New Delhi: An 18-year-old gunman on Tuesday fatally shot 19 children and two adults at a Texas elementary school before he was killed by law enforcement officers. The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Tuesday evening that 19 children died, as well as two school employees.
Federal law enforcement officials told the media that the death toll was expected to rise. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release investigative details.
Texas Government officer Greg Abbott and other officials said the 18-year-old shooter walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde around 11:30 a.m. Central time and opened fire.
The shooter identified by Texas officials as Salvador Ramos, of Uvalde also shot his grandmother before going to the school, three law enforcement sources told the media. Uvalde is a city of about 16,000 people about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The shooting came four years after a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area.
President Joe Biden in a Tuesday night news conference decried “another massacre” that had left painful parents in unfathomable pain: “To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away,” he said.
Biden also called for a renewed push for gun control measures, lamenting the lack of progress despite repeated shootings. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage?” he said. “Time to turn this pain into action.”
(Vinayak)