hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, i'm john vause, and

this is "cnn newsroom." texas officials are facing a growing number of questions as well as increasing criticism of law enforcement's response to the mass shooting at robb elementary. for two days now, the official count has been inconsistent, contradictory, and outright confusing at times with some major changes to some important details. did police exchange gunfire with the shooter as he entered the school? on tuesday and wednesday, the answer was yes. by thursday, no. the shooter was never confronted by a school resource officer or anyone for that matter. it just never happened. authorities say it took up to an hour before the gunman was killed, and during that time, police were calling for backup and evacuating students and teachers from other parts of the school, negotiating with the suspect himself, pinning him down in a classroom. but later said they did not know his exact location for an misdemeanor takedown. video from outside the school shows parents screaming at police, pleading for them to enter the school and save their children. one parent told "the wall street

journal" she was put in handcuffs. another claims to have been tackled by the police and been thrown to the ground while a third was pepper sprayed. >> as a father, i would have just went in. i don't need nobody to tell me to go in and defend the armless children. why wait? >> we have more now on the investigation from cnn's ed lavandera. >> reporter: two days after the mass shooting at robb elementary, the story of what happened when the gunman arrived on the campus has fundamentally changed. >> there's a lot of possibilities. i don't have enough information to answer that question just yet. >> reporter: the new details revealed in a bewildering press conference with the texas department of public safety. >> he walked in unobstructed initially. he was not confronted by anybody. to clear the record on that. >> reporter: police revised earlier reports that the gunman engaged with a school resource

officer. according to investigators, 12 minutes passed when the suspect crashed his grandmother's truck on tuesday morning and when he entered the school through an unlocked back door. >> he went in at 11:40. he walked -- and i'm going to approximate -- 20 feet, 30 feet. he makes a right. he walks into the hallway. he makes a right, walks another 20 feet. turns left into a school room, into a classroom that has doors open in the middle. officers are there. the initial officers. they receive gunfire. they don't make entry initially because of the gunfire they're receiving. >> reporter: police say most of the gunfire was in the initial minutes. there was a standoff for almost an hour before police forced their way into a classroom and killed him. the question remains why they couldn't get to the gunman sooner. >> can you explain to us how he was barricaded? >> i hear you. >> because we've been given a lot of bad information, so why don't you clear all of this up? >> shooting and shooting. hitting the dirt on the floor

and -- >> the bullets were hitting close? bullets from where? >> i guess he was coming from the school this way. >> reporter: parents were frustrated police wouldn't let them help save their children despite safety procedures that keep people away from an active crime scene. jesse rodriguez lost his daughter in the shooting. he's angered by what he saw officers doing outside the school. >> they should have moved in. i don't think they had a right to sit there on their ass waiting, you know. they should have moved in faster. >> reporter: in all, more than 100 federal officers responded to the shooting in addition to local police. for one young third grader hiding from the gunman, it seemed like even more. >> all we saw were thousands of police and border patrol coming into the cafeteria, and we were all hiding behind a stage in the cafeteria when it happened. >> reporter: the uvalde school district did have a safety plan with a system in place to

provide a safe and secure environment. 21 measures including a locked-door policy. >> we're still trying to establish if there was any type of locking mechanisms on the doorway from the inside of the classroom because the gunman was able to barricade himself. >> reporter: the changing details over what happened when the gunman went inside robb elementary is frustrating and angering many parents here. and what is still not clear is what the responding officers inside the school were doing during the hour that the gunman was barricaded inside the classroom. ed lavandera, cnn, uvalde, texas. >> for two days now, the families of those who were shot and killed have been struggling with a pain and grief like no other, and it's about to get worse. the bodies of 19 of the 21 victims have been released to funeral homes. instead of celebrating the end of school and summer vacation, families are now planning funerals and memorial services. in a small town like uvalde, it seems like everyone knows everyone else, and no one is untouched by this tragedy.

then there are the youngest survivors, the little ones who saw what no child should ever see and will now live with those emotional scars for years to come. >> i got really scared, and i didn't know who was hurt or dead. and then we started looking around on facebook, and then i realized that all the people i knew were dead now. >> how many? >> i knew all of them. >> cnn's liucy kafanov has details now on lives lost in uvalde. >> reporter: look at their faces. fourth grader jackie cazares just had her first baptism and first communion. >> full of love and full of life. she would do anything for anybody. >> reporter: 9-year-old ellie garcia was just a week from her 10th birthday. >> sweetest girl you've ever --

