for the community. Soon after that, Gladys and her
Speaker 1: family realized the center wasn't equipped to meet the mental
Speaker 1: health care needs of Caitlin and her younger sister, who's
Speaker 1: also been scarred by the massacre. One morning, I find
Speaker 1: myself driving around the edge of town. I wanted to
Speaker 1: see the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center for myself, and it's
Speaker 1: pretty difficult to find. What I had been told is
Speaker 1: that the Resiliency Center is part of the fair grounds. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna turn into the fair grounds.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: When I turn, I don't see any signs. So I'm
Speaker 1: a little lost. Okay, I'm gonna turn around. Maybe there's
Speaker 1: a maybe there's a sign. In the distance. I see
Speaker 1: two slim flags that say uval Distrong and Resiliency Center,
Speaker 1: but there are no signs telling me how to get there. Finally,
Speaker 1: I see a small white tent and a sign on
Speaker 1: a flimsy door that reads no media aloud. Near that tent,
Speaker 1: there are also great portable offices. They looked like they've
Speaker 1: been sliced out of a shipping container, and this is
Speaker 1: where the actual therapy is going to take place. So
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing any counselors. I'm not seeing any social workers.
Speaker 1: But what I do see are two police cars. Each
Speaker 1: container has a small rectangular window. At least right now,
Speaker 1: from my feeling, it's not a kind of warm and
Speaker 1: welcoming environment. It doesn't feel that way. In June of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, less than a month after the massacre,
Speaker 1: the Texas government announced more than one hundred million extra
Speaker 1: dollars for school safety and mental health. About two of
Speaker 1: every ten dollars went to mental health expenses. The rest
Speaker 1: was allocated for buying shields, panic alerts, and new training
Speaker 1: for police officers. Right now, the state has set aside
Speaker 1: five million dollars to fund the resiliency center like that.
Speaker 1: Officials have said it's a place where there is crisis counseling,
Speaker 1: psychological first aid, and more. But for gladys, it's not working.
Speaker 1: How much mental health access is there for the people
Speaker 1: of Uvaldi.
Speaker 4: It's very limited. And now since May twenty fourth, you know,
Speaker 4: you seek Governor abbed and all the Senate, our saint,
Speaker 4: We're going to bring all this mental health and that's
Speaker 4: all they talk about.
Speaker 1: Is it here?
Speaker 4: I'd say it's definitely limited.
Speaker 1: After the Resiliency center failed to work for Gladys, she
Speaker 1: tried another free therapy, but here at this clinic, the
Speaker 1: sessions happened only every other week, and Caitlin had to
Speaker 1: share her hour of therapy with her mom and little sister,
Speaker 1: which meant they had roughly fifteen minutes of therapy each.
Speaker 1: Gladys thought, this free therapy from the state of Texas
Speaker 1: is not counseling.
Speaker 4: That's a slap to the face of that these kids,
Speaker 4: because it's just how are you going to deal with
Speaker 4: this enormous trauma and just be dealt with fifteen minutes
Speaker 4: of therapy.
Speaker 1: She wants more from elected officials.
Speaker 4: It shouldn't fall on us to go out and ask
Speaker 4: for change, should come from them. I mean, they were
Speaker 4: put in a position to demand change. The nact like it.
Speaker 1: After these experiences, Gladys says, Caitlin's symptoms worsened. Finally, she
Speaker 1: found a grief camp for Caitlin, she learned about a
Speaker 1: promising treatment in therapy. It's known as EMDR, which stands
Speaker 1: for Eye Movement, Desensitization and Reprocessing, is a kind of
Speaker 1: psychotherapy meant to help people process the memories that trigger
Speaker 1: their post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, and it helps
Speaker 1: them work through the trauma. The therapy is expensive, and
Speaker 1: the Osals family spent seven months searching for a therapist
Speaker 1: who would take their insurance. During those months, they paid
Speaker 1: out of pocket without any further help from the state. Now,
Speaker 1: the family travels once a week to San Antonio, which
Speaker 1: is at least three hours round trip, because EMDR therapy
Speaker 1: for children isn't offered in Uvalde.
