Texas Governor Greg Abbott said 14 students and a teacher have died and more than a dozen other children have been taken to hospital, after a shooting at a Texas elementary school.
Key points:
- Governor Greg Abbott called the killings ‘horrible’ and ‘incomprehensible’
- 18-year-old suspected shooter dead
- All schools in the district have been closed
Mr. Abbott said a local man opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio. He said the 18-year-old shooter was dead.
It was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history and happened four years after a gunman shot and killed 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area.
“He shot and killed, in a horrific and incomprehensible manner, 14 students and killed a teacher,” the governor said, adding that two officers were shot and injured but had to survive.
The shooter lived in the neighborhood and entered the school with a handgun, and possibly a rifle, and opened fire, Abbott said.
He said the shooter was likely killed by responding officers, but the events are still under investigation.
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo said the shooter acted alone.
It was not immediately clear how many people, besides the dead, had been injured, but Mr Arredondo said there were “several injuries”.
Uvalde Memorial Hospital said earlier that 13 children were taken by ambulance or bus to the facility and another hospital reported that a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.
It is unclear exactly how many people were injured in the shooting.
Robb Elementary School has just under 600 students.
Earlier, the district said all of its schools were closed due to gunfire in the area.
A heavy police presence surrounded the school on Tuesday afternoon, with officers wearing heavy vests diverting traffic and FBI agents coming and going from the building.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says President Joe Biden was briefed on the school shooting on Air Force One while returning from a five-day trip to Asia and would continue to receive updates.
Ms Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden would give a speech Tuesday night at the White House
More soon.
ABC/AP
Post , update
