6IX WORLD NEWS
PUBLISHED: 25 May 2022 |
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Uziyah Garcia, nine
Makenna Elrod, 10
Xavier Lopez, 10
Eliahana Torres, 10
Ellie Lugo, 10
Neveah Bravo,
Tess Marie Mata,
Rojelio Torres,
Anabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Irma Garcia, fourth grade teacher
Eva Mireles, fourth grade teacher
All of the kids killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde yesterday were in the same fourth grade classroom when gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire with an AR-15 he legally bought on his 18th birthday.
Ramos killed 19 kids aged under 11 and their teachers before being shot himself by police.
The teenager has been described as a self-harming loner who was bullied because of his clothes, but who managed to save nearly $5,000 to buy two AR-15 guns and three hundred rounds of ammunition after turning 18 last week.
It has now been revealed that the shooter was known to police because of his violent arguments with his drug-addict mother.
He no longer lived with her - he had gone to live with his grandmother who is now in the hospital fighting for her life.
On Tuesday, Ramos shot her before going to the school after an argument in their home.
It's unclear what they were fighting about. The grandmother, believed to be in her mid 60s, survived but is in the hospital today.
Among those shot dead by the callous killer yesterday was 10-year-old girl who was phoning 911 when he opened fire.
Amerie Jo Garza, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary in the city Uvalde, Texas, was killed in cold blood Tuesday morning by 18-year-old 'loner' Salvador Ramos, who strode into the school carrying a handgun and a rifle before opening fire on classrooms full of children in an attack that also killed two teachers.
Berlinda Irene Arreola, Amerie's grandmother, said that Ramos told the class 'you're going to die' before he began his massacre - shooting her granddaughter dead as she tried to call 911. Amerie was sat next to her best friend who was left 'covered in her blood', Berlinda told the Daily Beast.
'So the gunman went in and he told the children, "You’re going to die." And [Amerie] had her phone and she called 911. And instead of grabbing it and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her. She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood,' Berlinda said.
Also killed in the attack were two boys - Xavier Lopez, 10, and nine-year-old Uziyah Garcia - and three more girls - Makenna Elrod, 10, Eliahana Torres, also 10, and Ellie, whose age and surname were not immediately available. Eva Mireles, 44, and Irma Garcia, a mother-of-four, were the two teachers shot and killed.
Ramos was eventually stopped by a Border Patrol agent who had been manning a nearby post and rushed into the school. The two exchanged gunfire, with Ramos shot and killed. The agent was wounded, a local official said, but was able to walk himself out of the school.
More than a dozen children were also hurt in the attack, including a ten-year-old girl taken to hospital in the nearby city of San Antonio in critical condition. A 66-year-old woman - believed to be Ramos's grandmother who he shot at the start of his killing spree - was in the same hospital, also in critical.
A second hospital within Uvalde itself said 13 children had been brought to them, without saying what condition they are in. Police warned late Tuesday that the death toll is expected to rise.
Just hours before the killings took place, Ramos had messaged an acquaintance on Instagram telling her he had a 'lil secret' he wanted to share, after earlier tagging her in a photo of two guns he bought himself on his 18th birthday. His TikTok account also featured a short user bio that read: 'Kids Be Scared.'
Amerie Jo Garza, 10 (right), was among 19 children shot dead at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday. Her grandmother said she was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up covered in her blood
Uziyah Garcia, nine, (left) and Makenna Elrod, 10, (right) were both confirmed dead by loved ones on Facebook
Xavier Lopez, 10, (left) and Eliahana Torres, 10, (right) was also killed at the school shooting on Tuesday
Ellie Lugo (left) and Nevaeh Bravo (right) were also killed. Ellie was reported as missing for several hours before her parents confirmed her death
Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, and Rogelio Torres, right, were also killed
Irma Garcia (left) and Eva Mireles (right), who co-taught fourth grade, were both shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday
One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background
Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, has been identified as the shooter. He was described as a bullied loner who slowly dropped out of school due to teasing about his lisp, habit of wearing eyeliner, clothes and his family's poverty
Horrified parents and students gathered after the shooting at the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center
Relatives of those hurt and killed in the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas, weep outside in a local civic center where survivors of the massacre had been taken
Women share a tearful group embrace as they wait for news of their loved ones at the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas, after a mass shooting at a nearby school
Relatives and loved ones of those caught up in the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, join hands as they tearfully pray during a vigil for the victims - which include 19 children
One of the rifles that Ramos legally purchased was found alongside his body in the school, police sources told Click2Houston, while another was found in a truck which he crashed close by.
A backpack filled with loaded magazines was found abandoned on the way into the school, while seven 30-round magazines were found inside the grounds. It was not immediately clear whether they were full or empty. Ramos was found wearing a body armor vest, police added, though it had no armor plating inside.
Joe Biden, speaking at the White House where he had ordered flags to fly at half-staff in honour of the victims, kicked off the inevitable debate about gun control. Declaring himself 'sick and tired' of the cyclical discussion, he called for voters to 'turn this pain into action' to prevent more mass killings. 'We have to act,' he said.
'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done,' he said.
Ted Cruz, Republican senator for Texas, led the response - repeating well-worn arguments that 'restricting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens' to prevent mass shootings 'doesn't work'. The solution, he said, is to put armed officers on school campuses. Cruz is due to speak an at NRA conference on Friday.
Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 19 students and two teachers
Children confirmed dead by family members included 10-year-olds Xavier Lopez, Eliahana Torres, and Makenna Elrod, and eight-year-old Uziyah Garcia.
Another girl called Ellie Garcia was also confirmed to have died by her grieving parents.
Angel Garza, the father of Amerie who had been appealing on Facebook for news of his then-missing daughter, told ABC News late Tuesday: 'Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby,
'She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.'
Amelia Sandoval, the grandmother of victim Xavier Lopez, told ABC: 'It's just so hard... you send your kids to school thinking they are going to make it back home but they're not.'