>> reporter: angels now to their families. 19 children and 2 teachers. this is the pain of their loss. >> how do you look at this girl and shoot her? oh, my baby. how do you shoot my baby? >> reporter: angel garza, who raised amerie jo garza, wants you know that she tried to call 911 to save her classmates and teachers. >> she was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong. she listened to her mama and dad. she always brushed her teeth. she was creative. she made things for us. she never got in trouble in school. >> reporter: lexi rubio loved sports and at just 10 years old, she dreamed of traveling the world. >> she wanted to go to australia. >> she wanted to go to australia? >> she wanted to go to law school. >> law school? >> yeah, at st. mary's. >> annabell rodriguez, also 10,

loved to dance and was in the same class as her cousin, jackie cazares. jackie's father, jacinto, called her a firecracker, posting his range of emotion first at the cowardly way his daughter was killed. it hurts us to our souls. then a note to his daughter. be in peace with the rest of the angels, sweetheart. baby girl, we all love you with all our hearts. ♪ at a community vigil in uvalde, the dead are mourned. they include teacher irma garcia, who was in her fifth year of teaching alongside eva mireles. both died, their families say, shielding students from gunfire. not lost here, the children still being treated in the hospital. a pediatric trauma director describes them as critical but stable, wishing there were more lives she could save. >> i think that's what's hit us the most, not of the patients that we did receive and we are honored to treat them, but the

patients that we did not receive. that is the most challenging aspect of our job right now. >> reporter: the flores family was among those who rushed to hospitals in search of their children. it was there that jose flores sr. lived the moment that would befall 21 families in this close-knit community. >> so i didn't get to hold her no more. i didn't get to see her. >> reporter: and a tragic footnote to the piece you just watched. you saw those images of irma garcia, the elementary schoolteacher gunned down in tuesday's massacre. cnn has sadly learned that her husband, joe garcia, collapsed and died on thursday morning. he was preparing for her funeral. he suffered a heart attack, but his family they believe he died of a broken heart after losing the love of his life for more than 25 years. lucy kafanov, cnn, san antonio, texas.

>> despite a mass shooting, the loss of life, the carnage, a community in mourning, the national rifle association's annual convention will go ahead as planned in texas. members of the gun lobby will meet friday in houston. among those expected to speak, former president donald trump, junior texas senator ted cruz, and congressman dan crenshaw. texas governor greg abbott will send a prerecorded video. he canceled his in-person appearance at the nra convention so he could attend a news conference in uvalde. at least four musicians have canceled their performances at the convention. joining me is founder and ntd of stand up for parkland which advocates for school safety. thank you for being here. i imagine tuesday must have been a difficult day for you. now that you've had some time to process what happened in texas, what are your thoughts on where

this country is in terms of gun control and gun violence? >> well, anytime we see our students and teachers murdered in their school, it greatly affects us. of course for my family, the news coming out of uvalde took us right back to that terrible day in 2018 when we found out gina, 13 of her classmates and 3 of her teachers had been murdered at their school. we feel for those families, and we know the pain they went through with the reunification process and the horror that they're going through now as they choose coffins for their children. >> on friday, the three-day annual nra convention kicks off in houston. it's about a four-hour drive from uvalde. the decision to continue on with the conference has drawn a lot of criticism. the mayor of houston says the

city cannot cancel the convention for legal reasons. here he is. >> even though the city cannot cancel a contract because we don't agree with their position on guns, certainly the nra can postpone their convention for a week or two to allow the families to bury their children. >> just a postponement. not even that. that seems to be a fair point but one which the nra and many of its members just seem oblivious to. >> well, it's sad that they wouldn't consider the families of this tragedy. >> the nra is also pushing this idea that if there were more guns in schools, if teachers were armed, that basically those schools would be safer. and others just say that that is a fallacy. >> well, actually same with parkland and the national assoc association of families for safe schools, which i'm the

