WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

This week marks one year since the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers.

AMNA NAWAZ: William, here in Uvalde, this community is still trying to make sense of exactly what happened a year ago.

Family members who lost loved ones have been pushing for accountability and more action from their elected officials.

Most folks here say that they just don't have answers to their questions.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, you were there a year ago reporting on this massacre.

What is it like now a year later as they're approaching this anniversary?

AMNA NAWAZ: William, we all remember, a year ago, this was a community very much united, right, united certainly in their grief, mourning the loss of those 19 children and two adults, united in their shock that this could happen, something like this could happen here, and also in their anger not only at the teenage gunman who carried out the rampage, but at the police response, which you will remember fueled national outrage when they learned about those excruciating 77 minutes when heavily armed police officers failed to go into the classroom, even as children inside were calling 911 and some lay dying.

Even today, as Robb Elementary, the school itself, has been shut down and shuttered, there are signs of that grief everywhere you look in this community, memorials like the one behind me here which still stand today, people who walk around with "Uvalde Strong" tattoos, but also murals, huge building-side murals dedicated to each of the 21 people killed in that attack.

We actually spoke to a muralist named Abel Ortiz, who's one of the artists behind some of those murals, and asked him about marking this day one year later.

ABEL ORTIZ, Uvalde Artist: If there's any art in the world that I wish didn't exist would be these murals, because that means that children would be alive, the teachers would be alive, Uvalde would be the normal town it was before.

But now they have to exist, because it's a way to remember their names and remember their faces, but also to bring about, hopefully, maybe change.

AMNA NAWAZ: We also spoke to Tammie Sinclair.

She's an archivist at Uvalde's library, where they are now -- have been receiving and are now keeping some 10,000 different pieces of memorabilia and gifts and letters that poured into this community over the last year.

She read us just a portion of one of those letters they received from North Carolina.

Take a listen.

TAMMIE SINCLAIR, El Progreso Memorial Library: "Know you are loved and supported during this challenging time.

Know your loved rest in peace.

Dream your sweet dreams until your soul is released."

AMNA NAWAZ: William, it's fair to say, one year later, this is a community that has been forever changed by the events.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, as you mentioned earlier, there have been attempts at accountability.

Where do those efforts stand?

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes, we have heard this from a number of families here who remain very frustrated by what they say is a lack of transparency and information from their elected officials and police officials in particular.

They told us, many times, they hear about developments through the news media or through social media itself.

There are some investigations.

The Uvalde district attorney has launched a probe into the police response.

We know the Department of Justice has also launched its own inquiry.

There was a senior Department of Justice official named Vanita Gupta who was just here last month to meet with families.

But, so far, no criminal charges have been filed.

And family say they want more accountability.

There is a divide here, though.

There are members of this community who believe it is time to move on one year later.

And, similarly, there's a divide over how to handle gun violence.

This is an area where gun rights are highly valued.

It's a big hunting community.

And while the families of those who lost loved ones have been pushing to raise the purchase age limit from 18 to 21 for those assault-style weapons like the one used in the attack, that effort failed in the state legislature.

And, quite frankly, many people here don't support that kind of effort.

You have to remember, William, just a few months after the shooting, the majority of residents here in Uvalde County actually voted to put Governor Greg Abbott, Texas governor, back into office for a third term.

He, of course, has long opposed any kind of gun violence reform -- William.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tomorrow, as you well know, is the actual anniversary.

What is your understanding of how the city is going to commemorate that day?

AMNA NAWAZ: The schools here have been closed all week.

We also must remember, for the many who lost someone that day, there are many, many more who survived, children who were in the school and had to flee, parents who are similarly traumatized by the events of that day.

Many families we talked to said they were going to leave town this week because they didn't want to be here for this anniversary.

We know there's a big vigil tomorrow evening as well.

And even that has been largely pushed and organized by the families of those who lost someone on that day.

This is another divide that we're seeing among those who feel they should move on and those who don't want to forget.

In fact, local officials here issued a statement in advance of the anniversary asking people not to come to Uvalde, saying: We ask you to respect the community and stay away.

But the families of those who lost loved ones issued their own statement welcoming people to come join them here and saying: We don't want the world to forget -- William.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, thank you so much for being there.

I know we will hear more from you tomorrow.