A picture of the gunman has also started to emerge as a bullied loner, picked on at school because of a lisp, a habit of wearing eyeliner, his clothes and because he came from a poor family.
Those who knew Ramos or his relatives say he was a 'nice' but 'quiet' boy who grew increasingly violent as he became older, amid relentless bullying both in school and online.
Santos Valdez told the Washington Post that he used to be friends with Ramos and played online shooter games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty with him, until the pair stopped talking as Ramos's behaviour 'deteriorated.'
Valdez said Ramos had showed up to the park one time with cuts all over his face, initially claiming he was scratched by a cat before admitting that he did it to himself with a knife.
Stephen Garcia, who considered himself Ramos’s best friend in eighth grade, said he was 'bullied by a lot of people' including for over a photo of himself wearing eyeliner which led to 'gay' taunts. Garcia said Ramos dropped out of school when he moved away to another part of the state, and the two had lost touch.
Others confirmed that Ramos had stopped attending classes, and did not intend to take part in graduation this summer. Instead, he got a job at a local Wendy's restaurant.
A colleague there described Ramos has having an aggressive streak. She told the Daily Beast he walked around with a pair of boxing gloves at the park, asking people to fight him and filming it. He also menaced co-workers, asking one of the cooks: 'Do you know who I am?'
'He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes... and he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies,' the former colleague said, asking for her name not to be used.
As an 18th birthday present to himself earlier this month, Ramos bought two AR-style rifles and paraded them on social media, including in ominous messages sent hours before the killing started.
A teenage acquaintance of Ramos, who lives in Los Angeles and claims to barely know him, posted screenshots of messages he sent her early Tuesday after tagging her in a picture of his rifles. In them, he said he wanted to share a 'lil secret' and urged her to respond to him. The conversation ended before Ramos revealed his secret.
People waiting for news of their loved ones following a mass shooting in Texas embrace outside a civic center in the city
Two women weep as they embrace one-another following a mass shooting at a Texas school which killed at least 19 children
A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting
Women embrace one-another as they mourn outside a civic center in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas, following a mass shooting at an elementary school
Crowds of people comfort one-another following a mass shooting at a school in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas
Law enforcement are seen near the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon after the mass murder at the school
Ramos's home in Uvalde is seen on Tuesday as police try to fathom a motive for the shooting
Ruben Flores, who knew Ramos's family, said he had an unstable home life and got into blow-up fights with his mother, who he grew up with alongside two sisters in a house around a five minute drive from Robb Elementary.
Police had been called to the home on more than one occasion, Flores added.
She said Ramos had moved in with his grandmother 'a few months ago'. Flores said the grandmother was in the process of evicting Ramos's mother from her house, which the elderly lady owned.
The deadly assault in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.
On May 14, an 18-year-old self-declared white supremacist shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store, targeting black people.
The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and wounding five.
Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to strengthen - or weaken - their own restrictions.
The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.
The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest data.
It was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.
'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country from the White House on Tuesday night.
'As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name will we stand up to the gun lobby?'
He added: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep on letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'
Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.
Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.
Garcia, who co-taught with Mireles for the last five year, had been at Robb Elementary for 23 years.
Married to Joe for 24 years, she was a mother of four - Cristian, completing Marine boot camp; Jose, attending Texas State university University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a 7th grader.
'My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in y’all’s prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO,' tweeted her nephew John.
'She was loved by many and will truly be missed.'
She was nominated as teacher of the year for the 2018-19 awards, organized by Trinity University.
'Let me assure you, the intruder is deceased,' said Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department.
New video from the chaotic scene shows police arriving to the scene with their guns in hand
A police vehicle is seen parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect behind a shooting at Robb Elementary School
Law enforcement are seen at the scene of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday
State troopers are seen near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday
Sheriffs are seen outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday
A mobile morgue is seen on Tuesday afternoon being brought to the site of the shooting
America's worst school shootings
There have been dozens of shootings and other attacks in U.S. schools and colleges over the years, but until the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, the number of dead tended to be in the single digits. Since then, the number of shootings that included schools and killed 10 or more people has mounted. The most recent two were both in Texas.
ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022
An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children, two teachers and injuring others, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The shooter died.
SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018
A 17-year-old opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The suspect has been charged with murder.
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018
An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.
UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015
A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.
SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012
A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life.
VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007
A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.
RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005
A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself.
COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999
Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.
Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name
Heartbreaking moment parents line up to give DNA swabs to help cops identify victims
Grim footage showed parents lining up to give DNA swabs to help identify the remains of 19 students massacred by a gunman at a Texas elementary school.
The family members were filmed lining up outside an auditorium close to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday evening before darkness fell.
Sobs could be heard throughout the evening as at least five family members were told their children had been killed. Two teachers have also been confirmed as victims of the grisly incident.
Parents had to wait outside the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center to provide DNA swabs to help authorities identify remains of children who may be unrecognizable after the tragedy.
Parents also desperately waited for their children at designated meeting spots, hoping their loved ones would reappear. As the night wore on, the parking lot of cars slowly began to peel away.
Among the lost children are Makenna Elrod, Uziyah Garcia, nine, and Xavier Lopez, 10, Amerie Jo Garza, Eliahana Torres, Ellie Garcia, as well as fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles and another teacher Irma Garcia.
Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.
Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.
'We are not looking for another individual in relation to this case.'
Ramos's social media was full of photos of guns, which he bought legally on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said that Ramos was born in North Dakota but lived in Uvalde.
Ramos messaged a woman he knew on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.
'You gonna repost my gun pics,' @sal8dor_ direct messaged the girl on May 12.
'what your guns gotta do with me,' she replied on Friday.
'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back.
Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.
The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.'
He said he'd text her in an hour and urged her to respond.
'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth.
'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.
She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'
His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out'.
The shooting started around 11:32am.
