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This is at least the second fatal shooting in the United States this month.
At least 21 people have been killed in the Texas school shooting, including 19 students and a teacher, and the murderer was shot dead by police officers present.
The shooting happened on the morning of Tuesday (May 24) local time. Texas officials said an 18-year-old man with a pistol, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a high-capacity magazine first shot his grandmother in another location. , and then drive away.
He later crashed his car near Robb Elementary School, where he got out of the car and ran into police officers who opened fire on him but were unable to stop the killer from entering the school and shooting at teachers and students.
This is at least the second fatal shooting in the United States this month, after a fatal shooting at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California, on May 15, killing one person.
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Students have been evacuated to local community centers.
Uvalde Integrated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo said the shooting began at 11:32 local time on Tuesday (May 24) and investigators believe the attacker “was in the acting alone in heinous crimes”.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the gunman, named Salvador Ramos, got out of a car before entering the school and then opened fire “horribly and incomprehensibly” .
US media reported that the teacher who was shot and killed was Eva Mireles. She works as a fourth grade teacher at Rob Elementary School, mentoring students aged 9 to 10. She has a college-going daughter who loves running and hiking, she said on a page on the district’s website.
Rob Elementary School, located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, is a predominantly Hispanic school with nearly 500 students.
The Associated Press reported that a nearby U.S. Border Patrol officer rushed into the school and shot and killed the gunman who was hiding behind a barricade when the shooting occurred.
The Border Patrol is a federal agency that protects U.S. ports of entry. Uwald, less than 80 miles from the Mexican border, is home to a border patrol post.
Two border guards were reportedly shot during an exchange of fire with the gunman. A Border Patrol agent was shot in the head, the official said, adding that both are now in hospital in stable condition.
According to CBS News, the attackers were wearing body armor when they opened fire. Another 18-year-old suspected of attacking a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, on May 14 was also wearing body armor and carrying a semi-automatic rifle — both weapons available in the United States.
Uwald Memorial Hospital earlier posted on social media “Facebook” that 13 children were taken to the hospital “by ambulance or bus.”
Local residents held a small vigil for victims and survivors of the attack just a few blocks from Rob Elementary School.
A 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl are being treated at a San Antonio hospital in critical condition, local hospital officials said.
Local residents held a small vigil for victims and survivors of the attack just a few blocks from Rob Elementary School.
Karla Bohman was hoarse as she told the story of a family friend whose young daughter, a student at the school, is still missing.
“They didn’t know if she was undergoing surgery or if she was one of the victims, but they knew she was some kind of victim because she was missing,” Boman cried. “I can’t believe this.”
Uwald resident Cheryl Juhasz wept silently during prayers.
“You can’t understand this evil, no matter where it happens, but it’s even harder to understand when it happens at home,” Juhas said.
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At least 21 people have been killed in the Texas school shooting so far, including 19 students and a teacher, and the killer was shot dead by police officers present.
U.S. President Joe Biden called for gun control at the White House, saying he was “disgusted” by the response to mass shootings.
“How many children witnessed what happened – watching their friends die as if they were on the battlefield,” he said. “For God’s sake, they will live with it for the rest of their lives.”
He ordered the White House and other U.S. federal buildings to fly at half-staff in honor of the victims of the Uwald shooting.
The last day of classes for students in the district is scheduled for Thursday. However, all classes and activities for the remainder of the year are now cancelled.
School shootings have become a recurring emergency in the United States, with 26 incidents last year, according to EdWeek, a national education industry publication.
From elementary to high school, holding drills to block campuses due to shootings is a common part of school curriculum.
Obama: Feeling ‘sad’ and ‘angry’
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Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are “sad” for the families, adding: “We are outraged for them too.”
“Nearly a decade after the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting — and ten days after the Buffalo shooting — our country is paralyzed, not because of fear, but because of the gun lobby and political parties,” he said. Reluctance to act in any way that might help prevent these tragedies.”
“It’s time for action, action of any kind,” Obama said.
In 2015, as Obama was preparing to leave office, the Democratic president told the BBC that the biggest setback of his presidency was his administration’s failure to implement new gun reforms.
“It’s painful for us not to be able to fix this,” he told the BBC at the time.
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The 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut shocked the nation. That attack was carried out by a 20-year-old and 20 of the 26 victims were between the ages of five and six.
On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, addressed the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., asking his Senate colleagues to pass gun control legislation.
“What are we doing? Why are you here? If not to solve such an existing problem? It’s not inevitable,” he said.
“These kids aren’t out of luck. This only happens in this country. Nowhere else, little kids anywhere else would think they might be shot that day.”
But Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas rejected the call for gun control. Restricting “law-abiding citizens … doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t prevent crime,” he said.
Guns have overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of death among U.S. children and teens in 2020, surpassing car crashes, according to data released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Community members cried during a vigil on Tuesday night.