Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was apparently killed by police officers responding to the scene.
A teenage gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults after storming into a Texas elementary school Tuesday, the latest bout of gun-fueled mass murder in the United States and the nation’s worst school shooting in nearly a decade. Several people, including children, are injured. Some are in critical condition.
After confusing early accounts of the death toll, the state attorney general’s office in an official statement put the tally of lives lost at 18 children and two adults, including the gunman. A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson later told CNN that 19 school children and two adults were killed, not counting the shooter.
The school’s student body consists of children in the second, third and fourth grades, according to Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, who also addressed reporters. Pupils in those grades would likely have ranged in age from 7 to 10.
Speaking from the White House hours later, a visibly shaken US President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful US gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking enactment of tougher “common-sense” firearms safety laws.
In a short biography posted on the school district’s website, Mireles had written she had “a supportive, fun, and loving family” comprised of her husband, her college-graduate daughter, and “three furry friends.” “I love running, hiking, and now you just might see me riding a bike!!” Mireles wrote on the website.
Her husband, Ruben Ruiz, is a police officer at the school district’s police force, the agency investigating the massacre.
Details of the deceased
The names of the deceased and other details were yet to be released. In addition to the confirmed deaths, a number of people have been injured. No number of the injured has been released.
A disturbing message on the school’s website read: “Robb Elementary Parents, please do not pick up students at this time. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care. You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for.” Officials said the city’s civic centre was being used as a reunification centre where the kin of victims can procure information from the state and coordinate other functions.
A school of just 600
The Robb Elementary School in Texas, now under the international spotlight, reportedly has an enrollment of just under 600 students, nearly 90% of them Hispanic. Situated in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, the school serves a close-knit community of students in the second, third and fourth grades — that is, kids of around seven to ten years of age.
This was the school’s last week of classes before the summer break. A Reuters report said that the students had visited the zoo and participated in a gifted-and-talented showcase, recent posts on the school’s Facebook page showed. Tuesday was awards day, according to the calendar, and pupils were invited to wear a nice outfit and fun shoes as part of a “footloose and fancy” theme.
The school district said the elementary school, where the student mission statement is “Live. Learn. Love. Lead,” would remain closed for the final days of the school year.
In Uvalde, all schools were locked once the gunshots were heard.
School’s Facebook page reflects horrors
Hours after the shooting, police had cordoned off the school with yellow tape. Police cruisers and emergency vehicles were scattered around the perimeter of the school grounds. Uniformed personnel stood in small clusters, some in camouflage carrying semi-automatic weapons.
The day’s horrors were reflected on the Facebook page of Robb Elementary School. A state trooper walks past the Robb Elementary School sign in Uvalde, Texas, May 24, 2022, following a deadly shooting at the school. (AP)
Earlier this week, its posts showed the usual student activities. But on Tuesday, a note was posted at 11.43 am (around 10 pm IST): “Please know at this time Robb Elementary is under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the building.”
A second post was more explicit: “There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site.” Administrators asked parents to stay away. And finally, a note was posted advising parents that they could meet their children at the small city’s civic centre.
America’s gun problem
The rampage was the latest in a series of mass school shootings that have periodically reignited a fierce debate between advocates of tighter gun controls and those who oppose any legislation that could compromise the US Constitutional right of Americans to bear arms. A woman and child leave the Civic Center after a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, US, May 24, 2022. (Reuters)
Tuesday’s shooting in Texas was the deadliest at a US school since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012. In 2018, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 students and educators. (Here’s a look at some of the deadliest school shootings in the US)
Politicians react
Biden, addressing the nation after the tragedy, pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure and blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington.
Source: indianexpress.com