Uziyah Garcia’s parents continue fighting for justice after Uvalde school shooting

Brett and Nikki Cross vow to continue fighting for justice after their son, Uziyah Garcia, was killed in a mass shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School where 19 fourth grade students and two teachers were killed.

Their 10-year-old son, affectionally called Uzi, was killed by an 18-year-old gunman before a Border Patrol agent shot the assailant 77 minutes after the massacre began May 24, 2022.

“They had the training. They had the time and the knowledge of what to do, and they failed horribly. We started with the school police, now we are focusing on the Uvalde Police Department, and after that we will move onto the sheriff's office, then the DPS and then Border Patrol,” Brett Cross said, seeking accountability for the delay in shooting the assailant.

Since the shooting, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Steve McCraw testified before a Uvalde grand jury along with multiple officers and officials.

In late February, Brett Cross was detained and arrested while attending a Uvalde County Commissioners Court meeting.

“My child is f------ dead,” he said during the meeting. After the verbal confrontation, directed at Uvalde County Commissioner Mariano Pargas, Cross was charged with disruption of a meeting, a Class B misdemeanor. He targeted Pargas because he was the acting police chief of the Uvalde Police Department the day of the shooting.

“I think that they tried to silence me,” Brett Cross said. “Uvalde wants us to shut up and move on and sweep it under the rug, and they thought they were going to do that by having me arrested. All they did was bring more attention to Uvalde and more attention to Uziyah. Our whole fight is making sure that he is remembered that he is not a statistic. We fight to save children's lives.”

Brett Cross acknowledges that no matter how hard he and his wife, Nikki, fight to make officials accountable, they can’t bring Uzi back.

But they hope their continued attention to the law enforcement response to the shooting might eventually save at least one life in the future.

The Crosses have become advocates for stricter gun legislation since the mass shooting.

“Federally, I would love to see an assault weapons ban,” Brett Cross said. “What people do not understand is that we are not coming into your homes and taking them. It is a pipeline freeze – no more production – what is already out will be grandfathered in. We need better red-flag laws. We need laws.”

The couple said they believe that change starts at home in Uvalde. This hope for pushing forward progress aligned with the views of recent Uvalde mayoral candidate, Kim Mata-Rubio.

Mata-Rubio lost daughter Lexi Rubio in the shooting. Mata-Rubio finished second in the Uvalde mayor's race. Advocating for stricter gun laws, Mata-Rubio has become one of many in the divided town to demand accountability and change.

Alongside residents such as the Cross family, those advocates do not believe the mayor’s race ended in success.

“I thought that it was very disheartening to see our community turn on one of the moms that I was very close to,” Nikki Cross said. “Kim is a good person, and I believe that she would have made a lot of positive change for Uvalde.”

Attempts to reach Mata-Rubio for comment were unsuccessful.

Fighting for change has not been confined to Uvalde County.

Brett Cross attended a survivor-led sit-in for gun reform in Washington, D.C., led by Sam Schwartz and the Ban Assault Weapons Now group.

He rallied alongside fellow activists: Schwartz, father of Alex Schachter, 14, killed at Stoneman Douglas High School; Manuel Oliver, father of Joaquin Oliver, 17, also of Stoneman Douglas where 17 people died; and Po Murray, neighbor of the Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman who killed 20 students and six adults.

Some changes, such as raising the age requirement to purchase firearms to the age of 21, were put into effect in Florida just one month after the massacre at Parkland's Stoneman Douglas High School.

“In Texas, we would love to see (the age requirement) raised from 18 to 21,” Brett Cross said. “A three-year difference when your mind develops more – 25 would be even better but, as we saw, we could not even get 21.”

Brett Cross said he is concerned about making Texas safe.

The Crosses both have tattoos commemorating their son. Nikki Cross has 21 daisies to represent the 21 lives lost that day. Spider-Man, Uzi’s favorite superhero, is on Brett Cross’s arm.

He also has tattoos of a bullet on his upper spinal column to represent the injury that claimed the life of their son.

“This is exactly where he was shot,” Brett Cross said. “We’re talking to these politicians, and they are just not listening, so, I wanted them to see what this looked like on a 230-pound man and to imagine what it would look like on a 60-pound, 10-year-old little boy.”

“Just in Texas, we have seen mass shootings in schools, Walmart, churches, at a mall. It is literally everywhere,” Nikki Cross said, “I have had to open myself up to having these conversations with my children that I never dreamed of having: ‘Hey, before we go into Walmart, stay close together; if we hear anything, we are not going to be heroes, we are going to run, and we are going to hide.’”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Brett Cross wants stricter gun laws after Uvalde school shooting