Texas college capturing: key information
It’s a horrific day for gun violence as soon as once more within the US, after an 18-year-old man in Texas opened hearth in an elementary college, killing 18 college students and three lecturers. Right here’s what we all know.
- The capturing occurred in Uvalde, Texas, a city of about 15,000 individuals about 85 miles west of San Antonio in south-west Texas
- The shooter opened hearth at at Robb Elementary college. Its college district, Uvalde college district, has an enrollment of slightly below 600 college students.
- Texas governor Greg Abbott mentioned on Tuesday that the suspected gunman was an 18-year-old man named Salvador Romas. Abbott mentioned that shooter is “deceased and it’s believed responding officers killed him”.
- The person had a handgun and “might have additionally had a rifle”, the governor mentioned.
- Authorities mentioned earlier that 15 individuals have been killed (14 college students and 1 instructor), however the dying toll later rose to 21, in line with a Texas state senator who was briefed by police.
Biden’s speech has begun
Joe Biden has begun his remarks on the White Home on right this moment’s mass capturing.
“I had hoped once I grew to become President I’d not have to do that, once more. One other bloodbath,” he started.
Reside stream is right here.
‘One schooling below desks’: Poet and activist Amanda Gorman shares a poem on Texas capturing
US nationwide youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman shared a poem on Twitter on Tuesday following the information of a mass capturing at an elementary college in Uvalde, Texas.
“Faculties scared to dying,” the poem reads. “The reality is, one schooling below desks, Stooped low from bullets; That plunge once we ask The place our youngsters Shall dwell & how & if.”
Faculties scared to dying.
The reality is, one schooling below desks,
Stooped low from bullets;
That plunge once we ask
The place our youngsters
Shall dwell
& how
& if— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) May 24, 2022
The variety of casualties from the capturing has reportedly risen to 21 as of Tuesday night, together with 18 youngsters and three educators. One other lady, the grandmother of the deceased gunman, is in vital situation.
Biden to share assertion on the Texas capturing
Joe Biden shall be talking from the White Home momentarily in regards to the mass capturing in Uvalde, Texas.
Biden has ordered the flag of the US flown at half-staff on the White Home and all federal grounds till sundown 28 Might. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned Biden had been briefed on the matter and “his prayers are with the households impacted by this terrible occasion”.
He additionally spoke with Texas governor Greg Abbott to supply help within the wake of the bloodbath.
President Biden simply spoke with Governor Abbott to supply any and all help he wants within the wake of the horrific capturing in Uvalde, TX. pic.twitter.com/u3yMHFtcJJ
— Kate Bedingfield (@WHCommsDir) May 24, 2022
Keep tuned for extra updates.
Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez says dying toll is now 21 in mass capturing
The dying toll in a mass capturing focusing on an elementary college on Tuesday has now risen to 21, in line with Texas state senator Roland Gutierrez, together with 18 youngsters and three adults.
Talking on CNN, Gutierrez relayed the brand new numbers as he was instructed by Texas police officers in a non-public briefing.
#BREAKING: Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez (D) — who represents Uvalde, Texas the place the elementary college capturing passed off — says on CNN that the dying toll is now *21* individuals, together with 18 youngsters. pic.twitter.com/0eF5PXhJMx
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 24, 2022
Gutierrez known as the occasion “devastating”.
“I can’t think about what it could imply to ship your baby off to high school within the morning and never have them return,” he mentioned.
The senator additionally relayed plenty of new particulars in how Tuesday’s horrific occasions unfolded. He mentioned the suspect, 18-year-old Salvador Romas, shot his grandmother at her dwelling within the morning and fled the scene by automotive earlier than wrecking his car exterior the elementary college.
“He bumped into the varsity and all this carnage proceeded to unfold after that point,” Gutierrez mentioned.
Romas’ grandmother has been airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio and is in vital situation, he added.
Texas capturing the newest in an extended line of mass violence within the US
The capturing on Tuesday marks simply the newest of a seemingly ceaseless sequence of main mass casualty occasions in US historical past.
Only one week in the past an 18-year-old man opened hearth at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York in a racist assault focused on the predominantly Black neighborhood. He killed ten and injured extra.
A motive has not but been revealed in Tuesday’s mass capturing. In Texas alone there have been eight mass shootings since 2009, together with Tuesday’s, in line with the Texas Tribune.