The woman reacted with horror when she learnt what he had done.
'He's a stranger I know nothing about him he decided to tag me in his gun post,' she wrote.
'I'm so sorry for the victims and their families I really don't know what to say.'
She then added: 'The only reason I responded to him was because I was afraid of him I wish I stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime. I didn't know.'
When an Instagram user asked if she was his girlfriend, she replied: 'I don't know him and I don't even live in Texas.'
Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.
A school friend of Ramos's said that he sent him the photos of his guns too.
'He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using … and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags,' the friend told CNN.
'I was like, 'bro, why do you have this?' and he was like, 'Don't worry about it.'
'He proceeded to text me, 'I look very different now. You wouldn't recognize me,' he added.
The friend said Ramos was mocked by others for the clothes he wore and his family's financial situation, and eventually was seen less in class.
He largely dropped out, and took the job at Wendy's, where co-workers remember him as quiet.
Adrian Mendes, evening manager at the Wendy's, said Ramos 'kept to himself mostly.'
'He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn't say much. He didn't really socialize with the other employees,' Mendes told CNN.
'He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.'
Mendes said that he did not know Ramos well - he was already employed when Mendes began in February - and didn't see him most of the time because they were on different shifts.
Ramos worked from 11am to 4pm or 5pm, five days a week.
President Joe Biden gave a short but impassioned speech less than two hours after returning from a trip to Asia
Biden delivered the remarks in the White House Roosevelt Room with a silent and solemn First Lady Dr. Jill Biden by his side
The American flag flies at half staff on the White House after President Joe Biden spoke about the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
Biden: 'When in God's name are we going to stand up to gun lobby?'
Photos show a pickup truck that crashed outside the school, which, according to Abbott, Ramos abandoned before entering the school.
He was involved in a gunfight with border patrol agents who arrived on the scene. One of the agents was injured, but is expected to survive.
Biden, who flew home from Japan on Tuesday, addressed the nation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House at 8:45pm. Air Force One landed just before 7pm.
'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' a visibly emotional Biden said.
Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room with First Lady Jill Biden clad in black by his side, the president said: 'Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happen - see their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for God's sake?'
He took a moment to empathize with parents who would never see their young children again after Tuesday.
'Parents will never be the same. To lose a child, it's like having a piece of your soul ripped away,' said the president, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015.
'There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.'
He lamented there were 'so many crush spirits' left to mourn the more than dozen victims.
'So tonight, I asked the nation to pray for them. Give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.'
His voice growing louder, Biden continued: 'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?'
Biden recalled the numerous mass shootings over the last decade, including visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people including 20 children while he was vice president. He also remarked on the this month's mass shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.
'I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage. I spent my career as a senator and vice president working to pass common sense gun laws,' he said.
'We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired mass shootings tripled.'
He said the ability for a teenage gunman, like Salvador Ramos, to be able to 'walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.;
'What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?' Biden questioned.
He then accused gun makers of spending 'two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit.'
The flags above the White House are flying at half staff.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, is seen on Tuesday addressing the mass shooting at the school in Uvalde
Abbott addresses deadly mass shooting at Texas elementary school
Concerned parents were captured at the scene desperately searching for their children and video from the chaotic scene showed police arriving to the school campus with their guns in hand.
One widely shared video appears to show the suspected gunman approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background.
'There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site,' The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said.
Videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting show mothers frantically running towards the campus to collect their kids.
The school warned parents to stay away and instead collect their children from a rendezvous point after they had been 'accounted for'.
'Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.'
The students were holding a day of celebrations, receiving certificates for the end of the school year.
Dr Hal Harrell, superintendent of Uvalde school district, said that classes had been cancelled for the rest of the school year.
'School will be closed,' Harrell told a press conference on Tuesday evening.
'The school year is done. All activities are cancelled throughout the district - I know graduation is on everyone's mind, but we will come to that later.
'My heart was broken today.
'We are a small community, and we will need your prayers to get through this.'
Ninety percent of the school's students are Hispanic and there are some 70 teachers.
It is one many schools in the district that is a stone's throw from the Mexican border, with the city of Coahuila 220 miles away. The school sits on the outskirts of the city of Uvalde, population 16,000.
Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, told Fox News that shots were fired off site, and that after shooting one person, the gunman ran to the school where he barricaded himself inside.
The district said that the city's civic center will be used as a reunification center and that parents will be able to pick up their children there once everyone is accounted for.
A mobile morgue was seen arriving at the school on Tuesday afternoon.
A board with the list of classes and teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center
FBI agents arrive at Robb Elementary School following Tuesday's shooting
Video shows shooting suspect approaching Robb Elementary School
State police arrive at the scene of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday
Police confirm 15 killed in mass shooting at Elementary School
Matthew McConaughey has been besieged by tweets in the wake of the shooting.
'This is your hometown, these are your people! A word from you now will go further than a word from almost anyone else,' wrote one person.
'Please use your voice and address gun control in Texas. People listen to you,' wrote another.
'I really hope @McConaughey will reconsider his run for Governor after what occurred in his childhood hometown today. It's time to and his cronies out of office and get real gun control in place NOW!'
McConaughey previously teased a possible Texas gubernatorial run for 2022, but last year announced he wouldn't proceed with his plans to enter politics.
Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, tweeted that he and his wife are 'lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.'
Ken Paxton, the attorney general for Texas, told Fox News that more teachers should carry guns.
'We can't stop bad people from doing bad things,' he said, adding that he had 'never understood that argument'.
'We can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through.
'We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.
'The reality is that we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school.
'So it takes time for law enforcement - now matter how prepared, no matter how good they are - to get there. So having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.
'Nothing is going to work perfectly, but that, in my opinion it's the best answer to this problem.'
But Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic from Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, made an impassioned appeal for concrete action to prevent further violence.
'This isn't inevitable, these kids weren't unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day,' Murphy said on the Senate floor.
