‘Gun epidemic’ spreads to Texas, 1 dead
One person was killed and at least five wounded in a shooting at a business in Texas on Thursday, just hours after US 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 of Bryan where the attack took place.
Several of those wounded are in a critical condition and officials said the suspect had shot and injured one officer.
Mr Bollin was an employee of the cabinetry manufacturer where the shooting took place, Police Chief Eric Buske said.
Officers received a call “at approximately 2.30 this afternoon” about the attack at Kent Moore Cabinets, Police Chief Buske added.
“One person was deceased at the scene,” he told reporters, 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,” Police Chief Buske told reporters.
The incident follows recent mass shootings in Colorado, Georgia and California.
Nearly 40,000 people in the United States die each year from guns, more than half of those being suicides.
The issue of gun regulation in the United States is politically fraught.
Mr Biden on Thursday branded US gun violence an “epidemic” and an “international embarrassment” at a White House ceremony to unveil his first attempt at getting the problem under control.
“This is an epidemic, for God’s sake, and it has to stop,” he said, calling shootings “a public health crisis”.
“It’s an international embarrassment,” the Democrat, flanked by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Vice President Kamala Harris, told Congress members and gun control activists in the Rose Garden.
“Enough prayers,” Mr Biden said. “Time for some action.”
With Congress unable to agree on broad new gun regulations, like stricter background checks for gun buyers, Mr Biden announced six executive measures which he said would help tamp down the crisis.
Republicans immediately attacked the proposal, with the party’s senior leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, warning of “unconstitutional overreach”.
Mr Biden also used his Rose Garden speech to announce the nomination of David Chipman, a gun-control proponent and former law enforcement officer, as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.