A horrific mass shooting in Texas snubbed out the lives of 18 children and 3 adults. The 18-year-old gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, was also killed by police officers who rushed in. Two police officers were shot but their injuries were not serious, Texas governor Greg Abbott said.
The incident, started around local noon time (midnight IST May 24). The shooter was believed to have “abandoned his vehicle and entered into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun, and he may also have had a rifle.”
The incident, barely 10 days after the Buffalo supermarket shooting, is the deadliest attack since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, according to CNN. President Joe Biden addressed the nation as he returned to the White House from his five-day Asia trip.
American flags will be flown at half-mast through sunset Saturday in honour of the victims. “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Biden said. “These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world,” Biden said. “Why?” the US President said. The incident has once again triggered the debate on sale of arms in the US without any permit.
The school has over 500 students, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged, from second through fourth grade. The school authorities called on parents not to pick up their children until all were accounted for. “Please do not pick up students at this time. Students need to be accounted for before they are released to your care. You will be notified to pick up students once all are accounted for,” the school said on its website.
