At least 19 children and two adults were killed on Tuesday after a shooting at an elementary school in the US southern state of Texas, authorities said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said earlier that the suspect had also died, adding that “it is believed that responding officers killed him.”
US President Joe Biden ordered US flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House, military posts, naval vessels and US embassies as a “mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence.”
Biden, who had just returned from a trip to Asia , delivered an emotional address later on Tuesday.
He said that he got the news while on his 17-hour flight back to Washington, when
“it struck” him that “these kind of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world. Why?” “As a nation, we have to ask, when in god’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” he said, as Congress has repeatedly failed to pass gun control legislation.
The blocking of such bills is largely attributed to pressure from the powerful National Rifle Association Lobby.
Two children killed in the shooting have been identified by US media. Family members confirmed the deaths of 10-year-olds Xavier Lopez and Amerie Jo Garza in statements on Tuesday night.
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What we know about the Uvalde shooting
The shooting took place in the small city of Uvalde, home to around 16,000 people, including a large Latino community. It is around 137 kilometers (85 miles) from San Antonio, near the Mexican border.
The suspect, 18, was a local resident of the town and was believed to have had a handgun and a rifle with which he shot the victims, Abbott said.
According to source’s,the shooter drove up to the scene, abandoned his car and started the shooting.”
The Uvalde Memorial Hospital posted on Facebook earlier that 13 children had been taken to hospital “via ambulances or buses”.
Among the students killed there were second, third and fourth graders, meaning they were between the ages of 7 and 11, Somaskanda said.
The attack came less than two weeks after a white gunman shot and killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in the second-largest city in the state of New York, Buffalo.
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The US has suffered recurring mass shooting and gun violence. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 19,350 firearm homicides were reported in 2020, up nearly 35% compared to the year before.
The mass shooting in Uvalde comes days before the National Rifle Association’s annual convention is due to open in Houston. Texas Governor Abbott, along with both US Senators from Texas are among Republican officials scheduled to speak Friday during a leadership forum.
NBA veteran Star LeBron James, meanwhile, asked, “Like when is enough enough man” on Twitter, saying that “these are kids and we keep putting them in harm’s way.”
The San Antonio Spurs, the closest team to Uvalde, also offered the city its condolences, saying, “There are no right words.”
