Meghan Markle fights back tears to honor 21 dead at Texas school murder memorial

A spokeswoman for Meghan Markle said she went to the scene of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting in a “personal capacity as a mother” to personally offer her condolences and support

Meghan Markle fought back tears at a makeshift memorial for the 19 students and two teachers killed in Tuesday’s Texas shooting.

The Duchess of Sussex was pictured from the tributes outside Uvalde County Courthouse – not far from Robb Elementary School, where gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, struck.

The former actress, 40, laid down a bouquet of white roses during her low-key visit on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Duchess said she went to the scene of the Uvalde Texas school shooting in a “personal capacity as a mother” to offer her condolences and support personally.

Meghan’s appearance in the small community, about 80 miles west of San Antonio, was unannounced and came as a surprise to the grieving city.

She was dressed incognito in a simple t-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap.

It’s unclear if husband Prince Harry, who lives with her and their two children in Montecito, California, accompanied her on the trip, but he was not seen with her at the memorial.

The Duchess was accompanied by her chief of security, Alberto Alvarez, who watched from a respectful distance.

Overlooking a pond, the memorial consists of a series of crosses with plaques bearing the names of those killed.

The Uvalde shooting is the deadliest such attack since 2012 at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 elementary-age children and six staff members.

Ramos was able to enter the school without confrontation, authorities said, contradicting previous reports that a police officer assaulted him outside the building.

The teenager crashed his pickup truck in front of the school at 11.28am (4.28pm GMT) and fired multiple shots at two passers-by across the street.

He entered the school at 11:40 a.m. (1640 GMT), Victor Escalon, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a news conference on Thursday.

Escalon said officers arrived four minutes later and entered the school but took cover after Ramos fired several shots at them and barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom, where he shot his victims.

An hour passed before a US Border Patrol tactical team entered the classroom and killed Ramos, Escalon confirmed.

The new detailed timeline came hours after videos surfaced showing distraught parents outside Robb Elementary School during the attack, imploring officials to maintain a perimeter to storm the building, with some fathers having to be restrained.

The massacre has reignited a national debate about the country’s gun laws.

President Joe Biden and his Democrats have promised to push for new restrictions despite opposition from Republicans.