A teenage gunman has murdered at least nineteen children and two teachers in a shooting at a Texas primary school only a week after another shooter killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
The gunman, who has been named as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was shot dead, apparently by police officers at the scene. One of the victims of the shooting has been named as fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles.
Her aunt said that she was “furious that these shootings continue” in a statement after the attack, adding: “These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all.”
Five children who were killed in the attack have been named as Uziyah Garcia, 8, Xavier Javier Lopez, 10, Amerie Jo Garza, 10, Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, and Jose Flores, 10. Another teacher, Irma Garcia, has also been named by her family as a victim of the shooting.
After the attack, Joe Biden urged Congress to end the “carnage” of gun violence in America, saying: “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?”
The shooter Ramos reportedly shot his grandmother at her home in the morning before wrecking his car outside the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. He then ran into the school and began shooting, according to a Texas state senator Roland Gutierrez. Mr Biden told the nation it was time to “turn this pain into action” and change gun laws following the massacre.
“Why are we willing to live with this carnage?” he said at the White House.
