US: 21 including 19 children killed in Texas school shooting

Nineteen young children and two adults have died in an alleged shooting at a primary school in south TexasThe 18yearold gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in the city of Uvalde before he was killed by law enforcement officials saidInvestigators say the suspect was armed with a handgun an AR15 semiautomatic rifle and highcapacity magazinesThe teenager is suspected of shooting his grandmother at the start of the rampage the BBC news reportedLocal media report say that he may have been a high school student in the areaUvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said the shooting began at 1132 am on Tuesday and that the investigators believe the attacker did act alone during this heinous crimeTexas Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter whom he named as Salvador Ramos abandoned a vehicle before entering the school to horrifically incomprehensibly open fireOne of the adults killed was a teacher who has been named in US media as Eva Mireles Her page on the school districts website said she has a daughter in college and loved running and hikingJust under 500 people are enrolled in the predominantly Hispanic school nearly 85 miles 135km west of the city of San AntonioRobb Elementary teaches second third and fourth grade students aged between seven to 10yearsoldThe Associated Press news agency reports that a US Border Patrol official who was nearby when the shooting began rushed into the school and shot and killed the gunman who was behind a barricadeBorder Patrol is a federal agency that guards US ports of entry Uvalde which is fewer than 80 miles from the border with Mexico is home to a Border Patrol stationTwo border agents were reportedly shot in an exchange with the gunman One agent was shot in the head officials say adding that both were now in a stable condition in hospitalAccording to CBS News the attacker was wearing body armour as he carried out the attack Another 18yearold who is suspected of attacking a grocery store in Buffalo New York on May 14 was also wearing body armour and carrying a semiautomatic rifle both of which are commercially available in the USThe Uvalde Memorial Hospital posted on Facebook earlier that 13 children had been taken to hospital via ambulances or busesA 66yearold woman and a 10yearold girl were in a critical condition at a hospital in San Antonio University Health hospital officials sayJust a few blocks from the Robb Elementary school a small vigil was held for the victims and survivors of the attackKarla Bohmans voice cracked as she told the group about a family friend whose young daughter a student at the school was among those still unaccounted forThey dont know if shes in surgery or one of the fatalities but they know shes a victim of some sort because shes missing Bohman criedI cant believe thisCheryl Juhasz a lifelong resident of Uvalde quietly wept during the prayerYou cant comprehend evil like this No matter where it happens but its harder when it happens at homeIn a speech from the White House US President Joe Biden said he was sick and tired of responding to mass shootings as he called for gun controlHow many scores of little children who witnessed what happened see their friends die as if theyre in a battlefield for Gods sake he saidTheyll live with it the rest of their livesHe ordered that flags at the White House and other US federal buildings be flown at halfmast in honour of the victims in UvaldeThe last day of classes for students in the school district was scheduled for Thursday But all classes and activities have now been cancelled for the remainder of the yearSchool shootings have become recurring emergencies in the US with 26 recorded in 2021 according to EdWeek an education trade publicationActive shooter lockdown drills are a common part of the school curriculum from primary to high schoolThe 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was the deadliest such attack Twenty of the 26 victims were between the age of five and sixSpeaking on the floor of the US Senate in Washington DC on Tuesday Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy begged his colleagues to pass gun control legislationThese kids werent unlucky he said This only happens in this country Nowhere else nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that dayBut Texas Senator Ted Cruz a Republican rejected the calls for gun control He said restricting the rights of lawabiding citizens doesnt work Its not effective It doesnt prevent crimeGuns overtook car crashes to become the leading cause of death for US children and teenagers in 2020 according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC in April 2022On Monday an FBI report found that active shooter rampage attacks have doubled since the coronavirus began in 2020This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness 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