Actor Matthew McConaughey visited his hometown of Uvalde, Texas, on May 27 following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
The Oscar-winning actor posed for a photo with members of the community in Uvalde just three days after Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire inside the school, killing 19 children and two adults.
“This week was a solemn reminder that evil exists in the world, but we will never let it break us. We’ll unite to be an even more powerful reminder that love never fails & together we can change things. Appreciate Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey helping us heal,” Gonzales wrote.
“Your visit brought so many smiling faces to Uvalde. See you soon my friend,” the lawmaker wrote.
“As Americans, Texans, mothers and fathers, it’s time we re-evaluate and renegotiate our wants from our needs. We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue.
“This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better,” he continued. “Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured.”
His comments echo those of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who said at a May 25 press conference that the Biden administration must address changes to mental health care.
“There is no known mental health history of the gunman,” Abbott said during that conference.
“What I do know, in talking to the leaders here, as well as leaders around the state, one thing that has substantially changed is the status of mental health in our communities,” he said. “We as a state, we as a society, need to do a better job with mental health.”
But an April 29 letter from Abbott to the heads of several state departments indicates the Health and Human Services Commission was already fully funded from other sources when the $210 million were transferred, and those additional funds would have lapsed if they weren’t appropriated somewhere else.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment.