Gunman kills 18 students and 3 adults in U.S. Texas elementary school

Gunman kills 18 students and 3 adults in U.S. Texas elementary school
May 25, 2022, 8:28 am

US officials of Uvalde in state of Texas said that an 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday (May 24) at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 18 children as he went from classroom to classroom. The attacker was killed by law enforcement.

Governor Greg Abbott said that the assailant was an 18-year-old man, who abandoned his vehicle and entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle. He added that "he shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher."

ABC reported that police are believed to have killed the gunman, who was identified by law enforcement sources as Salvador Ramos.

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who had been briefed by state police, said that the death toll also included three adults. But it was not immediately clear whether that number included the attacker, or how many people were wounded.

Directing the Texas flag be immediately lowered to half-staff statewide on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in memory of those who lost their lives in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. https://t.co/cKLXbPPgLw https://t.co/YWsIidOTAz
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) May 24, 2022

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in Texas said it is canceling all school activities after the shooting at the Robb Elementary School. It tweeted that "All district and campus activities, after-school programs, and events are canceled."

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The massacre at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a US grade school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the solution to school shootings is arming teachers. Texas is one of the only states that permits districts to arm teachers, although it's not clear how many districts have taken advantage of the provision.

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President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight, calling for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack.

Biden asked: “As a nation we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name are we going to do what has to be done?. Why are are willing to live with this carnage?“

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Sgt Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN, the gunman, who was wearing body armor, crashed his car outside the school before going inside.

Gutierrez said that he killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday.

He said: “That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday."

levantnews-media agencies

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