New Delhi: In the latest incident of mass gun violence in the United States, a teenager opened fire inside an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday, killing 18 children and three adults, media reports said. The 18-year-old gunman was also killed later, Reuters reported.
Quoting Goveror Greg Abbott, an AP report said th boy opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio, in the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. Four years ago, a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in Houston.
”He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher," the governor was quoted as saying, adding that two officers were also shot at and wounded.
According to him, the gunman was a resident of the community and entered the school with a handgun, and possibly a rifle. He was likely killed by officers but the matter is being investigated. At a news conference, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said the gunman acted alone.
It was not immediately clear how many people were injured.
Robb Elementary School has nearly 600 students and Arredondo said it serves students in the second, third and fourth grade. He did not say what grades the children that were shot are in.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting on Air Force One as he returns from Japan after attending the QUAD summit. Jean-Pierre said Biden would deliver remarks at the White House Tuesday evening.
The shooting in Texas around two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in New York's Buffalo, killing 10 shoppers and workers in what was described as a hate crime.