On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, at least 19 children and two adults were killed when a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Texas, authorities said.
According to authorities, the shooter was killed on the scene by law enforcement officials.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Erick Estrada told CNN’s Don Lemon on Tuesday night said, “The updated numbers that they gave me, as of now, they told me 19 students, two adults, and then we also have the shooter that was deceased,”
At around 11:32 a.m. local time, the shooter entered Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas after shooting his grandmother and crashing his vehicle near the school. An official from the Texas Department of Public Safety said that upon entering the school, the shooter fired at “children, teachers, whoever was in his way,” authorities said.
“He was shooting everybody,” the official said.
The suspect, who was wearing body armor, exchanged fire with law enforcement officials and multiple officers were shot, the official said. The suspect was eventually fatally shot on the scene.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter was an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde, which is about an hour and a half west of San Antonio.
He said the suspect, who he named as Salvador Ramos, abandoned his vehicle, then entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle and “horrifically, incomprehensibly” opened fire.
Two law enforcement sources told journalists that the suspect had a handgun, an AR-15 assault weapon and high-capacity magazines.
The school teaches 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-grade students, according to Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pedro Arredondo.
Arredondo confirmed the suspect is dead and said investigators believe he acted alone.
President Biden condemned the shooting in an address Tuesday night.
The president said, “I had hoped when I became president I would not have to do this — again,”
“Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third and fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happened — see their friends die, as if they’re in a battlefield, for God’s sake. They’ll live with it the rest of their lives.”
It was gathered that Customs and Border Protection agents were among the members of law enforcement that exchanged gunfire with the shooter. One CBP agent was shot in the head. That agent has been hospitalized and is in stable condition.
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