Texas school shooting: Gunman kills 15, governor says

At least 15 people were killed on Tuesday after a shooting at an elementary school in the US southern state of Texas, according to the governor.

The assailant “shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher,” Governor Greg Abbott told a news conference.

Abbott said said the suspect had also died, adding that “it is believed that responding officers killed him.”

US President Joe Biden ordered US flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House, military posts, naval vessels and US embassies as a “mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence.” 

The US flag has been lowered to half-staff

Biden, who was returning from a trip to Asia, is expected to deliver remarks on the shooting later on Tuesday, said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary. 

What we know about the Uvalde shooting

The shooting took place at the small city of Uvalde, home to around 16,000 people. 

The suspect, 18, was a local resident of the town and was believed to have had a handgun and a rifle with which he shot the victims, Abbott said. 

It was not immediately clear if more people were injured in the shooting. 

A hospital had earlier reported the death of two people in the shooting. The Uvalde Memorial Hospital said it had received 13 children for treatment.

The elementary school, typically for children aged five to 11, has an enrollment of just under 600
students. 

A heavy police presence surrounded the school Tuesday afternoon

Surge in gun violence 

Tuesday’s shooting was one of the deadliest attacks at a US grade school since 28 people were killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.

It came less than two weeks after a white gunman killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in the second-largest city in the state of New York, Buffalo. 

Biden labeled the Buffalo shooting a terrorist attack. 

The US has suffered recurring mass-casualty shootings and gun violence. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 19,350 firearm homicides were reported in 2020, up nearly 35% compared to the year before. 

Still, gun control measures have failed to pass Congress.

fb/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

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