UNITED STATES: A mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio, killed at least 19 students and two adults on Tuesday.
Officials have identified the gunman as Salvador Ramos, who is believed to have acted alone. According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the 18-year-old suspect attended Uvalde High School.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut in 2012, which murdered 26 people, including 20 children aged 6 to 7, this was the deadliest shooting at an elementary school.
Before going to the elementary school, Ramos is thought to have shot his grandmother. The grandmother is in critical condition in the hospital.
Before attempting to enter the school, the suspect crashed his car in a ditch near it. The suspect was confronted by law enforcement, but he was able to gain access to the building, where he entered several classrooms and began shooting his weapon.
Videos circulating on social media shows parents desperately running towards Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children were killed after a teenager opened fire.
The videos were first posted on Snapchat and then started circulating on other social media platforms.
One of the videos on Facebook shows parents and their relatives comforting each other. A mother is seen crying out loud while sitting on the road outside the school.
According to the US Department of Homeland Security, at least one Border Patrol agent was wounded by the shooter who had barricaded himself inside. “These Border Patrol Agents and other officers put their lives on the line to put themselves between the shooter and children on the scene in order to divert the shooter’s attention away from potential victims and save lives,” said spokesperson Marsha Espinosa.
According to Dr. Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, the remainder of the school year, which was slated to end on Thursday, has been cancelled. “The district will provide “grief counseling and support at the civic center for our students” on Wednesday morning,” he said.
Following Tuesday’s shooting, President Joe Biden urged the United States to channel its collective grief into political action.
According to the nonprofit organisation Gun Violence Archive, there were at least 212 mass shootings in 2022.
Around 53 per cent of Americans want stricter gun laws, and only 49 per cent think tougher laws would decrease mass shootings
Just three days before the shooting, a photo of two AR15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account linked to the gunman. His TikTok page only has a single post about a mobile game, and his bio under the profile picture reads, “Kids be scared irl”
Days before the attack, a former classmate of school shooter Salvador Ramos said the gunman texted him photos of a firearm and a bag full of ammunition.
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