Texas School Shooting: 19 School Children, 2 Teachers killed in the Elementary School Shooting
A gunman killed at least 19 students and two teachers on Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas, a little community west of San Antonio.
So far, here's what we know.
The majority of the victims were children.
The students' identities and ages have not yet been revealed, although the school served students in grades two through four. Several more children were injured in addition to the 19 deceased.
There were two teachers killed. Lydia Martinez Delgado said her niece Eva Mireles, a fourth-grade teacher who died in the shooting, had been teaching for 17 years and took delight in teaching predominantly Latino pupils.
The 18-year-old gunman died on the spot.
The shooter was recognized as an 18-year-old inhabitant of the same county as the incident and a graduate of a nearby high school. Authorities say he died on the spot.
Governor Greg Abbott says he was armed with a pistol and maybe a rifle.
Investigators are still trying to piece together what transpired and why he did it. Before entering the school, the gunman appears to have slammed a pickup truck through a barricade. It was unclear whether the incident occurred in a single classroom or multiple.
At least two officers who attempted to engage the gunman were injured, but neither was critically hurt.
Marsha Espinosa, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote on Twitter.
“Upon entering the building, Agents & other law enforcement officers faced gun fire from the subject, who was barricaded inside,”
A 66-year-old woman who looked to be the gunman's grandmother was shot in her Uvalde house shortly before the shooting. Officials are looking into if there is a link.
This is one of the bloodiest school shootings in history. It's also one of almost 200 mass shootings that have occurred in the United States this year.
How the Texas School Shooting happened
The attacker opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where children aged seven to ten are taught, before being killed by police, according to officials.
Investigators said the 18-year-old suspect possessed a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and high-capacity magazines.
Before the rampage, the kid is suspected of shooting his grandmother.
He may have been a high school student in the neighborhood, according to local media.
The shooting began at 11:32 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo, and investigators believe the attacker "acted alone during this heinous crime."
Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter, Salvador Ramos, abandoned a vehicle before entering the school and opened fire "horribly, incomprehensibly."
According to Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety, who spoke to CNN, a Uvalde school district police officer who worked at the school witnessed Ramos emerge from the truck with a gun and wearing body armour.
Mr Estrada said the officer "engaged" the subject but was unable to stop him. Two more policemen from the Uvalde Police Department attempted to stop Ramos but were unsuccessful and requested assistance.
What's the most recent news on the ground?
Yellow tape had been placed around the school hours after the shooting. Around the perimeter of the school grounds, police cruisers and emergency vehicles were stationed. Uniformed personnel stood in small groups, some dressed in camouflage and armed with semi-automatic weapons.
The Children and teachers who were killed have being identified.
Picture of some of the victims in Texas School shooting
Some reactions So far?
A clearly disturbed President Joe Biden spoke from the White House hours later, urging Americans to stand up to the country's politically powerful gun lobby, which he blamed for stalling the implementation of tougher weapons safety rules. In honor of the shooting, Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Saturday.
Speaking Tuesday night at an event, Vice President Kamala Harris called for policy changes to help prevent such tragedies.
She Said:
“I would normally say in a moment like this – we would all say, naturally, that our hearts break. But our hearts keep getting broken,”
“Every time a tragedy like this happens, our hearts break – and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families. And yet it keeps happening.”
Governor Abbott said
“Texans are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime”.
