The Week in 15 Photos: Santa Barbara, Maya Angelou, and a Transgender Army Vet’s Big Win

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It was a week of mourning and upheaval around the world, beginning with the mass shooting that killed six and injured 13 at University of California, Santa Barbara. A few days later, the nation said farewell to poet Maya Angelou, and at week’s end, VA head Eric Shinseki resigned amid outrage over his agency’s secret healthcare backlogs. Half a world away, turbulent elections in Ukraine fueled political uncertainty and renewed fighting, while in the European Union’s parliamentary elections, far-right parties made unprecedented gains. Here are 15 of the most remarkable photos that captured the week’s events.

Students walk into the sunset after Wednesday’s oceanside memorial to the victims of the Santa Barbara mass shooting. The News-Press/Peter Vandenbelt/AP Photo

Maya Angelou passed away on Wednesday at age 86; just seven weeks earlier, she’d attended her own portrait’s unveiling at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Paul Morigi/AP Images for National Portrait Gallery

Students in Paris protest the results of the European elections, where the National Front party won a quarter of France’s vote. Lewis Joly/Visual/ZUMA Press

Denee Mallon, a 74-year-old Army veteran, at Albuquerque’s Trans March Thursday; the next day, a government review board granted Mallon’s request to have Medicare pay for her gender reassignment surgery. Craig Fritz/AP Photo

Supporters of Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt’s former military chief, celebrate his victory in the country’s presidential election, plagued by low turnout and boycotts, on Cairo’s Tahrir Square Thursday. Amr Nabil/AP Photo

A demonstrator protests Thailand’s military coup in Bangkok on Wednesday. Wason Wanichakorn/AP Photo

Glaziers work on the coating of a ledge that juts out from the 103rd floor of Chicago’s Willis Tower on Thursday. One such coating cracked Wednesday night when a family was standing on it. M. Spencer Green/AP Photo

Pope Francis visits the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday. Amos Ben Gersho/APA Images/ZUMA Press

The Soyuz TMA-13M spaceship takes off at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, carrying a new crew to the International Space Station. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki speaks to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans on Friday, a few hours before tendering his resignation. Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

President Barack Obama hugs White House press secretary Jay Carney after announcing that Carney will step down next month. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Ansun Sujoe, 13, of Fort Worth, Texas, left, and Sriram Hathwar, 14, of Painted Post, New York, celebrate after being named co-champions of the National Spelling Bee on Thursday. Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Tara Cowan demonstrates with other members of Open Carry Texas on Thursday; gun rights advocates are suing the city of Arlington over a ban on distributing leaflets at high-traffic intersections and roads. Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo

Ukrainian President-elect Pyotr Poroshenko, left, with Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko, announcing that he won’t curb the use of force in battling the pro-Russian insurgency. Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo

Coffins for members of the Vostok Batallion, a pro-Russian militia, who died in clashes at Ukraine’s Donetsk airport. At least 30 bodies were sent to Russia for burial, raising further suspicions of Russia’s involvement in the conflict. Sandro Maddalena/NurPhoto/Sipa USA/AP Photo