Speaker 4: No family should have to be traveling outside their local
Speaker 4: vicinities for therapeutic acxis. It's just absurd to me.
Speaker 1: While recently reporting in Texas, I sat down with the
Speaker 1: CEO of the Resiliency Center. Her name is Mary Beth Fisk.
Speaker 1: I asked her about what we had heard from people
Speaker 1: like Ladys and other folks in Uvalde, and Mary Beth
Speaker 1: says that EMDR is in fact available at the Resiliency Center,
Speaker 1: but it's only offered for adults. What is your reaction
Speaker 1: to me telling you that we know of at least
Speaker 1: one family that is traveling to San Antonio with their
Speaker 1: child on a weekly, bi weekly basis in order to
Speaker 1: get the therapy that you say is available for them
Speaker 1: in Valde.
Speaker 9: If there's a child that's in need of EMDR therapy,
Speaker 9: given that it's still in the experimental stages, we would
Speaker 9: welcome an opportunity to talk with them about that and
Speaker 9: to see if that's the best application for that child,
Speaker 9: so that we can provide them the highest possible quality
Speaker 9: of care.
Speaker 1: I also ask her about the overall appearance of the location.
Speaker 1: How do you see having a tent and these kind
Speaker 1: of shipping container segments.
Speaker 9: We've certainly been very anxious about moving into the brick
Speaker 9: and mortar structure, and the good news is that on
Speaker 9: May first we will be moving into the will be
Speaker 9: newly renovated space.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know. As somebody who has been in therapy,
Speaker 1: I the last place I would want to be in
Speaker 1: therapy is in a box of a shipping container kind
Speaker 1: of in the middle of nowhere with some plastic chairs.
Speaker 9: And the funding that we've been provided as it was
Speaker 9: strictly the funding for the counselors themselves.
Speaker 1: But the state of Texas has a thirty three billion
Speaker 1: dollars surplus. I mean, from the outside, it's just like,
Speaker 1: shouldn't there be more?
Speaker 9: We certainly hope, so, we certainly hope that they'll be
Speaker 9: prioritization to take care of the community of Uvalde.
Speaker 1: The new location opened the first week of May. This
Speaker 1: lack of mental health services and the lingering effects of
Speaker 1: trauma are something that another family in Uvalde has been
Speaker 1: dealing with their entire lives. Sisters Emma Albarado and else
Speaker 1: Ruth both were born and raised in Uvalde. Hi, you
Speaker 1: have chickens too. The day I meet them, forty one
Speaker 1: year old Elsie is wearing a long floral dress and
Speaker 1: she's just given birth to her first child. Okay, did
Speaker 1: you just have this baby?
Speaker 12: I'm forty one years old and this is my five months.
Speaker 10: You just turned five months today?
Speaker 1: Is it your first?
Speaker 2: My first?
Speaker 1: Congratulation. Emma is a decade older than Elsie. Their opposites.
Speaker 1: Emma is a little more reserved today. She's wearing a
Speaker 1: button down beige blouse and slacks. Elsie is a stay
Speaker 1: at home mom and Emma is a dyslexia teacher for
Speaker 1: the Uvalde School District. Emma regularly worked at rob Elementary,
Speaker 1: but she was off campus the day of the shooting.
Speaker 1: She lost several students she knew. Emma has been finding
Speaker 1: it hard to move on, and like Caitlin's family, she's
Speaker 1: actively seeking help.
Speaker 14: I reached out to a councilor during the summer and
Speaker 14: it was more of a phone hyperconference counseling, and so
Speaker 14: I kind of dropped that and I started group counseling
Speaker 14: and that was with other people that were there that
Speaker 14: they teachers.