president. we look at school safety in a uniquely nonpartisan and inclusive way. we look at it with the school safety try add, which is securing the campus, better mental health screening, and should you choose to own one, responsible firearm ownership. we know all those failed us in 2018, and i'm sure we're going to final out all three of those things failed the families in uvalde. in the aftermath -- >> continue, please. sorry. >> in the aftermath, we've passed some laws here in the state of florida, and one of them we do require now each school to have an armed individual on campus. that armed individual is there to protect the children and the teachers should the worst happen. we feel it's necessary. it's been shown by the u.s. secret service and the national threat assessment center in their 2019 study on protecting

america's schools -- it was shown that none of the 43 attacks that they studied in that report was stopped by law enforcement coming from off the campus. so the research shows that it's better to have someone armed on the campus. now, to be clear, stand with parkland believes that should be a security professional or a school resource officer. it should not be an armed teacher. we are against arming teachers. >> i want you to listen to part of the statement from the nra. it reads, as we gather in houston, we will reflect on the events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members and redouble our efforts to making our schools secure. here's the white house press secretary to sort of correct the record if you like. here she is. >> so it's not about the convention. what is inappropriate is that the leadership of the national rifle association has proven time and time again that they are contributing to the problem of gun violence, not trying to solve it. they represent the interests of the gun industry, the gun

manufacturers, who are marketing weapons of war to young adults. >> in many ways, that's the issue here. it's not necessarily guns themselves or gun owners. you know, this is all about, you know, the deals which are being made in the back rooms to try and ease gun restrictions nationwide. >> i certainly don't think we need any easing of gun restrictions. however, we know that there are ways to allow people to own weapons while keeping us -- the rest of us safe. some of the things that stand with parkland does support, there are background checks on weapons sales. we also support once you own one, safe storage. that means someplace where it's not accessible by children and. >> reporter: it's not likely to be stolen. and finally we believe in red flag laws or extremist protection laws, which we passed here in florida, sadly in the wake of the shooting that took my daughter and her classmates and her teachers. but these laws, after a due

process period, do allow someone who is deemed a threat to themselves or others to have their weapons removed until they can come back and prove that they are no longer a threat. this keeps firearms in the hands of responsible owners, yet it keeps the rest of us safe without restricting anybody's rights. so those three simple things would go a long, long way to solving the firearms problem in this country. >> we'll see what happens in the coming days and weeks. maybe this time it will be different. tony montalto, thank you, sir. >> thank you. have a good night. the latest on the war in ukraine is just ahead with details on why the u.s. is now considering supplying ukraine with one of its most formidable weapons as russians gain ground in eastern ukraine. plus a damning new report con

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welcome back. it seems ukraine's military continues to slow russian advance in donbas coming in from the north. still, russian forces have made some modest gains in recent days. the central donbas region has been under constant and intense russian assault for weeks. u.s. defense officials say the russians are trying to push towards the city of cram ators sk and slovyansk. multiple sources say the biden administration is now considering ukraine's request for advanced rockets that have a much greater range than the recently deployed howitzers. new video from mariupol shows russia's so-called filtration center. officials say it's through facilities like this that hundreds of thousands of ukrainians have been forcibly sent to russia from eastern

ukraine. the mass deportation and other acts of aggression are further evidence of genocide. >> translator: in cities and communities closer to the russian border and in luhansk, they gather everyone they can to fill the place of those killed and wounded in the occupation contingent. all of this, including the deportation of our people and the mass killings of civilians, is an obvious policy of genocide pursued by russia. >> president zelenskyy's claim of genocide by russia is now backed up by a damning new report by more than 30 international experts. they conclude kremlin propaganda, destruction of ukrainian cultural sites, mass graves, forced relocations of ukrainians and more pose a serious risk of genocide, trigger all states' obligation to act in order to prevent under article 1 of the genocide convention.

