Teen gunman kills 19 children and teacher in Texas school shooting
- Suspect, named as Salvador Ramos, killed by police, Texas governor said
- US President Joe Biden called for new restrictions on firearms: ‘We have to act’
02:43
At least 14 students and one teacher killed in Texas school shooting
A teenage gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults after storming into a Texas junior school on Tuesday, the latest bout of gun-fuelled mass murder in the United States and the nation’s worst school shooting in nearly a decade.
The 18-year-old suspect, who was killed apparently by police, also had shot his own grandmother before fleeing from the scene, then crashing his getaway car and launching a bloody rampage at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles (130km) west of San Antonio.
The motive was not immediately clear.
Law enforcement officers saw the gunman, clad in body armour, emerge from his crashed vehicle carrying a rifle and “engaged” the suspect, who nevertheless managed to charge into the school and open fire, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sergeant Erick Estrada said on CNN.
Speaking from the White House hours later, a visibly shaken US President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful US gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking enactment of tougher “common-sense” firearms safety laws.
Biden ordered flags flown at half-staff daily until sunset on Saturday in observance of the tragedy.