Wednesday, May 25, 2022
At least eighteen young children, as well as a staff member, were killed in an attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States on Tuesday. There are conflicting reports on the exact number of staff killed, although figures on Tuesday night ranged from one to three individuals.
An 18-year-old gunman is suspected to be the lone perpetrator of the intrusion and subsequent attack. Texas Governor Greg Abbott identified the suspected attacker as Salvador Ramos, adding that Ramos had shot his grandmother before embarking to commit the attack. Abbott stated that Ramos drove and then abandoned his vehicle nearby the school, then entered the building armed with a handgun and possibly a rifle. WOAI-TV and NPR both reported that Ramos was killed by police officers.
According to U.S. Census data, the population of Uvalde is approximately 70% Hispanic or Latin American in origin. It lies around 80 miles west of San Antonio, near the Mexican border. The community is small, having only about 16,000 residents.
The attack is the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. It follows the recent racially-motivated mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York on Saturday, May 14, where ten were killed. It is also the deadliest attack on an elementary school in the United States since the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, where 20 children and six faculty were killed. At the time, the Sandy Hook shooting sparked national debate on gun rights and gun control.