Speaker 1: The wild massacre impacted both sisters deeply. It's brought them
Speaker 1: back to their family's own history of trauma after a
Speaker 1: violent event. Emma and Elsie are the granddaughters of Juan
Speaker 1: Monia Flordies, who grew up in Bourbenide, a small town
Speaker 1: in West Texas on the US Mexico border. More than
Speaker 1: one hundred years ago. In nineteen eighteen, the Texas Rangers,
Speaker 1: a law enforcement group, went to the town of Bourbenide.
Speaker 1: They pointed their guns and murdered fifteen Mexican men and boys.
Speaker 1: To the massacre, the Rangers tried to paint the victims
Speaker 1: as thieves, spies, and murderers. For years, there was no
Speaker 1: accountability or scrutiny about the murders. One, the grandfather to
Speaker 1: the two sisters, witnessed this massacre when he was just
Speaker 1: twelve years old.
Speaker 14: He didn't share until in his nineties. My mom came
Speaker 14: to understand. He would throw a lot and the trauma
Speaker 14: truly affected him.
Speaker 1: Emma says, when her mom found out about what had
Speaker 1: happened to her dad, she made it a mission to
Speaker 1: learn even more, all the way until her death from
Speaker 1: cancer in twenty twenty one. Do you think your mom
Speaker 1: became a little obsessed with what happened at buruined.
Speaker 2: I believe so. Yes.
Speaker 14: She had books, she went to the library's universities to
Speaker 14: get information.
Speaker 1: The constant searching for answers consumed their mom's life, but
Speaker 1: it was also a necessary way for her to better
Speaker 1: understand her past. For Emma, a lot of emotions have
Speaker 1: resurfaced since the Uvalde school shooting. Can you tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit about how you have processed this in
Speaker 1: your own life?
Speaker 14: It hurts.
Speaker 2: It's always going to be.
Speaker 14: They're always going to be in my mind always, So
Speaker 14: I'm pretty sure that's what my grandfather experienced in his
Speaker 14: mind all the time.
Speaker 15: Your grandfather was twelve years old when he witnesses a
Speaker 15: massacre in Texas, and the kids of Uvalde, several of
Speaker 15: them who you knew, and the survivors, are basically about
Speaker 15: the same age and having to witness and survive a
Speaker 15: massacre in Texas.
Speaker 1: It's true.
Speaker 14: And these kids, we need to watch and we need
Speaker 14: to make sure that they're getting any help that they need.
Speaker 14: Because my grandfather didn't receive anything. You need nothing to
Speaker 14: help them cope with this, and so I know these
Speaker 14: kids are gonna need a lot.
Speaker 1: Elsie, who is now raising a newborn, also wants to
Speaker 1: see the community get the help they need to heal.
Speaker 4: There's an echo in our community where they don't want
Speaker 4: to talk about it anymore.
Speaker 14: They don't want reporters here anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's not right.
Speaker 4: You're shutting these families down and you're asking them to
Speaker 4: forget about it and move on, and it does not
Speaker 4: work that way.
Speaker 1: Both Emma and Elsie also know that implementing strict gun
Speaker 1: laws might be difficult to come by because the gun
Speaker 1: culture in Uvalde, in the whole state of Texas, really
Speaker 1: is so ingrained into the community.
Speaker 14: It's part of our economy. It helps provide jobs, it helps,
Speaker 14: you know, put food on people's table.
Speaker 1: Elsie and Emma wondering about their grandfather and how trauma
Speaker 1: can be easily passed down from one generation to the next.
Speaker 1: I also think about what the families who survived the
Speaker 1: shooting in Uvalde are doing to keep motivated while demanding
Speaker 1: gun reform and access to mental health services. Like ten
Speaker 1: year old Caitlin Gonzalez with all of her activism.
Speaker 16: I saw, you know, the fire she has, you know,
Speaker 16: to create a change. And the nice thing about what
Speaker 16: I saw was that it really comes from the heart.
