Tuesday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, brought a response from Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriff Rene Thibodeaux that probably echoed law enforcement officials nationwide.

“That could’ve been in any other school in the nation, including ours,” he said Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after the shooting.

A reported 21 people – 19 students and two adults –died at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a city of 16,000 about 85 miles west of San Antonio.

Salvador Ramos, 18, reportedly shot his grandmother before he embarked on the killing spree.

It was the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, only behind the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting Dec. 14, 2011, in Newton, Conn.

Adam Lanza killed 26 people in that spree – 20 children ages 6 and 7, and six adult staff members.

The 27th school shooting in 2022 alone makes the role of student resource officers more important than ever, Thibodeaux said.

“Right now, the joint effort between the Pointe Coupee Sheriff’s Office and the Pointe Coupee Parish School Board is a commitment to putting a highly trained resource officer in every school,” he said.

“That is the only way to prepare yourself and try to deter one from happening at your school – and that job of that officer is to eliminate that threat,” the sheriff said.

It does not lessen the sense of disbelief he and most Americans feel about the issues with school safety and youth, in general.

“I grew up going to school in the late 1970s, and even into the 1990s we didn’t have anything like this,” Thibodeaux said.

“We had the shotgun and rifle in the truck for hunting, but we never thought of bringing it on a school campus,” the sheriff commented.

He believes social media, music and the growing number of broken families play a role in the trend, all of which can lead to mental issues.

It opens the door to a much greater issue.

Thibodeaux said he believes the state should find ways to increase accessibility for treatment of mental health issues.

He said his deputies encounter people with mental issues almost daily.

“What can anybody do with someone who has those issues right now, and where can you put them?” he said. “I think that’s a key issue.”

Family members should not take irrational behavior lightly.

The sheriff said he worked with his deputies on a case last week where a resident contemplated suicide.

“I went because it could’ve been a very volatile, deadly situation … it happens much more than people think,” Thibodeaux said.

“We didn’t have anything like this when we were younger. “It makes me wonder what in the world is taking place,” he said.

“We need to pray.”