Meghan Markle makes surprise visit to Ulvade after mass shooting

Meghan Markle surprised many in the small town of Uvalde, Texas, Thursday, when she turned up to pay respects to the 19 children and two teachers killed there Tuesday in a mass shooting at an elementary school.

The Duchess of Sussex, who lives in California with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two young children, was photographed laying white flowers with a purple ribbon at a memorial outside the Uvalde County Courthouse, People reported.

Britain’s Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, places flowers as she mourns at a makeshift memorial outside Uvalde County Courthouse in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022.  (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) 

Meghan then knelt down and hung her head at a cross for 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, one of the children killed in the deadliest American school shooting since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary a decade ago.

Meghan and Harry are not known for keeping silent about global events that concern them, whether it’s COVID-19, climate change or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they usually issue short, carefully worded statements through their publicists.

This time, the Duchess of Sussex decided to offer a more personal touch, traveling all the way to Texas. She also opted to take a very low-key approach, except for the fact that she couldn’t expect to go unnoticed for long.

Britain’s Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, places flowers as she mourns at a makeshift memorial outside Uvalde County Courthouse in Uvalde, Texas, on May 26, 2022.(Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) 

Dressed casually in jeans, sneakers and a baseball cap, she walked around looking at the memorials set up for the victims. A spokesperson for the duchess told People she made the trip to Texas “as a mother, to offer her condolences and support in person to a community experiencing unimaginable grief.”

President Joe Biden has yet to visit Uvalde, with the White House announcing Thursday that he and the first lady will travel to Texas Sunday to meet with families of the victims and to “grieve with the community that lost 21 lives in the horrific elementary school shooting.”

When Meghan and Harry were still working members of the royal family and living in the U.K., they paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 50 people were killed and dozens more injured after a gunman opened fire on two mosques, People reported.

The couple left flowers outside New Zealand House in London along with a note on which Meghan wrote: “Our deepest condolences. We are with you.” Harry also signed the note Arohanui,” which is Maori for “best wishes.”

On Tuesday morning,18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who also lived in Uvalde, shot and injured his 66-year-old grandmother then jumped into her pickup truck and headed over to Robb Elementary School, the New York Times reported. He charged his way into one classroom where he began to kill, the Associated Press said.

He “barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Department of Public Safety told CNN. “It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.”

All those killed were in the same classroom, Olivarez said. Ramos was killed when scores of police officers and a special team of Border Patrol Agents finally breached the classroom. Authorities are still trying to learn his motives.

With regard to Meghan’s visit to Uvalde, the Daily Mail said it’s unclear whether Harry accompanied her. It’s also not clear whether she was accompanied by a Netflix crew, who have reportedly followed her and Harry on other outings, the Daily Mail said. The couple are reportedly making a docu-series about their lives in California, since stepping away from royal duties in 2020.

Meghan’s trip to Texas comes as her estranged father, Thomas Markle, 77, recuperates in a San Diego-area hospital from a reported stroke. Royal observers have said it’s not likely she would visit her father, given that she cut off contact with him after her wedding, after he began to give interviews to the media, in which he said increasingly critical things about her and Harry.