The 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in the city of Uvalde before he was killed by law enforcement. He opened fire on Tuesday at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the latest gruesome moment for a country scarred by a string of massacres.
The death toll also included three adults, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who said he had been briefed by state police. But it was not immediately clear whether that number included the attacker, or how many people were wounded. The death toll also included two adults, authorities said. Governor Greg Abbott said one of the two was a teacher.
The teenager is suspected of shooting his grandmother at the start of the rampage. Local media reports he may have been a high school student in the area. Tuesday’s mass shooting incident is the latest among a series of recent incidents and comes just a few days after a gunman opened fire on passersby at a Chicago locality, killing two people.
“The shooter was an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde. It is believed that he abandoned his vehicle and entered into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun and he may have also had a rifle, but that is not yet confirmed,” the governor said.
Uvalde Memorial Hospital had said on Facebook earlier on Tuesday that 13 children had been transferred there for treatment. It said two people were deceased on arrival.
The 18-year-old, who died when police tried to arrest him, was a US citizen and a student in Uvalde, a small community near the Mexican border where the tragedy took place. At around 11:30 am local time (1630 GMT) Ramos burst into the school and opened fire.
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas said he would “fully investigate” the incident. “I have instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to work with local law enforcement to fully investigate this crime. The Texas Division of Emergency Management is charged with providing local officials with all resources necessary to respond to this tragedy as the State of Texas works to ensure the community has what it needs to heal,” he said. Two officers were also injured in a brief exchange of fire with Salvador.
As a nation we must ask: When in God’s name will we stand up to the gun lobby?
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022
When in God’s name will we do what needs to be done?
I’m sick and tired of it. We have to act.
President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight and called for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack.US President Joe Biden made an emotional call for new restrictions on firearms. “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Biden said at the White House shortly after returning from a five-day trip to Asia.
Across the country, parents are putting their children to bed, reading stories, singing lullabies—and in the back of their minds, they’re worried about what might happen tomorrow after they drop their kids off at school, or take them to a grocery store or any other public space.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 25, 2022
Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde School District Police Chief in charge of the investigation, said Ramos acted alone. An Instagram account associated with the suspect, which has since been taken down, showed several photos of the young man.
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