Days after the horrifying shooting at an elementary school in Texas which left 21 dead, US Senator Ted Cruz was confronted by an angry citizen.
On Friday, the Republican lawmaker from Texas was at a sushi dinner when he was interrupted by a person for the former’s hard-line stance on firearms.
The video of the incident has been widely circulated on the social media. In the 20-second clip the man is heard saying, “Nineteen children died! That’s on your hands! Ted Cruz, that’s on your hands!”. While the other patrons look on. Towards the end of the video, Cruz’s security officers are seen holding the man and then forcibly escort him out. WATCH
Someone heckled Ted Cruz while he was eating at a restaurant last night
“19 children died! That’s on your hands! Ted Cruz, that’s on your hands!” pic.twitter.com/PaeiQYqfBo
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 28, 2022
The man in the video has been identified as Benjamin Hernandez. He told HuffPost that he was in Houston to livestream the protests outside the NRA convention. He said he saw Cruz walk into the same restaurant and decided to confront him.
READ | Please don’t judge him, he had his reasons, says mother of Texas school shooter
TED CRUZ AT NRA CONVENTION
Meanwhile, Cruz had taken the stage at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Houston. There the lawmaker had rallied against Democrats’ calls for universal background checks for gun purchases and bans of assault-style weapons. He instead claimed the real problems were broken families, declining church attendance, social media bullying and video games.
“Tragedies like the event of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing,” he said. “We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens,” he quoted by AP.
TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING
On May 24, a teenage gunman shot and killed 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers. Seventeen others were wounded in the incident that took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The 18-year-old gunman, Salvador Rolando Ramos was fatally shot during the incident.
The incident has rekindled the debate on much-needed gun reforms. And Ted Cruz is at the heart of this issue.