About a week after the mass shooting in Uvalde, a TikTok account shared footage of a man attempting to confront police for their response during the tragedy.
On May 24, a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. It took authorities over an hour after the shooter entered the school to kill the gunman, during which time distressed parents gathered outside the school and begged police officers to enter, according to reporting by the Texas Tribune.
People have been criticizing the Uvalde Police Department response on social media. One man, allegedly the grandfather of one of the victims, approached police in person to call them out for their response during the shooting. Mediaite reported the officers the man confronted were with the Conroe Police Department, not the Uvalde Police Department.
The TikTok account @statuscoup shared footage of the man yelling at police and pulling out a knife. The popular account referred to the man as a grandfather in the text overlay and video caption. The Independent reported that the man’s great-granddaughter is 10-year-old Alexandria Rubio, who was a victim, and that the man confronted the police at a memorial for the victims. The Independent identified him as Ruben Mata.
In the video, Mata yells unintelligibly for several seconds as police walk up to him. Then he tells them to “wait” because he’s going to show them something. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a knife.
@statuscoup Uvalde Grandfather CONFRONTS POLICE over response time in school shooting. Watch more on Status Coup (Link in Profile) #Uvalde #Texas #schoolshooting #politics #guncontrol #fyp #fypシ #police ♬ original sound – statuscoup
“Pull your gun out,” Mata shouts at police. “I’m not going to kill anybody, but I got a knife. Let’s see how brave you all are with your guns.”
Mata continues shouting unintelligibly but appears to put his knife away when police get closer to him.
Viewers seemed to sympathize with the man, saying it is clear from the video how much he is hurting.
“He is Hurting ,….. I feel for him,” one of the top comments on the video reads.
“The hurt in him,” another viewer commented.
A third said, “Man is at a breaking point. Sad.”
Other viewers called out the Uvalde police, saying they should not be allowed to work as police anymore.
The Daily Dot reached out to @statuscoup via TikTok comment.
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