t author of the report on russian breaches of the genocide convention joins me now. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> this report points out the main purpose of the genocide convention is essentially prevention as well as the responsibility to act by all 152 countries who are signatories to this, and that includes russia, and when they should intervene. the instant that the states learn of or should normally have learned of the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed. it would seem when it comes to ukraine, we reached that point a long time ago. >> yeah, no, you're absolutely right, john. the word genocide is used very often and it's used very interchangeably with mass murder. but it does have a very precise legal definition, which is articulated in the 1948 genocide convention. and that is an intent to destroy an entire group of people. this is the first report from

the institute to examine whether russia's actions have breached the genocide convention. we put together three teams of experts, open-source intelligence experts, language experts, and an army of lawyers, over 35 of the top legal minds that examined the oevidence, an the conclusions were very clear that this russian federation is in clear breach of the genocide convention. they bear state responsibility for the incitement to committing genocide, and there's a pattern of their atrocities that indicate that they have an intention to destroy ukrainian as an national and ethnic group. the conclusion is essentially that there is a very serious risk of genocide, which triggers article 1 of the genocide convention, which is to prevent a full-scale genocide from actually occurring. >> let's take a look at some of the details you mentioned. in terms of atrocities, the reporters found national and

international investigators and analysts have documented rapidly expanding mass graves and a pattern of ukrainian civilian corpses found with hands ties, tortured, and shot at close range. in this report, the point is made that many of these russian soldiers have been totally immersed in russian state propaganda. so how does that build into this case for genocide? >> yeah, so we have to understand, john, that it is not the killing itself or the manner in which they're killed that constitutes genocide. it's the intent. we can see from the propaganda emerging from russia and the manner in which that propaganda is being interpreted on the ground that this is a genocidal war that russia is engaging in in ukraine. for example, putin in one of his essay as has clearly conditioned himself he does not believe ukraine is a real country. he be the chair of the duma says there is no ukraine, there is no

ukrainian-ness. we've seen these repeated claims, a denial of ukraine existing, the denial of the people of ukraine have their own identity. and this is not just rhetoric. it's actually translated into action. we have reports of over 180,000 ukrainian children that have been transferred forcibly into russia and dispersed throughout russia to ensure that they do not coalesce as a collective identity group. so the evidence is overwhelming in terms of what russia's intentions are in ukraine. it is to wipe out ukrainian identity. >> 180,000 children. that is staggering. there are individual actions of the russian soldiers as well as the big picture of military tactics. on that, in this report, you were, in besieging cities, russian forces have followed a similar pattern of striking border power and communication services early on and further targeting kmed facilities, grain warehouses, demonstrating a

military strategy and policy of deliberately inflicting fatal conditions on ukrainian inhabitants. what does that actually mean now in terms of state responsibility for genocide? >> the implications are very clear. the genocide convention was set up to prevent and punish genocide. and on too many occasions, you know, we only examined the genocide after the fact. it becomes an academic exercise. with the rohingya situation, and the purpose of the convention is to actually prevent genocide. so here we have a situation in which the evidence is overwhelming and the evidence has now been presented. so the obligation is now on all 151 state parties who are signatories to the genocide convention to intervene and put a stop to this russian aggression in ukraine before it spills over into a full-scale genocide, which will then be too

late. >> never again, huh? thank you, sir. appreciate you being with us. well, texas authorities are facing some angry questions. why did it take so long to stop the attack on an elementary school while hysterical parents pleaded for police to do something? the latest on the investigation in a moment. and in washington, could republicans long opposed to any kind of gun control laws be softening ever so slightly? the tiny step they're taking towards a possible compromise. back in a moment.

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when it comes to tech, everyone wants the next best thing. now with xfi complete from xfinity, you can get updated wifi technology with the new tech upgrade program. plus, protection from cyber threats at home and now on the go. so staying up to date is easier than ever. you look great by the way. right? unbeatable internet. made to do anything so you can do anything. only xfinity will upgrade your tech after 3 years for a more reliable connection. get that and more with xfi complete. upgrade today. welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm john vause. unsettling questions are emerging about the timeline of the school shooting in uvalde, texas, as well as the police response.

