Teen gunman kills children, teachers
UVALDE, Texas: A teenage gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers after storming into a Texas elementary school yesterday, the latest bout of gunfuelled mass murder in the United States and the nation’s worst school shooting in nearly a decade.
The 18yearold suspect, who was killed apparently by police, had shot his own grandmother before fleeing from the scene, then crashing his getaway car and launching a bloody rampage at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, about 130km west of San Antonio.
The motive was not immediately clear.
Police officers saw the gunman, clad in body armour, emerge from his crashed vehicle carrying a rifle and ‘‘engaged’’ the suspect, who nevertheless managed to charge into the school and open fire, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sergeant Erick Estrada said on CNN.
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 tougher ‘‘commonsense’’ firearms safety laws.
‘‘Where in God’s name is our backbone? To have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbyists,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s time to turn this pain into action. For every parent. For every citizen of this country.
‘‘We have to make it clear to every elected official, it’s time to act. It’s time for those who have obstructed or delayed or blocked the common sense gun laws, we need to let you know we will not forget. We can do so much more.’’
Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect, identified as Salvador Ramos, was apparently killed by police and that two officers were struck by gunfire, although their injuries were not serious.
Authorities said Ramos acted alone.
Texas public safety officials said 19 schoolchildren and two teachers had died.
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. Pupils in those grades range in age from 7 to 10.
‘‘My heart is broken,’’ school district superintendent Hal Harrell told reporters late in the day, his voice quaking with emotion. ‘‘We’re a small community and we need your prayers to get us through this.’’
A group of about 40 family members was led out of the Willie de Leon Civic Center around 11.30pm local time. Some broke down outside, wailing and clinging to one another as police escorted people to their cars.
University Hospital in San Antonio said on Twitter it had received two patients from the shooting in Uvalde, a 66yearold woman and a 10yearold girl, both in critical condition.
Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 15 pupils from Robb Elementary were treated in its emergency room, with two transferred to San Antonio for further care and a third transfer pending.
A 45yearold victim grazed by a bullet was also at Uvalde Memorial, the hospital said.
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 semiautomatic weapons.
The rampage was the latest in a series of mass school shootings that have fuelled a fierce debate between advocates of tighter gun controls and those who oppose any legislation that could compromise the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms.
Firearms became the leading cause of death for US children and adolescents in 2020, ahead of motor vehicle accidents, according to a University of Michigan research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month. — Reuters