Speaker 1: That's Lalo Castillo. He's seventy six years old. He's from
Speaker 1: Uvalde and he's been an activist for all of his life.
Speaker 1: In fact, he was part of the Chicano movement that
Speaker 1: was born here in South Texas in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1: That was when Mexican Americans were calling for labor and
Speaker 1: political rights. Lalo was also part of the historic school
Speaker 1: walk out in nineteen seventy. In fact, it happened at
Speaker 1: rob elementary school.
Speaker 16: We were punished for speaking Spanish and it was real
Speaker 16: bad because you saw the teachers with the rulers you're
Speaker 16: not on the playground, and if they heard you, you know,
Speaker 16: they'd pick up your pants and powerty.
Speaker 2: You know. It was horrible.
Speaker 16: We grew up, a lot of us grew up questioning,
Speaker 16: you know, whether Spanish was bad.
Speaker 1: When one of the few Mexican and bilingual teachers in
Speaker 1: the district's contract was not renewed, students and their families
Speaker 1: took a stand and walked out.
Speaker 16: And I'll just make it very brief, but it was
Speaker 16: a challenge. It wasn't as easy as just okay, let's
Speaker 16: walk out. We had I think our walkout was the
Speaker 16: one that lasted the longest air in Texas and had
Speaker 16: the whole country.
Speaker 1: Actually it's one of the longest.
Speaker 16: Walk yeah, yeah, and it was. It lasted six weeks.
Speaker 1: Now. Lalo is showing Caitlyn the ropes, the highs and
Speaker 1: lows of what activism can actually be. He says he
Speaker 1: saw her potential when Caitlyn first started to speak out
Speaker 1: last year.
Speaker 16: To have a child like Caitlin, that's what she does
Speaker 16: is nothing that can be taught. And so I saw
Speaker 16: a future activist, a future leader. So I found my
Speaker 16: way yet and I asked people, you know, who is she?
Speaker 1: And since then, he's gotten a lot closer to Caitlyn.
Speaker 16: Okay, it just happened. I've never planned to do any
Speaker 16: train in any nothing, and this little girl is point
Speaker 16: too be either a good politician or whatever, but she's wonderful.
Speaker 1: When we come back, we see Caitlyn in action, speaking
Speaker 1: to her biggest audience yet outside the Texas capital in Austin,
Speaker 1: and we check into see how therapy is helping her
Speaker 1: stay with us.
Speaker 6: Yes, hi, Maria, this is MirOS Vargas. I love all
Speaker 6: your documental everything that you do in there. You have
Speaker 6: a fabulous boy and he really intrigues me to listen
Speaker 6: to your programs. I really love your show. Congratulations on
Speaker 6: you thirty years and paying for another thirty or forties?
Speaker 6: Why not?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Latino, USA. I'm Maria Jojosa. When we
Speaker 1: left off, we met La Loo Castillo, a longtime activist
Speaker 1: in Uvalde. He's been taking Caitlin, the ten year old
Speaker 1: survivor of the massacre, under his wing, helping to shape
Speaker 1: her activism. Caitlyn is balancing therapy, school, extracurricular activities, and
Speaker 1: speaking at rallies, and now she's ready to take on
Speaker 1: a bigger stage. It's a busy day at the Texas
Speaker 1: Capitol Building in Austin. It's really hot outside, but hundreds
Speaker 1: of people have gathered to rally. They marched for half
Speaker 1: an hour to get here, and now people are standing
Speaker 1: around a makeshift stage where there's a podium and a microphone.
Speaker 1: Activists are supporting two bills that would increase the age
Speaker 1: limit to buy a semi automatic rifle like the AR fifteen,
Speaker 1: from eighteen to twenty one. But there's one voice in
Speaker 1: particular that I'm looking forward to hearing.
Speaker 14: The out honor to introduce to you one of the
Speaker 14: most super human human.