'I'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely,' he added.
Kamala Harris, the vice president, said: 'Enough is enough. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.'
The deadly violence in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.
Law enforcement crowds the entrance of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where a gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told Fox News that shots were fired offsite and that after shooting one person the gunman ran to the school where he remained barricaded. He was then shot and killed by law enforcement
A gunman was on the run at Robb Elementary School (pictured) in Uvalde as the campus and all other schools in the district went into lockdown
Police and ambulances arrive at scene of Texas school shooting
On May 14, an 18-year-old white man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.
Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist allegedly livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.
The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.
Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to enact their own restrictions.
The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.
The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'monstrous' shooting before directing her ire at colleagues that have stood in the way of gun reform.
'Words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren and a teacher at Robb Elementary School today,' Pelosi said in a statement.
'This monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children, who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their dreams, falling in love, even starting a family of their own.'
Referring to the multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, the Democrat continued: 'Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days.'
'This a crisis of existential proportions – for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives,' she said.
'It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.'
Texas elementary school massacre is just the latest in long line of bloody school shootings over the last 10 years
SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2012: 27 DEAD, 2 INJURED
Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 elementary school students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the largest school shooting in the US
In December 2012, the deadliest school shooting in America took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Lanza arrived to the school with three guns - a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, and two pistols after killing his mother, Nancy - with whom, he reportedly only communicated via email.
When he arrived to the school around 9.30am, the doors were locked as part of a new safety feature the school had recently rolled out. He allegedly 'shot the entrance into the building,' according to CNN.
The school psychologist and vice principal went to investigate after hearing 'popping' noises and the psychologist was shot by Lanza.
The elementary school was placed in lockdown and students were ushered into restrooms and closets to hide.
Lanza moved toward kindergarten and first-grade classrooms first. In one of the classrooms, he shot all 14 kindergarteners and six first-graders.
By the time law enforcement arrived to the scene, 20 students and six staff members were killed.
Sandy Hook anniversary: Activists call for gun restrictions in 2015
Little angels and stuffed animals lined the dirt in honor of the elementary schoolchildren who died in the shooting
As law enforcement approached the 20-year-old, he shot himself.
Although his motive is unknown, Lanza's old writings were discovered years later and shed light into the young man's mind. He had written to a fellow gamer that he had a 'scorn for humanity' and had been 'desperate to feel anything positive for someone for my entire life.'
A child advocate's for the state of Connecticut also said Lanza had severe mental health problems and suffered from anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and was on the autism spectrum. He was also preoccupied with violence, according to CBS News.
With ease of access to his mother's weapons and being home-schooled, the advocate said it was 'proved a recipe for mass murder.'
MARYSVILLE PILCHUCK HIGH SCHOOL, OCTOBER 2014: 4 DEAD, 1 INJURED
Jaylen Fryberg, 17, killed his four 'ride or die' friends at lunch in October 2014 and said he 'needed to do this'
Marysville student Jaylen Fryberg, 17, gathered his friends around a table in the Washington state's school cafeteria and shot each of them in the head one-by-one to take them to 'the other side,' in October 2014. He shot them with a 'blank stare' and shot them 'left to right.'
Fryberg had sent a photo of the handgun to a friend just moments before he would open fire, killing four. He told the person he texted to call him before he did 'the thing.'
After shooting the four students as others watched on, he shot himself as a teacher ran toward him, the Washington Post reported.
The teen had methodically planned the massacre, even leaving a note for his parents with his funeral arrangements and what to do with his assets, if he had any.
He had texted his father: 'Read the paper on my bed. Dad, I love you.'
Students hug and cry after the shooting that took the lives of four and injured one
Inside the note, he told his parents he wanted to be 'fully dressed in Camo in my casket' and all his 'trust money or whatever goes to my brother.'
Fryberg also apologized to his friends' parents, but said he needed 'ride or dies with me on the other side.'
'I LOVE YOU FAMILY! I really do! More then anything,' he wrote. 'I needed to do this tho[ugh]…I wasn’t happy. And I need my crew with me too. I’m sorry. I love you.'
UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, OCTOBER 2015: 9 DEAD, 9 INJURIED
Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, killed himself after the shooting
Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, opened fire in Snyder Hall at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, in October 2015 around 10.45am.
He killed eight students and one teacher before police arrived. Authorities and Mercer engaged in a brief shootout, before Mercer turned the gun on himself and took his own life.
More weapons were found in his apartment, which he shared with his mother, and he had handed a student a USB drive with his manifesto on it.
'It's pretty well laid out that he was a dejected failure,' Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said at the time. 'The only thing that I can conclude from it is he was mentally and emotionally ill.'
His manifesto detailed a life of a lonely virgin, who self-described himself as the 'most hated person in the world' and said he hated black men, whom he said only cared about their 'penises.'
Mercer also reportedly said he was constantly 'under siege' by 'morons and idiots,' the Oregonian reported.
Mercer wrote: 'What was it that was supposed to happen, what great event was it that was supposed to make me realize how much there was going for me?
'But for people like me there is another world, a darker world that welcomes us. For people like us this all that's left. My success in Hell is assured.'
Police arrived on campus in bulletproof vests and rifles after Mercer killed eight students and one teacher
Hundreds gathered for a vigil for victims of a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College
Roseburg residents mourn victims of Umpqua college massacre in 2015
The young man also reportedly said he was 'denied' everything he deserved and likened himself the Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook shooters.
'Though we may have been born bad. Society left us no recourse, no way to be good,' he reportedly wrote.
'I have been forced to align myself with demonic forces. What was once an involuntary relationship has now become an alignment, a service. I now serve the demonic Heirarchy(sic). When I die will become one of them. A demon. And I will return to kill again and again.'