The capturing in Uvalde marks the deadliest college capturing since 2018, when three lecturers and 14 college students have been killed in Parkland, Florida and the Sandy Hook capturing in 2012, wherein 20 elementary college youngsters and 6 school members have been killed.
In 2022 up to now there have been at the very least 199 mass shootings throughout the USA, in line with NPR, together with the latest two to shake the nation.
A minimum of 2,000 individuals have been killed or injured by mass shootings within the US since 1999, when shooters opened hearth at Columbine Excessive Faculty in what was thought of then an unprecedented assault.
In 2020, firearms surpassed auto accidents because the main reason behind dying for youngsters between the ages of 1 and 19 years previous.
‘When will this finish?’: rage after second mass capturing over failure to deal with gun violence

Ed Pilkington
The second US mass capturing in 10 days, which left 14 younger youngsters and a instructor lifeless at a Texas elementary college on Tuesday, led to an outpouring of disbelief and potent rage at America’s persistent failure to deal with its epidemic of gun violence.
Tuesday’s horrifying assault in Uvalde, a small, largely Hispanic neighborhood exterior San Antonio, got here simply 10 days after the occasions in Buffalo, New York. There 10 grocery buyers, most of them African American, have been gunned down in a grocery store.
The horror of two large-scale gun tragedies collided just some months earlier than the tenth anniversary of the bloodbath at Sandy Hook elementary college in Newtown, Connecticut. That assault in December 2012 took the lives of 20 six- and seven-year-olds in addition to six college workers.
Sandy Hook Promise, the advocacy group to finish gun violence that was arrange by households of the varsity victims, said on Tuesday that they were “devastated about studies that a number of individuals are lifeless, together with youngsters [in Texas]. Our hearts are with the households and neighborhood as this tragic story unfolds.”

