WWALDE, Texas, May 24 (Reuters) – A gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers after raiding a primary school in Texas on Tuesday, the latest burglary in the United States and the worst shooting at a school. in the country for nearly a decade.
The massacre began with the 18-year-old suspect, identified as Salvador Ramos, shooting his own surviving grandmother, authorities said.
He fled the scene and crashed his car near Rob Elementary School in Uwalde, Texas, a town about 80 miles (130 km) west of San Antonio. There he began a bloody rampage that ended when he was killed, apparently shot by police.
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The motive was not immediately clear.
Law enforcement officers saw an armed man dressed in a bulletproof vest, coming out of the crashed vehicle, carrying a rifle and “engaging” a suspect that nevertheless managed to invade the building and open fire, Sergeant Eric Estrada from the Department of Public Safety (DPS ) of Texas told CNN.
Speaking from the White House hours later, visibly shaken President Joe Biden called on Americans to oppose the politically powerful gun lobby, which he accused of blocking the passage of stricter firearms safety laws. Read more
Biden ordered half-bar flags to be flown every day until sunset on Saturday in honor of the tragedy.
“As a nation, we need to ask ourselves, ‘When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?’ laws ”.
Mass shootings in America often lead to public protests and calls for tighter controls on arms sales and other types of gun control common in other countries, but such measures have repeatedly failed in the face of strong Republican opposition.
Authorities said the suspect in Tuesday’s killings acted alone. Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter was apparently killed by police who confronted him at the school, and that two police officers were injured in the shooting, although the governor said their injuries were not serious.
Following conflicting early reports of the death toll, Texas public safety officials said Tuesday night that 19 students and two teachers had died.
According to the U.S. Census, the community, deep in the state’s Hill Country area, has about 16,000 residents, nearly 80 percent of whom are Hispanic or Hispanic.
‘MY HEART IS BROKEN’
The school’s student group consists of second-, third- and fourth-graders, according to Pete Aredondo, head of the police department in Uwalde’s consolidated independent school district. Students in these classes would probably be between 7 and 10 years old.
“My heart is broken,” school district head Hal Harel told reporters late in the day, his voice trembling with emotion. “We are a small community and we need your prayers to guide us through this.”
A group of about 40 family members were evacuated from the city center of Willi de Leon around 11:30 p.m. Some broke into the parking lot, howled and clung to each other as police escorted people to their cars.
People react in front of the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students were transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting, in Uwalde, Texas, USA, May 24, 2022. REUTERS / Marco Bello
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PJ Talavera, who runs a martial arts school in the city, was outside the city center and said his wife’s niece was among the children killed.
Talavera said the city was in a state of “controlled chaos” in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, as false rumors spread about other gunmen attacking various schools.
“It’s surreal. It’s unbelievable. There is a hollow void inside, “Talavera said.
UNPRINTED VIOLENCE
A mass shooting 10 days earlier claimed 10 lives in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly black neighborhood. Authorities have charged an 18-year-old man who he said had traveled hundreds of miles to Buffalo and opened fire with an assault rifle at a grocery store.
The bloodshed began Tuesday when the suspect shot his grandmother before going to school, Texas Public Security Officer Chris Olivarez told Fox News, a development mentioned by Abbott earlier in the day.
“I have no more information about the connection between these two shootings,” the governor said.
The University Hospital of San Antonio said on Twitter that it had received two patients from the Uwalde shooting, a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl, both in critical condition.
Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 15 Robb Elementary School students were treated in its emergency department, with two transferred to San Antonio for further care while a third patient was transferred. It was not immediately clear whether all of these students survived.
A 45-year-old victim of a bullet wound was also hospitalized at the Uwalde Memorial, the hospital said.
Hours after the shooting, police cordoned off the school with a yellow ribbon. Police cruisers and ambulances were scattered around the school grounds. The uniformed men stood in small groups, some in camouflage, carrying semi-automatic weapons.
AN EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE WITH WEAPONS
The riot was the latest in a series of mass school shootings that periodically sparked a heated debate between supporters of tighter gun control and those who oppose any legislation that could compromise Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms. Read more
Tuesday’s shooting was the deadliest in a school in the United States 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 staff.
Firearms have been the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States since 2020, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, according to a research letter from the University of Michigan published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month.
The horrors of the day were reflected on Rob’s primary school Facebook page, where this week’s posts showed the usual school activities – a trip to the zoo and a reminder to save the date for a demonstration of the talented and talented.
But a note was released Tuesday at 11:43 a.m.: “Please be aware that Robb Elementary is currently under blockade status due to gunfire in the area. Students and staff are safe in the building. “A second post was clearer:” There’s an active shooter in Rob Elementary School. Law enforcement is on the scene. ” Finally, a note was published advising parents that they could meet their children in the small town center. Read more
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Report by Brad Brooks and Marco Bello in Uwalde, Texas; Writing and additional reports by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reports by Maria Caspani and Tyler Clifford in New York; Daniel Trot in San Diego; Dan Whitcomb and Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Katie Paul in San Francisco, Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California; and Caitlin Weber and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Edited by Grant McCool, Leslie Adler and Howard Goller
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