NORTH PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, APRIL 2017: 2 DEAD, 1 INJURED
Cedric Anderson, 53, shot and killed his wife at North Park Elementary, killing one student and injuring one other
Cedric Anderson, 53, entered the San Bernardino, California, school around 10.30am in April 2017, where his wife Karen Elaine Smith, also 53, worked as a special-education teacher.
He told administrators he was there to see his wife and walked into her classroom, which was positioned near the office.
He fired six shots from a Magnum revolver when he entered the classroom, killing his wife and an eight-year-old student and injuring another child. He reloaded the revolver and shot himself.
Although the motive is unknown, many suspected his wife - who had recently divorced him - was being abused, according to the San Bernardino Sun.
Since the shooting, her classroom IB, no longer exists. The classroom walls have been knocked down and it is now an open space for students to work on projects.
The school remodeled its building and outfitted every classroom with tempered glass windows, installed steel doors with locks on the inside, and a door that leads to the outside, which is mandated by law.
Although his motive is unknown, many suspect he abused his wife and that's what led to their divorce
AZTEC HIGH SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2017: 2 DEAD, 0 INJURED
William Atchison, 21, shot and killed two students at Aztec High School
Former student William Atchison, 21, disguised himself as student and hide in a bathroom with a Glock on the second floor of the New Mexico school, according to Fox News.
The custodian reported ran down the hallways screaming about an active shooter and telling teachers to go into 'lockdown.'
He killed a male student who walked into the bathroom before killing a girl in the hallway and then turned the gun on himself.
The shooter had left a manifesto on a USB drive that was found on his body, where he had allegedly wrote: 'Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks. I just want out...'
Atchison had been on the FBI's radar since 2016 after he allegedly asked in a forum: 'Where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting?'
He told investigators he just liked to troll online forums and authorities found that he was not in possession of any weapons at the time after interviewing him at his parent's house.
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS - PARKLAND, FEBRUARY 2018: 17 DEAD, 17 INJURIED
Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members in February 2018. He pleaded guilty and now faces the death penalty
The now-third biggest school shooting in US history happened in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day.
Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members and injured an additional 17.
The shooter, who was adopted, shot students with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He began shooting students outside of the school before working his way inside, according to NBC News.
After the shooting, he slipped past authorities by hiding among the crowd running out of the school.
For years, Cruz was a subject of police attention as his parents had called 911 several times on him for being out of control and had been tripped off to the FBI about concerning behavior, NPR reported.
Starting when Cruz was 10 years old, his mother reported seeing violent behavior and had called the police after he and his other adopted brother Zach had gotten into a fight. She also reported Cruz had pushed her up against a wall after taking an X-Box game away and he had used a BB gun to shoot a chicken.
Students were ushered out of the building with their hands on each other's backs after the Valentine's day shooting
Hundreds of memorial items were gathered around the school sign after the shooting, which killed 17 and injured 17 others. It is the second largest school shooting in the US
Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to 2018 mass shooting in Parkland
After his mother died, he went to live with a family friend and had reportedly gotten in a fight with their son.
He told police: 'The thing is, I lost my mother a couple days ago. So like, I'm dealing with a bunch of things right now. I kind of got mad. And I started punching walls and stuff and a kid came at me and threw me on the ground. And he kicked me out of the house.'
The family claimed he put a gun to their son's head and had done it to his adoptive mother as well before.
Cruz (pictured in 2022) was adopted and showed signs of violent behavior the age of 10
Cruz had also been expelled from two school, was self-harming and had reportedly been diagnosed with depression, NPR reported.
He pleaded guilty in October 2021 and now faces the death penalty.
SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, MAY 2018: 10 DIED, 12 INJURED
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, shot up Santa Fe High School and now awaits trial and faces up to 40 years in prison
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, killed 10 and injured 12 others at Santa Fe High School in Texas in May 2018.
A student said Pagourtzis hid a shotgun and a handgun under his trench coat before opening fire in a first-period art class.
The then-student told police he did not kill anyone he liked because he wanted them to be able to tell the story, AP reported.
Authorities say Pagourtzis planned the killings, carried out with weapons owned by his father. Though Pagourtzis allegedly wrote about his intention to carry out the attack, authorities have not indicated a motive for the violence.
Although the motive is unknown, a student's mother said her daughter had rejected Pagourtzis romantically and her daughter, Shana Fisher, had made clear that she was not interested in him.
'He continued to get more aggressive,' the mother told AP. 'She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him.'
The incident took place one week before the shooting and it is unclear if that drove Pagourtzis to kill.
Police also said they found multiple IEDs, pressure cookers, Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs, propane tanks, and other homemade explosives near the school and parking lot after the shooting.
He had engaged in a 25-minute shootout with police before surrendering after being injured.
Pagourtzis is currently awaiting trial. He faces 40 years in prison.
Police gather outside the high school, where 10 died and 12 were injured
SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2018: 2 DEAD, 3 INJURED
Nathaniel Berhow, 16, attempted suicide after the shooting and later died in the hospital
Nathaniel Berhow, 16, killed two students and injured two others at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, in November 2018.
Authorities said the attack was planned, but the victims were chosen at random.
'It was a planned attack; it was deliberate. He knew how many rounds he had, for example,' Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at the time, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Berhow was dropped off at the school by his mother and was standing in the quad alongside other students. Authorities said he was standing away from students and was still before moving toward the center of the quad, where he dropped his backpack and began firing at students.
He shot five people in 16 seconds, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Berhow also shot himself in an attempted suicide and was taken to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The motive for the attack is still unknown.
Students mourned outside the high school after the shooting that killed two and injured three
Students reunited with parents recount their terror as shooting began
OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2021: 4 DIED, 7 INJURED
Ethan Crumbley, 15, faces life in prison and is scheduled to go to trial in September
The most recent well-known school shooter is 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan after a guidance counseling meeting with his parents at the school.
Four students were killed and seven more people were injured in the shooting.
Crumbley had a meeting with school administrators, and his mother was contacted via voicemail by the school about her son's inappropriate ammunition-related internet search.