In a searing speech from the ground of the Senate simply hours after the Texas capturing occurred, Murphy vented 10 years of pent-up outrage on the lack of motion on the a part of his congressional colleagues regardless of the litany of violent gun deaths. “What are we doing?” he requested.
Days after Buffalo, the nation faces yet one more Sandy Hook, he mentioned. “There are extra mass shootings than days within the 12 months. Our youngsters live in concern. This occurs nowhere else however right here in the USA of America and it’s a alternative, it’s our option to let it proceed.”
Learn extra …
Kamala Harris speaks on Texas capturing
At an occasion Tuesday night, Vice-president Kamala Harris commented on the Uvalde capturing.
“Our hearts maintain getting damaged,” she mentioned on the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Research twentieth Annual Awards Gala. “Sufficient is sufficient.”
President Joe Biden will make remarks on the mass capturing on the White Home on Tuesday night in about an hour.
“As a nation we have now to have the braveness to take motion and perceive the nexus between what makes for affordable and wise public coverage,” Harris mentioned.
Lawmakers reply to Texas capturing
Because the nation reels from yet one more mass capturing on US soil, present and former lawmakers are weighing in with ideas, prayers and requires motion.
US Republican senator John Cornyn of Texas mentioned in a press release he’s in contact with native officers in Uvalde and can proceed to observe the scenario.
The capturing at Robb elementary college in Uvalde is each father or mother and instructor’s worst nightmare. No father or mother, baby, or instructor ought to ever have to wonder if it’s protected to go to high school.
California governor Gavin Newsom said his personal state is an instance of the effectiveness of gun management legal guidelines.
Commonsense gun security legal guidelines work. In CA, we have now reduce our gun dying price in half for the reason that 1980’s. We received’t clear up this in a single day – however let’s cease pretending that these mass shootings are an inevitable horror we have now to expertise regularly.
Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who herself was a sufferer of a mass capturing in 2011, mentioned she is “horrified” at inaction surrounding gun violence within the US.
What number of extra youngsters shall be killed by weapons? What number of younger lives reduce brief, households shattered, communities traumatized as a result of our leaders refuse to behave on gun violence? Gun violence is a uniquely American downside – and it’s now the main reason behind dying for American youngsters. I’m devastated that extra valuable younger individuals have misplaced their lives in a horrific mass capturing right this moment. I received’t relaxation till youngsters can go to high school with out fearing for his or her lives. Our elected leaders will need to have the identical resolve. Sufficient is sufficient.
Former congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida mentioned the capturing reveals how little has modified for the reason that Majory Stoneman Douglas highschool assault in her dwelling state in 2018.
As we speak, our nation witnessed yet one more college capturing, the deadliest college capturing for the reason that 2018 tragedy close to my dwelling at Marjory Stoneman Douglas highschool. Tragically, little has modified since then. Our elected leaders have been extra all in favour of listening to the gun foyer than defending our youngsters – and till that adjustments, we’ll proceed to see devastating incident after devastating incident. With out actual motion, our nation will extra intently resemble the violence I left behind in Ecuador than the protected haven I sought in the USA.
US home of representatives majority chief Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland known as for the passage of payments being blocked by Republicans that might “our colleges, homes of worship, malls, leisure venues, and streets safer from lethal gun violence”.
What number of extra instances should People watch harmless youngsters die in mass shootings at elementary colleges earlier than we determine as a nation to do one thing about gun security? What number of extra instances will we ship our ideas and prayers to folks burying their babies? What number of extra instances will Senate Republicans categorical outrage at horrific shootings just like the one right this moment in Uvalde, Texas after which block significant, bipartisan background-check laws supported by 9 out of ten People and most accountable gun house owners? What number of extra instances?
The Home has handed HR 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, together with Whip Clyburn’s laws to shut the Charleston Loophole and different payments aimed toward making our colleges, homes of worship, malls, leisure venues, and streets safer from lethal gun violence.
Senate Republicans proceed to dam them, regardless that they’ve overwhelming help from the American individuals, who’re sick and uninterested in turning on the information to see photos like these we see right this moment of ambulances the place there must be college buses and tearful first responders the place there must be beaming lecturers. These photos are indefensible, as is the information of on a regular basis violence from firearms in communities throughout America that don’t make nationwide headlines.
I shall be retaining the households who misplaced a toddler in my coronary heart right this moment, as I’ll the legislation enforcement and different first responders who’ve needed to reply this tough name. What number of extra of them will there be? What number of extra instances should our nation be thrown into such shock and grief?

Activist teams reply to Texas mass capturing occasion
A coalition of gun management advocacy teams have issued statements of shock and devastation following the capturing at Robb elementary college, calling college shootings the product of “inaction and cowardice” by lawmakers to cross gun management legal guidelines.
- “A hate-fueled capturing in Buffalo, a faculty capturing in Texas, and a supreme court docket on the verge of placing current gun legal guidelines in jeopardy – these are all signs of our nation’s profoundly damaged method to weapons,” mentioned John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Security, the nation’s largest gun management group.
- “We’re heartbroken for everybody impacted by this mindless act of violence in a predominantly Latinx neighborhood,” mentioned Rena Estala, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of College students Demand Motion. “Faculty is the final place the place youngsters ought to have to fret about gun violence. We’d like leaders at each stage to prioritize gun security now.”
- “We’re devastated by this horrific act of gun violence that may eternally traumatize the Uvalde neighborhood,” mentioned Shannon Watts, founding father of Mothers Demand Motion, a grassroots group that’s a part of Everytown. “Faculty shootings usually are not acts of nature, they’re man-made acts of inaction, of cowardice, of corruption by all lawmakers who refuse to cross legal guidelines confirmed by information to cease preventable, mindless shootings like in Uvalde. We can not and won’t settle for a actuality wherein our youngsters aren’t protected in colleges or their communities.”

White Home lowers flag to half-staff following elementary college capturing
The White Home on Tuesday has lowered its flag to half-staff to honor the lives of 14 youngsters and one grownup killed in Tuesday’s mass capturing.
Biden will tackle the nation this night from the White Home after coming back from his journey to Asia.


