Conspiracy theories have erupted in the wake of the news that the Texas school where 19 students and two teachers were shot dead is set to be demolished.
Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas will eventually be torn down following the mass shooting that shocked the United States and the world.
The close-knit community was left reeling following the attack, with the city council deciding that it was better the facility be brought to rubble rather than force students and teacher revisit it every day.
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City of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin confirmed the demolition, according to Sky News.
As news emerged that the school would be brought down, many conspiracy theories began to arise.
One commenter said: “Quick to demolish when the investigation is still going on. I have nothing against the demolition but not until the investigation is totally complete...To use this shooting (and our empathy) as a way to take away or chip away at our 2nd amendment is evil just by the fact they are using this awful shooting as their excuse.”
Another user commented: “They almost always demolish what they don’t want uncovered.”
A third wrote: "They want to get rid of the evidence of a set up before it gets found out?"
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A different person said: "The powers-that-be want to demolish the school to rid all the evidence that it was a set up."
There seemed to be a theme within comments on social media that the tragic mass shooting, and the school's demolition, was something much more sinister.
New details have emerged of the police officer’s botched response to the fatal shooting, with state lawmakers investigating why police waited for more than an hour outside the classroom.
Texas public safety chief Steven McCraw revealed the classroom door was never approached to be opened by the police officers, while he also testified there were enough police to have stopped the gunman, according to BBC.
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Many have used police failure or mental health issues as a means to take away the blame from the gun problem in the United States as the main reason behind the shooting.
One user said: “If they don’t use guns they’ll use knives if they don’t use knives they’ll use explosives if they don’t use explosives they’ll use cars. The best way to stop mass deaths is mental health help and availability.”
The line of reasoning follows on from many right-wing politicians, such as Texas’s Governor Greg Abbott, who have attributed the shooting to mental health.
One person on Facebook summed up much of the sentiment toward America’s response to the tragedy, saying: “They do everything other than get rid of guns."
Jayden Collins