According to the prosecutor, the mother and father also failed to ask Ethan if he had his gun with him, or where his gun was, and did not inspect his backpack.
Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting occurred later.
His parents were also arrested after a large-scale manhunt. James and Jennifer were captured in the basement of a building in Detroit, less than half a mile from the Canadian border.
All the Crumbleys are being held at the Oakland County Jail. His parents are currently facing trial for four counts of manslaughter and have requested their trial be moved out of Oakland County.
Ethan is awaiting trial, which is schedule for September, and he faces life in prison.
Students gather around the school sign to place flowers after the shooting that killed four and injured seven others
James and Jennifer Crumbley also face trial and have recently requested their trial be moved out of Oakland County
Good evening my fellow Americans. I had hoped when I became president I would not have to do this. Again
Another massacre, Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent, second, third, fourth-graders. And how many scores of little children, see their friends die, as if they're on a battlefield for God's sake. Gotta live with it the rest of their lives.
There's a lot we don't know yet. But there's a lot we do know.
The parents who will never see their child again. Never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them Parents who will never be the same.
To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.
Scripture says - and Jill and I have talked about this in different contexts, in other contexts - the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
President Joe Biden delivered remarks from the White House Tuesday night about the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas after returning from a five-day trip to South Korea and Japan
So many crushed spirits.
So tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them.
And give the parents, siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.
As a nation we have to ask, when in God's name are we doing to stand up to the gun lobby?
When in God's name we all do in our gut needs to be done?
It's been ... 3,448 days, 10 years, since I stood up at a high school in Connecticut - a grade school in Connecticut, where another gun man massacred 26 people, including 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Since then, there have been over 900 incidents, gun fires reported on school grounds - Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Santa Fe high school in Texas, Oxford high school in Michigan, and the list goes on and on and the list grows - when we include mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship - as we saw just 10 days ago at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
I am sick and tired of it.
We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage.
I spent my career as a senator and a vice president working to pass common-sense gun laws.
We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact.
When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired, mass shootings tripled.
The idea that an 18-year old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.
What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?
Deer aren't running through the forest with Kevlar vests on for God's sake. It's just sick.
And the gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit. For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry.
Here's what else I know.
Most Americans support common sense laws, common sense gun laws.
I just got off a trip from Asia meeting with Asian leaders. And I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. What struck me on that 17-hour flight, what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.
Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why we we keep letting this happen?
Where in God's name is our backbone?
To have the courage to deal with, to stand up to the lobbies.
It's the time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen of this county, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, it's time to act.
For those who obstruct or delay or block the common sense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more, we have to do more.
Our prayer tonight is those parents lying in bed trying to figure out, will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?
May God bless the loss of innocent life on this sad day.
And may the lord be near the brokenhearted and save those crushed in spirit becaue they're going to need a lot of help, a lot of our prayers. God love you.
Texas school gunman's victims were all in the SAME classroom: Loner killed 19 4th graders and their teachers with guns he was able to buy legally on his 18th birthday despite being known to police for rows with his drug-addict mother
- Amerie Jo Garza, 10, among 19 child victims killed in the latest US mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Texas
- She was shot trying to call 911 along with best friend who ended up 'covered in her blood', grandmother said
- Killer Salvador Ramos, 18, told fourth-grade class 'you're going to die' before opening fire, grandma added
- Massacre began when Ramos shot his grandmother during an argument at her house before driving a short distance to the school where he crashed his car, went inside, and opened fire on students
- Friends said he was a quiet kid who was bullied and had become increasingly unstable and violent as he got older, purchasing two rifles for his 18th birthday earlier this month - one of which was found in the school
- Biden condemned the violence and called for stricter gun laws, saying it is time to translate 'pain into action'
UVALDE SHOOTING VICTIMS
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Uziyah Garcia, nine
Makenna Elrod, 10
Xavier Lopez, 10
Eliahana Torres, 10
Ellie Lugo, 10
Neveah Bravo,
Tess Marie Mata,
Rojelio Torres,
Anabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Irma Garcia, fourth grade teacher
Eva Mireles, fourth grade teacher
All of the kids killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde yesterday were in the same fourth grade classroom when gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire with an AR-15 he legally bought on his 18th birthday.
Ramos killed 19 kids aged under 11 and their teachers before being shot himself by police.
The teenager has been described as a self-harming loner who was bullied because of his clothes, but who managed to save nearly $5,000 to buy two AR-15 guns and three hundred rounds of ammunition after turning 18 last week.
It has now been revealed that the shooter was known to police because of his violent arguments with his drug-addict mother.
He no longer lived with her - he had gone to live with his grandmother who is now in the hospital fighting for her life.
On Tuesday, Ramos shot her before going to the school after an argument in their home.
It's unclear what they were fighting about. The grandmother, believed to be in her mid 60s, survived but is in the hospital today.
Among those shot dead by the callous killer yesterday was 10-year-old girl who was phoning 911 when he opened fire.
Amerie Jo Garza, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary in the city Uvalde, Texas, was killed in cold blood Tuesday morning by 18-year-old 'loner' Salvador Ramos, who strode into the school carrying a handgun and a rifle before opening fire on classrooms full of children in an attack that also killed two teachers.
Berlinda Irene Arreola, Amerie's grandmother, said that Ramos told the class 'you're going to die' before he began his massacre - shooting her granddaughter dead as she tried to call 911. Amerie was sat next to her best friend who was left 'covered in her blood', Berlinda told the Daily Beast.
'So the gunman went in and he told the children, "You’re going to die." And [Amerie] had her phone and she called 911. And instead of grabbing it and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her. She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood,' Berlinda said.
Also killed in the attack were two boys - Xavier Lopez, 10, and nine-year-old Uziyah Garcia - and three more girls - Makenna Elrod, 10, Eliahana Torres, also 10, and Ellie, whose age and surname were not immediately available. Eva Mireles, 44, and Irma Garcia, a mother-of-four, were the two teachers shot and killed.