Speaker 2: Beings on the face of this.
Speaker 7: Planet, Kaylon.
Speaker 1: Caitlin is so small that they set up a booster
Speaker 1: for her to step up too so she can reach
Speaker 1: the microphones. She looks fearless, though she's wearing a white
Speaker 1: shirt that reads enough gun Violence. As always, Caitlin's hair
Speaker 1: is slicked back into a ponytail, this time with a
Speaker 1: red bow. Caitlin's brown skin glows under the Texas sun.
Speaker 1: Behind her are the photos of the twenty one lives
Speaker 1: lost in Uvalde.
Speaker 7: Good afternoon, my name is Kaylin Gonzalez. I have a
Speaker 7: fourth grade rob elementary survivor from Vadi, Texas. On May
Speaker 7: twenty fourth, everything changed. I was at my awards harmony
Speaker 7: that day earlier before the shooting. As soon as we
Speaker 7: got to our class, we heard the gun shots. He Wobblenie,
Speaker 7: he Wobblemnie.
Speaker 1: Even though uncovering this event as a journalist, as a mom,
Speaker 1: I was a little bit worried about Caitlin. There was
Speaker 1: so much expectation leading up to this moment. It was
Speaker 1: so hot, she had been meeting the chanting, and so
Speaker 1: in this moment, suddenly I react like a mom, encouraging
Speaker 1: Caitlyn to be strong. You gotta, Kaylan, take your time,
Speaker 1: Take your time. The rest of the crowd also cheers
Speaker 1: her on and tries to comfort her. She pauses, takes
Speaker 1: a moment, and then continues.
Speaker 11: He OpEd the doorknob.
Speaker 5: He bains on my tour.
Speaker 11: I remember in my best friend's screams, and I remember
Speaker 11: hugging her that morning. I hooked her and Eleanor at
Speaker 11: the Wards Many tutor. I will call her after school.
Speaker 11: I never go to the home, and I was watching
Speaker 11: the news. I saw that Eleanor was missing. I texted
Speaker 11: Jackie Leanne is missing. Are you Okay. The next day
Speaker 11: it contin news from my mom, the worst news in
Speaker 11: any child.
Speaker 17: She gets.
Speaker 11: I shouldn't have to be here right now, but I
Speaker 11: am because my friends don't have a voice. No more, Greg,
Speaker 11: I've has done nothing to predict me or my friends.
Speaker 1: Lala was standing behind Caitlyn during her speech. When you
Speaker 1: see Caitlyn and you see how she talks when she's
Speaker 1: addressing huge audiences, political audiences, what goes on for you?
Speaker 16: I admire her so much and got high hopes for her.
Speaker 16: That the best thing is not only her capability and
Speaker 16: her desire and her commitment, but the support that she
Speaker 16: gets from her parents. Her parents are one hundred and
Speaker 16: pent behind her. But let's understand little culture. Okay, her
Speaker 16: parents have never been involved in politics. This is a
Speaker 16: natural born leader and there will work till the day
Speaker 16: anything that I can to promote her or to help
Speaker 16: her our advisor of whatever actually needs because she's.
Speaker 2: A natural.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that you are passing the torch as
Speaker 1: an older activist from Muvaldi to the next generation.
Speaker 16: Yes, yes, Vert Luxley.
Speaker 1: Since the start of this year, there have been more
Speaker 1: than two hundred mass shootings across the country and Caitlin
Speaker 1: continues speaking out. Most recently, she walked out of her
Speaker 1: school with other classmates protesting another school shooting that happened
Speaker 1: in Nashville.
Speaker 7: Ni RANI.
Speaker 2: What Hey long?
Speaker 1: But still no gun reform has been passed this legislative
Speaker 1: session in Texas, some lawmakers tried to pass the two
Speaker 1: bills that would increase the age of assault rifle buyers.
