'Who are we as a society?' Kelly Ripa, Ryan Seacrest react to Texas school shooting

"Before you tell me to stay in my lane - this is my lane. This is my lane," Kelly Ripa said.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
NEW YORK -- Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest said it's not their job to deliver the news. But the "Live! With Kelly & Ryan" hosts needed to speak out the morning after the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two adults dead.

"Another hard morning for us here...so many parents in this room, myself included, another mass shooting at a school," Ripa said to open the show on Wednesday.
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Though Ripa and Seacrest agreed that they were not going to say anything that had not already been said, they wanted to express what was on their minds.

Ripa said the mark has been left on the community in Uvalde, Texas.

"This is unrecoverable," Ripa said.

A day before the shooting, the FBI released its Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021 report.



According to the FBI, the number of active shooter incidents identified in 2021 represents a 52.5% increase from 2020 and a 96.8% increase from 2017.

The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.

According to Education Week, there have been 27 school shootings with injuries or deaths this year.

Ripa remarked that students across the country have active shooter drills every day.

"I am a parent of children that have these active shooter drills. I can tell you that it changes who your children are fundamentality and it makes them afraid of everything and every place because every place is potentially dangerous," Ripa said.



Ripa said she has not slept because she is enraged over yet another school shooting.
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Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN that all the victims were in the same fourth-grade class at Robb Elementary.

It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.

"What are we doing? And who are we as a society?" Ripa asked.

"Before you tell me to stay in my lane - this is my lane. This is my lane."

Seacrest said he spoke to his sister who has a 3-year-old child after hearing the news. The "American Idol" host said his sister and his mother both feel the same as Ripa does.



Seacrest referenced Golden State Warrior head coach Steve Kerr's impassioned speech Tuesday night calling on senators to take action.
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Kerr spoke in Dallas, approximately 400 miles from Uvalde, before the Warriors played the Mavericks.

"When are we going to do something?" Kerr asked. "I'm tired. I'm so tired of getting up here and offering condolences, to the devastated families that are out there. I'm so tired of the excuse, but I'm sorry, I'm tired of the moments of silence. Enough."

Echoing Kerr's plea, Seacrest said there has to be common ground found to make real change.

"Of course thoughts, of course prayers, of course moments of silence, but that's not getting anything done," Seacrest said. "And something needs to get done."

Ripa said it's up to the citizens to call lawmakers to see that change happen.
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