Lauren Gambino
Connecticut senator Chris Murphy makes emotional attraction for gun violence reform
Moments after studying that 14 college students had been massacred at an elementary college in Texas, Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, delivered an emotional attraction for gun management on the Senate ground.
“What are we doing right here?” Murphy requested, tears brimming in his eyes.
“Why are we right here?” Sen. Chris Murphy says passionately on the Senate ground following the Texas elementary college capturing.
“I’m right here on this ground, to beg, to actually get down on my arms and knees and beg my colleagues…discover a technique to cross legal guidelines that make this much less seemingly.” pic.twitter.com/aiS6maad7G
— CBS Information (@CBSNews) May 24, 2022
Talking on the Senate ground, Murphy clasped his arms collectively and begged Republicans to work together with his occasion to cross significant gun reform laws.
“I’m right here on this ground to beg, to actually get down on my arms and knees to beg my colleagues: discover a path ahead right here,” he mentioned.
Few senators perceive the horror mass shootings inflict on a neighborhood fairly like Murphy, who spent the hours after the killing at Sandy Hook elementary college consoling households who had misplaced youngsters and family members.

On the ground, he spoke in regards to the lasting trauma these tragedies have on the scholars, colleges and communities. Since that bloodbath 10 years in the past, Murphy has made it his mission to enact gun management reform solely to be disillusioned repeatedly because the payments fail to beat the Senate filibuster.
In his speech on Tuesday, Murphy requested Republicans: “Why do you undergo all the effort of getting this job, or placing your self able of authority in case your reply is that, as this slaughter will increase, as our children run for his or her lives, we do nothing.”
He requested once more: “What are we doing?”
Police officers in Uvalde maintain transient press convention
Police officers with the Uvalde Consolidated Unbiased college district (CISD) the place Tuesday’s mass capturing occurred shared extra particulars in regards to the tragedy in a press convention on Tuesday afternoon.
Pete Arredondo, Uvalde CISD chief of police, confirmed in a public assertion that at 11.32 am on Tuesday a shooter opened hearth at Robb elementary college, killing and injuring plenty of victims.
The gunman was not named within the press convention however has been recognized as Salvador Romas, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde. He’s now lifeless, Arredondo confirmed, and he mentioned it’s believed Romas acted alone.
Robb elementary college has college students in second, third and fourth grades, Arredondo mentioned, and households of victims are actually being notified. Regulation enforcement is working to securely evacuate remaining college students within the college district.
“We do wish to maintain all their households in our prayers,” he mentioned. “I hope you do as effectively.”
Police officers didn’t take any questions and mentioned they would offer extra particulars as they emerge.
Biden has been briefed on the incident
Joe Biden has not but made a public assertion in regards to the mass capturing at an elementary college in Texas right this moment, however White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned the president has been briefed on the scenario and can tackle the nation from the White Home this night.
President Biden has been briefed on the horrific information of the elementary college capturing in Texas and can proceed to be briefed repeatedly as info turns into obtainable.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) May 24, 2022
“His prayers are with the households impacted by this terrible occasion,” she mentioned, including that he’ll return from his journey to Asia to deal with the nation tonight.
The speech will reportedly be televised at 8.15 ET, 5.15 PT.
Texas college capturing: key information
It’s a horrific day for gun violence as soon as once more within the US, after an 18-year-old man in Texas opened hearth in an elementary college, killing 18 college students and three lecturers. Right here’s what we all know.
- The capturing occurred in Uvalde, Texas, a city of about 15,000 individuals about 85 miles west of San Antonio in south-west Texas
- The shooter opened hearth at at Robb Elementary college. Its college district, Uvalde college district, has an enrollment of slightly below 600 college students.
- Texas governor Greg Abbott mentioned on Tuesday that the suspected gunman was an 18-year-old man named Salvador Romas. Abbott mentioned that shooter is “deceased and it’s believed responding officers killed him”.
- The person had a handgun and “might have additionally had a rifle”, the governor mentioned.
- Authorities mentioned earlier that 15 individuals have been killed (14 college students and 1 instructor), however the dying toll later rose to 21, in line with a Texas state senator who was briefed by police.

Hiya readers, Kari Paul right here in Oakland to maintain you posted on the information within the aftermath of a tragic mass capturing that simply occurred in Texas. Extra updates to return shortly.