Meghan Markle visits Uvalde to lay white roses at memorial for Texas school shooting

Meghan Markle made a surprise visit to Texas Thursday to pay her respects to the 21 victims killed at an elementary school in Uvalde. The Duchess of Sussex, who lives with Prince Harry and their two children in California, was seen placing a bouquet full of white roses at the Robb Elementary School memorial.

The 40-year-old kept a low profile in jeans, a white T-shirt and a denim baseball cap.

The former American actress ignored questions from reporters as she placed the roses tied with a purple ribbon for 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, one of the victims of the attack. According to reports, Alberto Alvarez was Markle’s bodyguard. Alvarez was with Michael Jackson the night Jackson died in June 2009 at age 50.

TIM MCGRAW, CHRIS PRATT AND SELENA GOMEZ LEAD STARS SPEAKING OUT ON TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, places flowers as she mourns at a memorial outside Uvalde County Courthouse in Uvalde, Texas, May 26, 2022.
(Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Law enforcement officials have faced mounting questions and anger over the amount of time that elapsed before they stormed the school and put a stop to the rampage that left 19 children and two teachers dead. A law enforcement official confirmed that Salvador Ramos, the gunman, entered the school through an unlocked door. The 18-year-old was apparently inside the building for at least 45 minutes before Border Patrol agents stormed a classroom and killed him, according to the timeline given by Victor Escalon, a regional director at the Texas Department of Public Safety. The school has an armed school safety officer. Escalon stated that Ramos arrived Tuesday without an armed school safety officer and that the gunman entered the school “unobstructed”.

Many other details about the case and the police response remain murky. The motive for the massacre, the nation’s deadliest school shooting since Newtown, Connecticut, a decade ago, remained under investigation, with authorities saying Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history.

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Meghan Markle lives with Prince Harry and their two children in California.
(Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

A department spokesman said authorities were still working to clarify the timeline of the attack, uncertain whether that period of 40 minutes to an hour began when the gunman reached the school or earlier when he shot his grandmother at home.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz did not give a timeline but said repeatedly that the tactical officers from his agency who arrived at the school did not hesitate. He stated that they entered the building quickly, and lined up behind an agent holding a shield. What we wanted was to ensure that they acted quickly and swiftly. Ortiz said this to Fox News.

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Meghan Markle did not answer reporters’ questions as she visited the memorial.
(Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

But a law enforcement official said that, once inside the building, the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key. Because he was not authorized, the official spoke under condition of anonymity.

Olivarez said investigators were trying to establish whether the classroom was locked or barricaded in some way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.