An 18-year-old gunman named Salvador Ramos ‘shot and killed, horrifically’, officials said
U.S. President Joe Biden renewed the Democrats’ push for tighter gun control laws Tuesday night, following a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Nineteen students and two adults were killed on Tuesday after a shooter opened fire at an elementary school west of San Antonio, Texas, officials said. The attack unfolded at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a small Hill Country town with a population of just more than 16,000.
The death toll from the shooting at an elementary school in Texas has risen to 19 children and two adults, according to state officials.
The gunman, an 18-year-old named by authorities as Salvador Ramos, also died.
The shooting, the deadliest in the state’s history, unfolded on Tuesday morning at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, about 80 miles west of San Antonio.
US President Joe Biden has urged Americans to stand up to the gun lobby, in an emotional address from the White House.
“When in God’s name do we all do what we all know needs to be done?” he asked.
“These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world,” Mr Biden said. “Why?”
“It’s time to act.”
Earlier, Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference that an 18-year-old gunman “shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students, and killed a teacher.”
It was not yet clear how many people were wounded, but district chief of police Pete Arredondo said there were “several injuries.”
Mr Abbott named the shooter as Uvalde resident Salvador Romas, who he said was deceased, despite initial reports he was in custody.
The governor, a strong opponent of gun control legislation, says the shooter had a handgun and possibly a rifle.
He said: “It’s believed that responding officers killed him. It appears that two responding officers were struck by rounds but have no serious injuries.”
Mr Arredondo said the suspect is believed to have acted alone, while families of the victims are being notified.
The gunman, who was wearing body armor, crashed his car outside the school before going inside, Sergeant Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN.
He killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday, state Senator Roland Gutierrez said.
“That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday,” he said.
Parents were left to collect their children under armed guard from an emergency reunification centre established at the city’s civic centre.
Other schools in the area were placed into lockdown, though this was later lifted.
Mr. Biden has ordered flags to be flown at half-mast across the US until 28 May.
In a statement, Mr. Abbott added: “Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde.
“We thank the courageous first responders who worked to finally secure Robb Elementary School. 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 all resources necessary to respond to this tragedy as the State of Texas works to ensure the community has what it needs to heal.”
President Biden has ordered the US flag to be flown at half-mast until sunset on Saturday, following the shooting.
The shooting in Texas came less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and workers in what officials have described as a hate crime.
English (United States) ·