At a Texas elementary school, a law enforcement officer claims that all of the victims were in the same classroom.
There was a single fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that was used as a shooting location, according to Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Tuesday’s attack claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers.
Shooting spree at a Texas elementary school left 19 children and two adults dead, according to authorities, who said the attack was part of an ongoing sequence of mass shootings at churches, schools, and malls.
According to a law enforcement officer, a Border Patrol agent stormed into the school and shot and killed the perpetrator.
After 20 children and six adults were slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last year, Tuesday’s rampage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, was the worst school shooting in the United States since then.
Families were still waiting for news of their children’s whereabouts hours after the incident. Screams and sobbing were heard frequently in the town civic center where some had assembled. “No! One man yelled, “Please, no!” as he hugged another man.
Superintendent Hal Harrell expressed his sadness, saying, “My heart is broken today.” It’s going to take your prayers to get us through this, because we’re a small town.
One of the two individuals slain was a teacher, said to Governor Greg Abbott.
Eliajha Cruz Torres, 10, was still missing when the sun went down, but her grandfather Adolfo Cruz, 69, was still waiting outside the school to inquire about her whereabouts.
His daughter had just called to tell him that the shooting had happened, and he rushed to the scene. In addition to the hospital and civic center, he said other family members were nearby.
It was the most difficult time of his life, he claimed. ‘I hope she’s still alive,’ he said.
Just ten days earlier, a white supremacist opened fire at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, killing seven people and injuring dozens more. And the chances of reforming the nation’s gun laws were as bleak, if not more bleak, as they were following the Sandy Hook shootings.
He made a plea for stronger gun control measures just hours after the massacre in an address to the country.
At this point, we must ask ourselves: When in God’s name will we stand up to the gun lobby??” Once and for all, when in God’s name will we finally do what needs to be done? Mr. Biden inquired about it. “Why are we allowing this slaughter to continue?”
Pete Arredondo, the police chief for the school district, said there were “many injuries,” although it was not immediately apparent how many individuals had been hurt in total.
At Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where 13 children had been brought, staff personnel in scrubs and bereaved families of the fatalities could be seen weeping as they went out. 66-year-old woman in critical condition reported by another hospital.
Officials have not yet revealed the attacker’s motivation, but they have identified him as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the village 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio. Investigators believe he acted alone.
Approximately 75 miles (120 kilometers) separate the city of Uvalde, which has a population of approximately 16,000 people, from Mexico’s southern border. Nearly 600 second, third, and fourth graders attend Robb Elementary, which is located in a primarily residential area with modest houses.
A series of themed days was being held to mark the end of the school year when the attack occurred. On Tuesday, “Footloose and Fancy” was supposed to be the theme, with students dressed up in their best attire.
Roland Gutierrez, a state senator, said he had been briefed by state police about the possibility of an attack on Ramos’ social media accounts. After turning 18, he obtained two “assault guns,” according to the gunman, who “advised the kids should watch out.”
Mr. Gutierrez reported that Ramos shot his grandmother before going to school.
There are conflicting reports about the grandmother’s condition, but officials say she is alive and in the hospital.
According to a law enforcement official, investigators believe Ramos posted photographs of the two firearms he used in the shooting on Instagram and are looking into whether he made any statements online before the attack.
A law enforcement official said Tuesday night that officers were serving multiple search warrants and obtaining phone and other records. Also, investigators were seeking to contact Ramos’ family members and trace the firearms.
The official talked to the AP on condition of anonymity because he couldn’t discuss the investigation’s details publicly.
According to a representative for the Texas Department of Public Safety, the incident began at around 11:30 a.m. when the gunman smashed his car outside the school and went inside. In response to a 911 call, two local police officers engaged the shooter in a shootout.
Both officers were killed in the exchange of fire. It was not immediately apparent where the fight took place or how long it took for more authorities to arrive.
According to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident, a Border Patrol agent who was nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade.
According to the law enforcement official, the agent was wounded but was able to walk out of the school.
The Border Patrol sent 10 to 15 members of a SWAT-like tactical and counterterrorism unit to the school, according to Border Patrol regional chief Jason Owens.
According to him, a number of local law enforcement officers have children enrolled at Robb Elementary.
As he put it, “It hit home for everybody.”
Leaders from all across the world sent their condolences. Pope Francis called for an end to the “indiscriminate sale of weapons” saying, “Enough is enough!” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba remarked that his country also feels “the anguish of losing innocent young lives” because of Russia’s invasion.
Texas now has the state’s deadliest school shooting, joining a long list of tragedies that has seen some of the country’s bloodiest shootings in recent years at Uvalde.
In 2018, a gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Houston, Texas, killing 10 people. In the small Texas community of Sutherland Springs, a gunman opened fire on a Sunday service and killed more than two dozen people. In 2019, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 23 people in a racially motivated attack.
At least one gunman opened fire in Houston, Texas, just a few days before the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting was scheduled to begin. The NRA’s lobbying arm hosted a leadership event on Friday, and Abbott and both of Texas’ U.S. senators were set to appear.
The gun control debate in Congress has fluctuated over the years following Sandy Hook. Lawmakers’ efforts to reform U.S. firearms rules have been stymied by Republicans and the influence of outside groups such as the NRA.
Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania worked together to develop a bipartisan proposal to improve the nation’s background check system a year after the Sandy Hook shooting. However, the plan was defeated in a Senate vote because it did not garner the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster.
The House of Representatives passed two legislation last year to increase the number of people who must be checked before buying a handgun. A loophole for private and internet sales would have been closed under one bill. The alternative option would have allowed for a longer length of time for a background check. Both stalled in the 50-50 Senate, where Democrats need at least 10 Republican votes to overcome objections from a filibuster.