Speaker 1: One never made it to hearings. Governor Abbott has previously
Speaker 1: said that raising the age limit would be considered unconstitutional.
Speaker 1: As part of our investigation, we've repeatedly reached out to
Speaker 1: Governor Abbot's office for an interview, but those requests have
Speaker 1: been rejected. In late April, the second bill had a
Speaker 1: committee hearing in the Texas Capital. Jackie's parents, Gloria and
Speaker 1: Javier Gasidz, were there. I met with them in the
Speaker 1: hallways of the Capitol while they waited to give their testimony.
Speaker 1: What's it like to be in that room carrying the
Speaker 1: pictures of Jackie knowing that they're people who completely opposed
Speaker 1: your decision to want to raise the age.
Speaker 10: It's very hard, and it's just now you see your
Speaker 10: your children, you see they're best friends' pictures and you
Speaker 10: just don't understand why these kids and their teachers weren't enough. Now,
Speaker 10: that's how I feel. It's that they weren't enough for you,
Speaker 10: like they weren't enough for you to care.
Speaker 1: Does it feel like you're actually begging for them?
Speaker 10: It does at times? It does.
Speaker 2: What does that do to you?
Speaker 3: A lot?
Speaker 2: It does a lot.
Speaker 10: We've met parents from different shootings, and a lot of
Speaker 10: them have been doing this for years, and we've only
Speaker 10: been doing this for eleven months and we're exhausted. I
Speaker 10: don't know how much more we can take.
Speaker 1: They say they're not going to give up.
Speaker 17: I'm made a promise with my daughter, and that promise
Speaker 17: was to help change and then actually never break that promise.
Speaker 1: The costad Is family and other survivors' families waited more
Speaker 1: than twelve hours to be able to testify. Texas lawmakers
Speaker 1: didn't hear from them until after nine pm.
Speaker 17: My name is I've had cassadas for Vali, Texas. My daughter,
Speaker 17: Jackie Costadis. I go back to the day seeing my
Speaker 17: daughter in her little white dress, laying in that coffin.
Speaker 17: My baby girl was full of life and love. She
Speaker 17: never learned how to ride her bike, never made it
Speaker 17: to the fifth grade. We'll never experienced her fifteenth birthday,
Speaker 17: prom graduation from high school, college and becoming a vet,
Speaker 17: visiting Paris, or even falling into love.
Speaker 1: She was take and.
Speaker 17: Nobody being a really murdered at nine years old along
Speaker 17: with her eighteen classmates of two teachers. We're not here
Speaker 17: to take anyone's guns away. I'm a gun owner. I
Speaker 17: don't want you to see what I saw. I saw
Speaker 17: a nine year old daughter draped in a white sheet,
Speaker 17: cold and alone in an operating room. I saw the
Speaker 17: wound that took her life. I don't want any of
Speaker 17: y'all to see that. We needn't change these laws, be
Speaker 17: on the right side of history.
Speaker 1: After the hearing, the bill was approved in committee. It
Speaker 1: was historic, but still not enough. The legislative session ended
Speaker 1: and the bill was not brought up for a vote
Speaker 1: on the Senate or House floor. Texas lawmakers meet every
Speaker 1: two years, so Jackie's parents might not see laws change
Speaker 1: anytime soon, and since the massacre last year, there also
Speaker 1: hasn't been substantive legislation to increase access to mental health
Speaker 1: care across the state of Texas. Either I jump out
Speaker 1: of the car and I see Caitlyn's little sister Camilla
Speaker 1: in the driveway. No, Camilla, I saw. It's been a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks since I last saw them at the
Speaker 1: rally in Austin. What are you doing right now?
Speaker 5: I'm doing Safa.
Speaker 1: Camilla is throwing a ball at Caitlyn so that she
Speaker 1: can swing at it with her bat. In fact, Caitlyn
Speaker 1: has a big softball game coming up, and she's excited
Speaker 1: about it and now wants to be called Caitlin the
Speaker 1: Slider Gonzalez, Omila, don't.