a law enforcement official says the shooter was not confronted by police before entering the school which contradicts earlier comments from authorities. and it took more than an hour for officers to take down the 18-year-old gunman. the lengthy response time and lack of communication to the public caused chaos outside the school. frantic parents started arriving, desperate to know if their kids were still alive, begging officers to go inside that school and stop the shooter or let them do it. meantime, on the other side of the country, support from a community that knows the particular pain felt in uvalde. ♪ a candle lit service was held in newtown, connecticut, where a similar massacre happened at sandy hook elementary almost a decade ago. republicans have long refused to compromise on gun control. many like senate minority leader mitch mcconnell have received hefty campaign contributions from the national rifle association. but he and other conservatives

are under tremendous pressure to take action. mcconnell exclusively told cnn that he's now calling for a bipartisan effort on a potential legislative response to the shooting by encouraging republican senator john cornyn of texas to begin suggestions with democrats. the other republican senator from texas, ted cruz, shows no willingness to budge on gun reform. he was pressed by two reporters and got very defensive. >> why does this only happen in your country? i really think that's what many people around the world just -- they can't fathom. why only in america? why is this american exceptionalism so awful? >> you know, i'm sorry you think american exceptionalism is awful. >> i think this aspect of it. >> you've got your political agenda. god love you. >> why is america the only country that faces this kind of -- >> you know. >> -- mass shooting? >> you can't answer that, can you, sir? you can't answer that. >> why is it that people come from all over the world to america? because it's the freest, most

prosperous, safest country on earth. >> it may be the freest. it may be -- >> meanwhile, the u.s. president is preparing to meet with victims of the families. he's heading to uvalde on sunday. cnn's phil mattingly has the story. >> reporter: as the country continues to try to grapple with the horrors that cost the lives of 21 people down in uvalde, texas, 19 children, president biden will soon be down there himself with the first lady to meet with the families, to grieve with the families, to let them know the entire country is thinking about them in this moment. this was how the white house press secretary framed that visit. >> while he's there, the president will meet with the community leaders, religious leaders, and the families of the victims. the president and first lady believe it is important to show their support for the community during this devastating time and to be there for the families of the victims. >> reporter: the president will arrive there on sunday, but what happens next from a policy

perspective in a country where these shootings, these mass shootings, these shootings at schools or grocery stores, places of worship, that remains very much an open question. it's been an open question for years, decades even, as efforts on capitol hill have started and failed repeatedly. once again, an effort has started. whether or not it's actually going to get anything across the finish line to the president's desk, also still a very open question. there is a group of nine republicans and democrats in the u.s. senate that had their first meeting on thursday, trying to figure out some type of bipartisan compromise. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, a longtime gun rights advocate, has given the green light to his members in the republican caucus to try and find some bipartisan compromise. however, when you talk to white house officials here behind the scenes, they make clear they are very skeptical that this time will be different despite the fact president biden has repeatedly said in the wake of this shooting that this time has to be different. the white house itself not deeply engaged at this point in

time in those negotiations, waiting to see what happens in these talks over the course of the next several days, making clear the president will continue to urge lawmakers to do something. one official saying earlier today the president can't do this himself. congress has to do its job. that process has started. whether anything changes when it comes to legislation, whether anything actually gets to the president's desk, that process failing so many times up to this point certainly has a long road ahead. phil mattingly, cnn, the white house. the democratic nominee for governor of texas is doubling down on his criticism of the current republican governor over the response to the shooting. >> the time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing. you are offering up nothing. >> beto o'rourke was shouted down as a confronted greg abbott at a press conference.

now o'rourke says he has no regrets about what he did. >> we can continue to do things the same way and expect a different result, but that's the definition of insanity. or we can decide that we're going to stand up for one another and change this and do everything we can to make sure that not another child is killed in their own school. not another teacher has to face a gunman with an ar-15 weapon originally designed for use on a battlefield. to commit ourselves to changing this so this does not become our permanent future or fate. i'm going to do everything i can. i'm going to do whatever it takes. >> o'rourke is facing an uphill battle when he runs against abbott in november in very conservative texas. the white house makes it official, announces a long-term strategy towards china. up next, how the u.s. plans to keep up the pressure on beijing

but still nudge it to negotiate. plus, growing concern china could decide to invade taiwan. how experts say beijing is likely taking notes from russia's war on ukraine on how to proceed.

