Texas school shooting: Gunman kills 18 children; ‘We have to act’, says Biden. 10 points
The mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School at about 11:32 (EST), and the deceased children are in the second, third, and fourth grades - aged between 7 years and 10 years
In one of the worst school shootings in American history, an 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people, including 18 children, on Tuesday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the killer as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the area where the school was located. The shooter's motive remains unclear.
Here are 10 updates about Texas school shooting:
- Texas mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School at about 11:32 (EST), and the deceased children are in the second, third, and fourth grades - aged between 7 years and 10 years.
- The gunman, who was wearing body armor, crashed his car outside the school before going inside. He killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez.
- Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes. The tragedy in Uvalde was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
- US President Joe Biden called for new restrictions on firearms after the gunman massacred more than a dozen of children at Texas elementary school. He asked Americans to stand up to the gun lobby and pressure members of Congress to pass sensible gun law.
- Biden ordered US flags to be flown at half-staff through May 28 giving tribute to those killed in the school in Texas.
- The president, who lost one of his children in a car accident and another to cancer, expressed condolences to Uvalde parents who, he said, “will never see their child again, never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them.
- The attack in Uvalde is the most deadly US school shooting since a gunman killed 26 people, most of them first-graders, at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
- Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to strengthen -- or weaken -- their own restrictions.
- The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.
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