OHIO — At least 19 children and two adults are dead after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas Tuesday afternoon, officials confirmed.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the gunman wore body armor, crashed his car outside the school and entered the building with a handgun, and possibly a rifle.
Texas Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who was briefed by police, said the gunman killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday — “It was the first thing he did on his birthday,” Gutierrez said.
Abbott said the shooter also died from what likely was from an officer shooting him, but police are still investigating the incident.
The tragedy comes in advance of the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, which left 20 children and six staff members dead.
Ohio lawmakers expressed their condolences, as well as the need for action following the shooting.
“The last place we should be afraid to send our children and grandchildren is to school,” Gov. Mike DeWine, R-OH, wrote in a statement. “School safety and law enforcement intelligence gathering are key efforts without our Ohio Department of Public Safety, and we offer any assistance to Gov. Abbott and Texas law enforcement they may need. Fran and I will keep the victims and their families in our prayers, and we ask all Ohioans to do the same.”
J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican candidate for Senate, issued a similar statement over Twitter, writing “Please say a prayer for these children and their families.”
Republican Sen. Rob Portman called it a “senseless act of violence,” adding “my heart goes out to the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy in Uvalde.”
Other lawmakers, like Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, called for action within the legislatures.
“How many times are we going to allow this to happen? I’m at a loss,” Brown wrote on Twitter. “The inaction of a handful of politicians in Washington and state legislatures continues to cost us lives, mass shooting after mass shooting.”
Nan Whaley, former Dayton mayor and the Democrat candidate for governor, echoed similar sentiments.
“No one should have to live in fear of becoming victims to deadly school shootings like these as we go about our lives. At school. At the grocery store. Anywhere,” Whaley wrote on Twitter. “We need leaders who will do something.”
Congressman Tim Ryan, D-OH, said it’s “another senseless tragedy.”
“Andrea and I are praying for the Uvalde community and the innocent young lives taken from us in another senseless tragedy. Our babies are being killed by gun violence and we are failing them. We have to do something,” Ryan wrote on Twitter.
President Joe Biden called on Americans Tuesday night to send prayers to the victims and their families.
“Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone, or the courage to deal with and stand up to the lobbies?” he asked.
Biden also called for called for an updated assault weapons ban, like the one he helped pass as a senator in 1994.
“The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons – it’s just wrong,” he said. “What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?”
According to University Health in San Antonio, two patients from the shooting, one child and one adult, are being treated at the hospital. They are currently being evaluated and their condition is unknown.
The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston. Abbott and both of Texas’ U.S. senators were among elected Republican officials who were the scheduled speakers at a Friday leadership forum sponsored by the NRA’s lobbying arm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
