Responding to the aftermath of school shootings: the case of Robb Elementary School

The Robb Elementary School shootings on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas tragically took the lives of nineteen students and two teachers. A great deal of research and media attention has been given to the warning signs of school shootings. Applying the social-ecological framework, this chapter explored how the families of the victims, survivors, and the entire community of Uvalde coped after the shootings. The coping responses were as follows: trauma, survivor’s guilt, and resilience at the individual level; bonding among victims’ families and tension between the residents of Uvalde and law enforcement at the relational level; community solidarity after the shooting at the community level; demand for gun reform at the societal level. Exploring the responses to school shootings could facilitate the development of healthy coping responses.