Teenage gunman kills 18 children at Texas elementary school

US first lady Jill Biden looks on as President Joe Biden makes a statement about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, shortly after his return to Washington DC from his trip to South Korea and Japan, at the White House in Washington on May 24, 2022. - Reuters

A teenage gunman opened fire in a South Texas elementary school on Tuesday, killing at least 18 children and one adult, before he was also killed, officials said, the latest mass murder as the United States is gripped by an epidemic gun violence.

Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was apparently killed by police officers responding to the scene, and that two officers were struck by gunfire, though the governor said their injuries were not serious.

The confusion of the moment saw the accounts of the death toll vary until the state attorney general's office in an official statement put the tally of lives lost at 18 children and two adults, including the shooter. Judging from the grades of the students enrolled at the school, the children ranged in age from 7 to 10.

The motive for the massacre was not immediately known.

Hours after the shooting, police had cordoned off the school with yellow tape. Police cruisers and emergency vehicles were scattered around the perimeter of the school grounds. Uniformed personnel stood in small clusters, some in camouflage carrying semi-automatic weapons.

Epidemic of Gun Violence 

The Texas rampage is the latest in a series of mass shootings in U.S. schools that have shocked the world and fueled a fierce debate between advocates of tighter gun controls and those who oppose any legislation that could compromise the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms. read more

The shooting in Texas was one of the deadliest at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, 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.

Firearms became the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle accidents, according to a University of Michigan research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month.

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

Earlier this week, its posts showed the usual student activities - a trip to the zoo for second-graders and a save-the-date for a gifted-and-talented showcase. But on Tuesday, a note was posted at 11:43 a.m.: "Please know at this time Robb Elementary is under a Lockdown Status due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the building."

A second post was more explicit: "There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site." Administrators asked parents to stay away. And finally, a note was posted advising parents that they could meet their children at the small city's civic center.