‘Evil will not win’: sorrow and disbelief as Uvalde mourns its children

Town comes together to try to come to terms with horrific attack in which 19 young children and two teachers were killed

The tears started before anyone even spoke. Inside a Uvalde county building that usually hosts the rodeo in this part of south-west Texas, young children and parents cried and held each other. Together, they waited for a group of pastors to offer some words of comfort for their unfathomable loss.

This week in Uvalde began with a mood of celebration. The high school graduation was to be held on Friday - giant senior portraits lined the lawn outside city hall. Younger children were wrapping up the school year as well, attending classroom parties and awards ceremonies. But on Tuesday, life in this largely Latino town was upended when a gunman barricaded himself in an elementary school classroom and slaughtered 19 children and two teachers.