Ramos was eventually stopped by a Border Patrol agent who had been manning a nearby post and rushed into the school. The two exchanged gunfire, with Ramos shot and killed. The agent was wounded, a local official said, but was able to walk himself out of the school.
More than a dozen children were also hurt in the attack, including a ten-year-old girl taken to hospital in the nearby city of San Antonio in critical condition. A 66-year-old woman - believed to be Ramos's grandmother who he shot at the start of his killing spree - was in the same hospital, also in critical.
A second hospital within Uvalde itself said 13 children had been brought to them, without saying what condition they are in. Police warned late Tuesday that the death toll is expected to rise.
Just hours before the killings took place, Ramos had messaged an acquaintance on Instagram telling her he had a 'lil secret' he wanted to share, after earlier tagging her in a photo of two guns he bought himself on his 18th birthday. His TikTok account also featured a short user bio that read: 'Kids Be Scared.'
Scroll Down For Videos:
Amerie Jo Garza, 10 (right), was among 19 children shot dead at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday. Her grandmother said she was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up covered in her blood
Uziyah Garcia, nine, (left) and Makenna Elrod, 10, (right) were both confirmed dead by loved ones on Facebook
Xavier Lopez, 10, (left) and Eliahana Torres, 10, (right) was also killed at the school shooting on Tuesday
Ellie Lugo (left) and Nevaeh Bravo (right) were also killed. Ellie was reported as missing for several hours before her parents confirmed her death
Annabelle Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, and Rogelio Torres, right, were also killed
Irma Garcia (left) and Eva Mireles (right), who co-taught fourth grade, were both shot and killed at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday
One video at the scene appears to show the suspected gunman, named by Governor Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background
Salvador Ramos, 18, from Uvalde, has been identified as the shooter. He was described as a bullied loner who slowly dropped out of school due to teasing about his lisp, habit of wearing eyeliner, clothes and his family's poverty
Horrified parents and students gathered after the shooting at the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center
Relatives of those hurt and killed in the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas, weep outside in a local civic center where survivors of the massacre had been taken
Women share a tearful group embrace as they wait for news of their loved ones at the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center in Uvalde, Texas, after a mass shooting at a nearby school
Relatives and loved ones of those caught up in the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, join hands as they tearfully pray during a vigil for the victims - which include 19 children
One of the rifles that Ramos legally purchased was found alongside his body in the school, police sources told Click2Houston, while another was found in a truck which he crashed close by.
A backpack filled with loaded magazines was found abandoned on the way into the school, while seven 30-round magazines were found inside the grounds. It was not immediately clear whether they were full or empty. Ramos was found wearing a body armor vest, police added, though it had no armor plating inside.
Joe Biden, speaking at the White House where he had ordered flags to fly at half-staff in honour of the victims, kicked off the inevitable debate about gun control. Declaring himself 'sick and tired' of the cyclical discussion, he called for voters to 'turn this pain into action' to prevent more mass killings. 'We have to act,' he said.
'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done,' he said.
Ted Cruz, Republican senator for Texas, led the response - repeating well-worn arguments that 'restricting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens' to prevent mass shootings 'doesn't work'. The solution, he said, is to put armed officers on school campuses. Cruz is due to speak an at NRA conference on Friday.
Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother before going to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; engaging border patrol agents nearby in a shootout; and then barricading himself inside the school, killing 19 students and two teachers
Children confirmed dead by family members included 10-year-olds Xavier Lopez, Eliahana Torres, and Makenna Elrod, and eight-year-old Uziyah Garcia.
Another girl called Ellie Garcia was also confirmed to have died by her grieving parents.
Angel Garza, the father of Amerie who had been appealing on Facebook for news of his then-missing daughter, told ABC News late Tuesday: 'Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby,
'She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.'
Amelia Sandoval, the grandmother of victim Xavier Lopez, told ABC: 'It's just so hard... you send your kids to school thinking they are going to make it back home but they're not.'
A picture of the gunman has also started to emerge as a bullied loner, picked on at school because of a lisp, a habit of wearing eyeliner, his clothes and because he came from a poor family.
Those who knew Ramos or his relatives say he was a 'nice' but 'quiet' boy who grew increasingly violent as he became older, amid relentless bullying both in school and online.
Santos Valdez told the Washington Post that he used to be friends with Ramos and played online shooter games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty with him, until the pair stopped talking as Ramos's behaviour 'deteriorated.'
Valdez said Ramos had showed up to the park one time with cuts all over his face, initially claiming he was scratched by a cat before admitting that he did it to himself with a knife.
Stephen Garcia, who considered himself Ramos’s best friend in eighth grade, said he was 'bullied by a lot of people' including for over a photo of himself wearing eyeliner which led to 'gay' taunts. Garcia said Ramos dropped out of school when he moved away to another part of the state, and the two had lost touch.
Others confirmed that Ramos had stopped attending classes, and did not intend to take part in graduation this summer. Instead, he got a job at a local Wendy's restaurant.
A colleague there described Ramos has having an aggressive streak. She told the Daily Beast he walked around with a pair of boxing gloves at the park, asking people to fight him and filming it. He also menaced co-workers, asking one of the cooks: 'Do you know who I am?'
'He would be very rude towards the girls sometimes... and he would also send inappropriate texts to the ladies,' the former colleague said, asking for her name not to be used.
As an 18th birthday present to himself earlier this month, Ramos bought two AR-style rifles and paraded them on social media, including in ominous messages sent hours before the killing started.
A teenage acquaintance of Ramos, who lives in Los Angeles and claims to barely know him, posted screenshots of messages he sent her early Tuesday after tagging her in a picture of his rifles. In them, he said he wanted to share a 'lil secret' and urged her to respond to him. The conversation ended before Ramos revealed his secret.