Speaker 5: Be afraid of the ball.
Speaker 8: He hits you, hit you, hey.
Speaker 1: Caitlyn's softball team is named the Purple Diamonds, and she's
Speaker 1: practicing before the game. Whoa, she got it? Whoa, that
Speaker 1: is definitely a home run. That's what a home run
Speaker 1: looks like. There she goes, yeah, what yeh? Who three?
Speaker 17: One up?
Speaker 15: Five?
Speaker 1: Oh, And she did the slide, she did the slot.
Speaker 1: Who I've been with Caitlyn for just a few minutes,
Speaker 1: and already I can sense that something is really different.
Speaker 1: She's open, she's present, she's playful, she's engaging me. Gladys
Speaker 1: pulls me aside while Caitlyn continues practicing batting with Camilla
Speaker 1: and she tells me she has some news.
Speaker 4: She just broke it to me, like maybe two weeks ago,
Speaker 4: that she wanted to sleep on her own. I mean
Speaker 4: for nine months, I think we were sleeping together. Like
Speaker 4: I said, okay, oh that's great. I didn't want to
Speaker 4: make a big deal because I didn't want to say, oh,
Speaker 4: I'm too excited to go back to my bedroom. It
Speaker 4: was a mix of feelings, like she closed the door
Speaker 4: behind her and I just you know, I got here.
Speaker 1: Eyed what do you think happened?
Speaker 4: I think the progress she's had with the MDR. Just
Speaker 4: the fact that I'm not having to sleep by her
Speaker 4: toes is big because I mean, I slept for nine months,
Speaker 4: like on the edge of the bed.
Speaker 1: So it's not good for you or your marriage.
Speaker 4: For a long time, my husband and I were like roommates.
Speaker 1: So how are you feeling about this all? Are you like?
Speaker 1: This is good for now? But it might change because
Speaker 1: I still think Caitlyn is pretty unpredictable.
Speaker 4: Right I'm feeling optimistic and I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful for
Speaker 4: the progress that she's made. I'm hopeful for the upcoming
Speaker 4: progress she's going to continue making. We're just taking it
Speaker 4: a day at a time. Every little step is a
Speaker 4: big step in our eyes.
Speaker 1: Glad It says, now that her daughters are situated with therapy,
Speaker 1: it's her turn to take care of herself by finding
Speaker 1: a therapist too.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of it has to do with
Speaker 4: pretty metro ayant scale. I mean, I grew up in
Speaker 4: that household where it was like, you know, attend to
Speaker 4: the kids and you know, leave yourself to the back burner.
Speaker 4: And after May twenty fourth, it was quite honestly all
Speaker 4: about Caitlin. Even Camilla, you know, was making sure that
Speaker 4: she wasn't left to the side, and it was just
Speaker 4: doing damage control. So now I'm having to reput, you know,
Speaker 4: the pieces together, and so it's now my turn.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to hear that. Gladys calls out to
Speaker 1: Caitlin and Camilla saying it's time to go inside. Now.
Speaker 1: The Caitlin before my eyes is being a ten year
Speaker 1: old girl, in fact one that's about to turn eleven.
Speaker 1: She's laughing, she's playing, and a lot of it seems
Speaker 1: to be because she's been getting help. How's the therapy going?
Speaker 7: I sleep by myself?
Speaker 1: What yes? This bed all to me? And when she
Speaker 1: got my mom.
Speaker 11: I have to show my sister.
Speaker 1: That's a big step. Mama, what happened?
Speaker 7: I tell my mama, by myself?
Speaker 1: What made you feel like you can.
Speaker 5: My friend theirself? And I want to sleep by myself?
Speaker 1: So you just were like, I'm gonna deal with being afraid.
Speaker 1: It's okay, I can handle it.
Speaker 11: Yes.
