Gunshot Man In Elementary School: 14 Children And Teacher Killed, Two Police Injured, Perpetrator Shot Dead

Illustration. (Unsplash/David von Diemar)

JAKARTA - A gunman opened fire indiscriminately at an elementary school, killing dozens of students and a teacher, and injuring two police officers before being shot dead by officers.

Governor Greg Abbott said the incident occurred at an elementary school in south Texas on Tuesday, killing 14 children and a teacher. The suspect, identified as Salvador Ramos, 18, was allegedly shot by police who arrived at the scene. Two officers were shot but not seriously.

Authorities said the suspect acted alone. The motive for Tuesday's massacre in Texas was not immediately known. Official details about the circumstances of the shooting early that morning are also unclear, immediately after the violence at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio.

"He shot and killed horribly, inexplicably, 14 students and killed a teacher. Ramos, the shooter, himself is dead and it is believed that the responding officers killed him," Abbott told a news conference.

"It is believed that he left his vehicle, and entered Robb Uvalde Elementary School with a gun, and he may also have been carrying a rifle, but that has not been confirmed according to my latest report," Abbott added.

The horrors of the day were reflected on the Robb Elementary School Facebook page.

A few days ago, their posts showed the usual student activities - a trip to the zoo for sophomores and saving the date for the gifted and gifted showcase. But on Tuesday, a note was uploaded at 11:43 am. "Please note that Robb Elementary is currently on Lockdown due to gunfire in the area. Students and staff are safe inside the building," it read.

The second post was more explicit: "There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on location." Administrator asks parents to stay away. And finally, a note was posted letting parents know they could meet their kids in the small town center.

US President Joe Biden, who ordered the flag to fly at half-mast until sunset every day through May 28 to commemorate the tragedy, plans to address the public about the shooting, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, University Hospital in San Antonio said on Twitter it had received two patients from the Uvalde shooting, one child and one adult. The two patients, a 66-year-old woman, and a 10-year-old girl, are listed in critical condition.

The latest episode of gun violence comes 10 days after another 18-year-old opened fire with an assault rifle at a grocery store in the predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people in what authorities said was a racially motivated act.

The Texas shootings are part of a series of mass shootings at US schools that have shocked the world and sparked a heated debate between advocates of tighter gun control and those who oppose any laws that could jeopardize Americans' right to bear guns.

It was also one of the deadliest at a US school, since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children aged 5 to 10, in a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012.

In 2018, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 students and educators.