1 dead, 5 hurt in Texas shooting after Biden calls gun violence an epidemic
BRYAN: One person was killed and at least five wounded in a shooting at a warehouse in Texas on Thursday, just hours after United States President Joe Biden called gun violence an “epidemic” and unveiled plans to tackle the crisis.
Larry Bollin, 27, was named as the main suspect in the shooting and charged with murder, according to a tweet by the police department in the east Texas town here where the attack took place. Several of those wounded were in a critical condition and officials said the suspect had shot and injured one officer.
Bollin was an employee of the cabinetry manufacturer where the shooting took place, police chief Eric Buske said.
Officers received a call “at approximately 2.30pm this afternoon” about the attack at Kent Moore Cabinets, Buske added.
“One person was deceased at the scene,” he said, and four additional victims were transported to the hospital “in critical condition with gunshot injuries”.
The Bryan Police Department confirmed a total of seven victims, which also included one person with a minor injury and another with a separate medical issue “related to the incident”.
The Texas Department of Public Safety reported that a state trooper “was shot while pursuing an individual suspected of being involved in the shooting in Bryan. He remains in serious but stable condition”.
It was not immediately clear if the officer was among the Bryan Police Department’s tally.
“As you can imagine it’s very complex because you have a whole number of workers at the warehouse, and so we’re sorting through all that and interviewing witnesses and talking to people
to know what happened,” Buske said.
The incident follows recent mass shootings in Colorado, Georgia and California.
Nearly 40,000 people in the US die each year from guns, more than half of those being suicides.
Biden on Thursday announced
six executive measures which he said would help stem the gun violence crisis, but Republicans immediately attacked the proposal, with the party’s senior leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, warning of “unconstitutional overreach”.