Speaker 1: Seeing Caitlyn move forward in this moment is really reassuring
Speaker 1: because what she's doing as an advocate for her entire
Speaker 1: town is tough. She needs moments like these to stay
Speaker 1: grounded for the fight that lies ahead, the fight that
Speaker 1: she's in for her friends that are no longer physically
Speaker 1: here with her, and to get strength for that fight.
Speaker 1: Caitlin often visits a place that's come to mean a
Speaker 1: lot for her, so she wanted to take me there.
Speaker 1: The sun is setting over the beautiful South Texas sky.
Speaker 1: It's massive. There are shades of pink, purple and orange everywhere.
Speaker 1: Is this where you come to talk to Jackie? We're
Speaker 1: at the local cemetery in Uvalde. And I've been to
Speaker 1: a lot of cemeteries in my life, and I never
Speaker 1: thought I would say this, but this cemetery in Uvalde
Speaker 1: is the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen. There's color
Speaker 1: flowers everywhere, and now we're at Jackie's cemetery plot. Here
Speaker 1: there we go, Okay, Caitlyn has brought a sparkler to light,
Speaker 1: so we do that. Flashes of color and light sprout
Speaker 1: from the tip as Caitlyn holds onto it. And then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, she's running around in circles around
Speaker 1: Jackie's cemetery plot and she's laughing and smiling, and so
Speaker 1: am I because this is a place where Caitlyn comes
Speaker 1: to connect with Jackie. Now all I see is that
Speaker 1: huge smile on Caitlyn's face, knowing that right now, right here,
Speaker 1: in this moment, she's with her best friend, Jackie. Uvalde
Speaker 1: Rising is an original production of Futuro Investigates and Latino USA.
Speaker 1: Some of the reporting for this episode is based on
Speaker 1: the PBS Frontline documentary film After Uvalde Guns, Grief and
Speaker 1: Texas Politics. We urge you to please watch the film
Speaker 1: as well. This episode was produced by Rinaldo Leanos Junior
Speaker 1: and from Futuro Investigates Sophia Sanchez. It was edited by
Speaker 1: Daisy Andredras. This episode was mixed by Stephanie Lebau. Julia
Speaker 1: Caruso and Gabriela Biez. It was fact checked by Amy Tardiff.
Speaker 1: Benille Ramirez is executive producer of Futurou Investigates along with myself.
Speaker 1: Our editorial director is Fernandes Santos di Latino USA. Team
Speaker 1: also includes Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Victoria Strada,
Speaker 1: Patrisa Subaran, and Elizabeth Loental Torres. The project managers of
Speaker 1: Futuro Investigates are Nancy Trujillo and Raul Preesino Josa, who
Speaker 1: contributed with field reporting. Our associate engineer is JJ Carubin.
Speaker 1: Our marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was
Speaker 1: composed by Sania Rubino. Special thanks this week too, Rainy Arenson, Rath,
Speaker 1: Nina Chaudri, Lauren Pristilio, Suel chan Uriel, Jay Garcia, zach
Speaker 1: despart Bela Treviso, Monica Munos, Martinez, Heidi Berg, Amy Booker,
Speaker 1: Arianna Surrio, and Jessica Ellis for all of your work,
Speaker 1: help and support during the reporting of this story. I'm
Speaker 1: your host and executive producer Marieojosa. You can stream our
Speaker 1: documentary film online for more of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: Uvalde massacre. Visit Futuru Investigates dot org. Remember to catch
Speaker 1: our next episode and see us on social media, and
Speaker 1: until next time, remembers thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: Chao.
Speaker 4: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Annie
Speaker 4: Casey Foundation.
Speaker 14: Creates a brighter future for the nation's children by strengthening families,
Speaker 14: building greater economic opportunity, and transforming communities. W. K.
Speaker 4: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with Communities where Children Come First,
Speaker 4: and the Tao Foundation.