Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), who is running for Texas governor, was just removed from a press conference in Texas for protesting and confronting Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on gun laws a day after the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
As Abbott finished announcing updates on the shooting Wednesday afternoon, O’Rourke excoriated the Texas governor for his inaction on gun violence and his ongoing opposition to common sense gun control reform.
“Governor Abbott, I have to say something. The time that you could have stopped this was after Sante Fe High School. The next shooting is right now and you’ve done nothing. You are offering us nothing,” O’Rourke shouted, adding that the shooting was “totally predictable” and “preventable.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was also in attendance, told O’Rourke to “sit down” while the Democrat confronted Abbott.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) scolded O’Rourke, claiming his behavior was “out of line and an embarrassment.”
In footage of the incident, an unidentified person who appeared to be on stage at the press conference could also be heard deriding O’Rourke as a “sick son of a b****.”
O’Rourke was escorted out of the press conference by law enforcement.
Shortly after O’Rourke was removed from the building, Abbott remarked: “There’s no words anybody shouting can come up here — and do anything — to heal those broken hearts.”
Nineteen children and at least two adults when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and opened fire. Law enforcement killed the suspected shooter at the scene of the attack.
Watch the heated exchange below:
