At least 19 children and a teacher have been shot dead in connection with a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
The country’s president Joe Biden has ordered that flags be lowered at half-mast across the country.
As a country, we must ask ourselves, when in God’s name will we stand up against the arms lobby ?, he says in a speech to the nation.
It was around lunchtime for the school children in second, third and fourth grade at Robb Elementary School in small Uvalde in American Texas, when the planning for the upcoming summer vacation was turned into horror.
An 18-year-old, who was singled out as the perpetrator, must first have shot his grandmother or grandmother in the home he is registered in, then driven his car into the ditch near the primary school.
– He went out with what I think was a rifle and he tried to go into the school, where he was met by police. Unfortunately, he managed to get into the area and then go into several classrooms and start firing with his weapon, says Erick Estrada at the state police, to CNN.
The perpetrator must have carried a backpack and safety vest.
– The investigation shows that the perpetrator acted alone during this heinous act, says police chief Pete Arredondo at a short press conference where he did not take any questions from the journalists.
According to him, students in grades two to four go to school, which normally means an age of seven to ten years.
There are just over 500 school children at Robb Elementary School, the vast majority are of Latin American origin and most are financially disadvantaged, reports The New York Times.
Risked their lives
Uvalde is a small community with about 16,000 inhabitants located about 100 km from the Mexican border.
Marsha Espionosa, at the Ministry of Homeland Security, writes on Twitter that border guards responded to the alarm and together with police entered the school where the perpetrator barricaded himself.
“They risked their own lives, these border guards, when they and other police officers placed themselves between the shooter and the children at the crime scene to divert the shooter’s attention away from potential victims and save lives.”
The death toll rose during the evening to 19 children. In addition, at least three adults have been killed. It is unclear whether the perpetrator, who also died, is one of the three.
The school year is over
The head of the school district, Hal Harrelle, announced at a press conference that the school year ends prematurely.
– My heart broke today. We are a small community. We will need your prayers to get us through this, he said in a broken voice.
Several people have also been taken to hospital. Two ten-year-old girls, a nine-year-old girl and a 66-year-old woman are being cared for at University Health, the university hospital states on Twitter. For one of the girls and the woman, the condition is critical, while for the others the situation is better. At least one border guard has also been injured. The perpetrator’s grandmother or grandmother must have been taken by ambulance helicopter to hospital.
Half bar
President Joe Biden ordered the flags lowered to half-mast on all public buildings, military bases and naval vessels in the United States. He began an emotional speech by saying that he had hoped to never have to hold a similar one.
– Beautiful, innocent second-, third- and fourth-graders. And how many small children witnessed what happened, watching their friends die as if they were on a battlefield.
He pointed out that other parts of the world do not have the same problems with school shootings as in the United States.
– Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we continue to let this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with and stand up to the lobbyists, he said.
Requires weapons reforms
Biden is just one of many politicians, mainly Democrats, who now demand stricter gun laws.
Congressman Joaquin Castro describes on Twitter Uvalde as a wonderful, close-knit community west of his hometown of San Antonio.
“This is a parent’s worst nightmare. We need weapons reforms now “, he writes.
“Once again, gun violence has forced itself into our schools, leaving nothing but devastation, trauma and tragedy,” the organization Everytown, which works for an end to gun violence, wrote on Twitter.
The right to bear arms in the United States is, to say the least, polarizing, with voices being raised at the same time that more people should bear arms to protect school children.
– We must avoid the reflexive reaction we have, to say that everything can be solved by not allowing anyone to carry weapons, says senator Thom Thillis to CNN, and adds that there will soon be information that one should have seen warning signs around The 18-year-old.
Facts
Previous shootings in schools in the United States
Some other notable school shootings in the United States:
In May 2019, two people were killed in a shooting at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.
In May 2018, ten people were shot dead at a high school in Santa Fe, just south of Houston, Texas.
In February 2018, 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida.
In December 2017, two teenage students at Aztec High School in New Mexico were shot to death. The perpetrator was also killed.
In October 2014, a 15-year-old boy texted schoolmates and invited to a meeting in the dining room of the school in Marysville near Seattle in Washington in the northwest. After shooting at the guests, he took his own life. Three of those shot died.
In December 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and shot dead 20 young children and six adults. Lanza then also murdered his mother before committing suicide.
In April 2007, a 23-year-old student shot dead 33 students and staff at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, and then took his own life.
In March 2005, ten people, five of them students, were killed in the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. The 16-year-old perpetrator took his own life.
In April 1999, two teenagers shot dead twelve students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado before taking their own lives.
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