SAN ANTONIO — The latest in a flurry of Wednesday-afternoon announcements made in the aftermath of last week's deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Gov. Greg Abbott said his office has provided an initial $5 million investment to opening a family resiliency center in the south Texas community.
It's unclear at this point what the total cost for the center will be, nor did the state provide a timeline on when it might open or where it hopes other sources of funding come from.
When it does open, however, Abbott's statement says the family resilience center will be a hub providing community resources for those affected by the Robb Elementary tragedy, including "psychological first aid, crisis counseling and behavioral health services."
Similar centers were set up in the west Texas communities of El Paso and Odessa after mass shootings unfolded there in August of 2019.
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Abbott sent a letter requesting the formation of several special legislative committees in the wake of the shooting. Some Texas Democrats pressing for Abbott to call a special legislative session responded by saying that falls short of things that must be done after Uvalde (the state's next schedule session isn't until January of 2023).
The governor also recommended that Texas safety officials create a plan for unannounced, random, in-person safety checks at schools across the Lone Star State.
Twenty-one people, including 19 kids, were killed by an 18-year-old gunman who entered Robb Elementary and stayed there for about an hour before he was shot dead by a responding Border Patrol agent, authorities have said. The process of laying those victims to rest began this week, and Uvalde CISD leaders confirmed students would not be returning to the Robb campus.