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well, it's taken 16 months but now the biden administration has a china strategy. secretary of state antony blinken outlined it in a speech on thursday, saying china poses the most serious long-term challenge to the international order. to canada, blinken says the u.s. will close ranks with its allies, be ready to defend its interests. but he also says washington does not want to start a new cold war or change its political system. instead, blinken is making it clear the door is open to diplomacy. >> this is a charged moment for the world, and at times like these, diplomacy is vital. it's how we make clear our profound concerns, better understand each other's perspective, and have no doubt about each other's intentions. we stand ready to increase our direct communication with

beijing across a full range of issues. >> blinken made the announcement against the backdrop of russia's invasion of ukraine. he calls it alarming that china is defending moscow. washington is concerned china may take a page from russia's playbook and do the same with taiwan. senior international correspondent ivan watson has our report. >> reporter: russia and china enjoy a friendship with no limits. this announcement made by the russian and chinese president when they met on february 4th on the eve of the beijing winter olympics. 20 days later, soon after the end of the olympics, moscow invaded ukraine. russia's unprovoked war sparking fears china could have similar plans for taiwan. beijing claims the self-governing island belongs to china. asked if he would get involved militarily to defend taiwan against china, the u.s. president had this explicit

warning. >> yes. >> you are? >> that's the commitment we made. >> reporter: beijing has long called for peaceful reunification with taiwan, but it has also never ruled out using force against taiwan's democratically elected government. and when it comes to military force, china dwarves taiwan, boasting the largest navy in the world and the largest air force in the region. but if russia's deadly adventure in ukraine taught strategists anything, it's that size doesn't always matter. >> a country may clearly have a conventional military advantage over an adversary, but that doesn't mean that it would necessarily achieve easy military or political victory. >> reporter: the war in ukraine highlights another potential challenge for china. to attack ukraine, russian troops simply drove across the border from russia and from neighboring belarus. but to reach taiwan, chinese forces would have to cross the

taiwan strait, more than 100 miles, 180 kilometers of open water. >> amphibious assaults are the most difficult, complex operations in warfare. if the chinese tried to send an invasion force from the mainland to taiwan, they would have to contend with salvos of anti-ship missiles. and what we would see a massacre of shipping probably in the waters around taiwan. >> reporter: the russian navy has suffered major losses from suspected ukrainian anti-ship missiles. first losing this landing ship in the russian-occupied port of berdyansk, and then losing the moskva, the flagship of the russian black sea fleet. analysts say taiwan has a much larger arsenal of anti-ship missiles at its disposal, and its military has been training for 70 years against the threat of a chinese invasion. >> china is learning lessons

from ukraine, both in a positive and also in the negative manner. >> reporter: early in his ukraine war, vladimir putin publicly put russia's nuclear weapons on alert, a thinly veiled threat to the west. >> probably that the china will bring in the kind of advantage of the nuclear threats in the early phase of the scenario. that will potentially, i think, change the calculation of the washington, d.c. >> reporter: as a warning to the u.s., china's foreign ministry declared this week that no force in the world can stop china from achieving reunification with taiwan. ivan watson, cnn, hong kong. a tragic scene coming out of western senegal. 11 newborn babies dead in a fire at a neonatal unit at a hospital. the country's health minister says the fire may have come from an electrical short circuit. hospital staff tried to

intervene. the president there has ordered an investigation as well as three days of national mourning. when we come back, actor kevin spacey facing new sexual assault charges, this time in the uk. a detailed report after the break.

british prosecutors authorize criminal charges against kevin spacey, the academy award winning actor faces four sexual assault counts between 2005 and 2013 now the latest reports from london. >> reporter: four separate counts of sexual assault between

kevin spacey and four men in between 2005 and 2013 and another person to engage in in without consent and to authorize criminal charges following investigation by the london metropolitan police and will be up to them to formally charge the 62-year-old actor. in a statement said it would happen at a later date. kevin spacey has faced series of sexual assaults allegations in the past. in 2017 netflix dropped him from "house of cards" after cnn uncovered sexual harassment on the set of the show. same year he was in london as artistic director in 2004 to 2014 uncovered 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by spacey. he was cast last year as detective in a italian movie.

cnn london. we should note cnn has tried to reach spacey's representative. they did not respond for comment. hollywood's actor of "good fellas" ray liotta has died. >> what do you do. >> i'm in construction. >> if you wanted something you took it didn't even think about it. >> he played so well it became his trademark role. he denied he was a fighter. i was called mushy inside. according to publicist he died in his sleep in dominican republic where he was filter. -- filming a movie. he leaves his fiancée and daughter behind. he was 67. you're watching "cnn newsroom", back with a lot more news

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