By mid-morning Saturday, several dozen people had gathered at Uvalde's courthouse square, which has become a somber place of homage to victims and survivors.
Twenty-one simple white crosses have been erected around a fountain -- one for each victim.
People have left growing piles of stuffed animals and flowers, as well as heart-rending messages: "Love you" and "You will be missed."
Local resident Humberto Renovato, 33, asked those present to hold hands, form a circle around the crosses, and pray.
President Joe Biden will visit Uvalde on Sunday to again make the case for gun control, as activists set about galvanizing voters on the issue in the run-up to November's midterm election.
Despite the scourge of mass shootings, efforts at nationwide gun control have repeatedly failed, though polls show broad support from Americans.
Speaking at a University of Delaware commencement on Saturday, Biden -- himself a grieving father twice over -- evoked the image of parents preparing to bury their children in Texas, and lamented "too much violence. Too much fear. Too much grief."
"We have to stand stronger," he told the graduates at his alma mater.
Biden's deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, issued a similar call Saturday as she attended the funeral of another mass shooting victim -- Ruth Whitfield, who was among the 10 killed when a white supremacist opened fire in a supermarket in Buffalo on May 14.
"We will not let those people who are motivated by hate to separate us or make us feal fear," Harris said at the funeral for the 86-year-old.
Back in Texas, the state Senate Democratic caucus issued a call Saturday for Governor Greg Abbott to convene an emergency session of the state legislature to pass legislation to raise the minimum age for firearm purchases, among other measures.
Chances of substantive change there appeared slim, however. Texas has long been one of the most gun-friendly states.
The Uvalde shooting was the deadliest school attack since 20 children and six staff were killed at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012.
Texas public safety department director Steven McCraw on Friday revealed a series of emergency calls -- including by a child begging for police help -- that were made from two adjoining classrooms where the gunman was barricaded.
But, explaining the delayed reaction by law enforcement, he said the on-scene commander believed at the time that Ramos was in there alone, with no survivors, after his initial assault.
McCraw separately told reporters, however, that a 911 call received at 12:16 pm reported eight or nine children still alive.
As many as 19 officers were outside the classroom door at that time, according to McCraw's timeline.
McCraw said one caller -- a child who dialed 911 multiple times -- begged for police to come. Her final call was cut off as she made it outside.
Meantime in Uvalde, Humberto Renovato urged those gathered at the courthouse square to help survivors overcome "the trauma, the pain, the suffering" they had endured.
"As a community," he said, "we have to develop strategies of how we're going to help these kids to get out of that trauma, to get out of that pain."