People waiting for news of their loved ones following a mass shooting in Texas embrace outside a civic center in the city
Two women weep as they embrace one-another following a mass shooting at a Texas school which killed at least 19 children
A woman cries while speaking on the phone outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School to be picked up following the shooting
Women embrace one-another as they mourn outside a civic center in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas, following a mass shooting at an elementary school
Crowds of people comfort one-another following a mass shooting at a school in the city of Uvalde, southern Texas
Law enforcement are seen near the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon after the mass murder at the school
Ramos's home in Uvalde is seen on Tuesday as police try to fathom a motive for the shooting
Ruben Flores, who knew Ramos's family, said he had an unstable home life and got into blow-up fights with his mother, who he grew up with alongside two sisters in a house around a five minute drive from Robb Elementary.
Police had been called to the home on more than one occasion, Flores added.
She said Ramos had moved in with his grandmother 'a few months ago'. Flores said the grandmother was in the process of evicting Ramos's mother from her house, which the elderly lady owned.
The deadly assault in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.
On May 14, an 18-year-old self-declared white supremacist shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store, targeting black people.
The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and wounding five.
Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to strengthen - or weaken - their own restrictions.
The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.
The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest data.
It was the deadliest such incident since 14 high school students and three adult staff were killed in Parkland, Florida in 2018 - and the worst at an elementary school since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed.
'The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong,' said Joe Biden, addressing the country from the White House on Tuesday night.
'As a nation, we have to ask: When in God's name will we stand up to the gun lobby?'
He added: 'Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep on letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone?'
Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.
Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.
Garcia, who co-taught with Mireles for the last five year, had been at Robb Elementary for 23 years.
Married to Joe for 24 years, she was a mother of four - Cristian, completing Marine boot camp; Jose, attending Texas State university University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a 7th grader.
'My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in y’all’s prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO,' tweeted her nephew John.
'She was loved by many and will truly be missed.'
She was nominated as teacher of the year for the 2018-19 awards, organized by Trinity University.
'Let me assure you, the intruder is deceased,' said Pete Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department.
New video from the chaotic scene shows police arriving to the scene with their guns in hand
A police vehicle is seen parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect behind a shooting at Robb Elementary School
Law enforcement are seen at the scene of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday
State troopers are seen near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday
Sheriffs are seen outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday
A mobile morgue is seen on Tuesday afternoon being brought to the site of the shooting
America's worst school shootings
There have been dozens of shootings and other attacks in U.S. schools and colleges over the years, but until the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, the number of dead tended to be in the single digits. Since then, the number of shootings that included schools and killed 10 or more people has mounted. The most recent two were both in Texas.
ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, May 2022
An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children, two teachers and injuring others, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The shooter died.
SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, May 2018
A 17-year-old opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The suspect has been charged with murder.
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, February 2018
An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.
UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, October 2015
A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.
SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, December 2012
A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators. He took his own life.
VIRGINIA TECH, April 2007
A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.
RED LAKE HIGH SCHOOL, March 2005
A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher and a security guard before shooting himself.
COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, April 1999
Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.
Ramos shared photos on social media of guns. His account was taken down shortly after Governor Greg Abbott confirmed his name
Heartbreaking moment parents line up to give DNA swabs to help cops identify victims
Grim footage showed parents lining up to give DNA swabs to help identify the remains of 19 students massacred by a gunman at a Texas elementary school.
The family members were filmed lining up outside an auditorium close to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Tuesday evening before darkness fell.
Sobs could be heard throughout the evening as at least five family members were told their children had been killed. Two teachers have also been confirmed as victims of the grisly incident.
Parents had to wait outside the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center to provide DNA swabs to help authorities identify remains of children who may be unrecognizable after the tragedy.
Parents also desperately waited for their children at designated meeting spots, hoping their loved ones would reappear. As the night wore on, the parking lot of cars slowly began to peel away.
Among the lost children are Makenna Elrod, Uziyah Garcia, nine, and Xavier Lopez, 10, Amerie Jo Garza, Eliahana Torres, Ellie Garcia, as well as fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles and another teacher Irma Garcia.
Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.
Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools - most recently at the end of March.
'We are not looking for another individual in relation to this case.'
Ramos's social media was full of photos of guns, which he bought legally on his 18th birthday, state senator Roland Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said that Ramos was born in North Dakota but lived in Uvalde.
Ramos messaged a woman he knew on Instagram, tagging her in a photo of the guns.
'You gonna repost my gun pics,' @sal8dor_ direct messaged the girl on May 12.
'what your guns gotta do with me,' she replied on Friday.
'Just wanted to tag you,' he said back.
Then at 5:43am on Tuesday, @salv8dor_ messaged her and said: 'I'm about to'.
The girl asked 'about to what' to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11.'
He said he'd text her in an hour and urged her to respond.
'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,' he messaged with a smiley face emoji covering its mouth.
'Be grateful I tagged you,' he wrote.
She replied: 'No it's just scary,' adding: 'I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns?'
His last message at 9:16am on Tuesday was 'Ima air out'.
The shooting started around 11:32am.
The woman reacted with horror when she learnt what he had done.
'He's a stranger I know nothing about him he decided to tag me in his gun post,' she wrote.
'I'm so sorry for the victims and their families I really don't know what to say.'
She then added: 'The only reason I responded to him was because I was afraid of him I wish I stayed awake to at least try to convince him to not commit his crime. I didn't know.'
When an Instagram user asked if she was his girlfriend, she replied: 'I don't know him and I don't even live in Texas.'
Robb Elementary School, which has 600 students enrolled, is located in the city of Uvalde, hometown of Matthew McConaughey, 60 miles east of the Mexican border and 80 miles west of San Antonio.
A school friend of Ramos's said that he sent him the photos of his guns too.
'He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using … and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags,' the friend told CNN.
'I was like, 'bro, why do you have this?' and he was like, 'Don't worry about it.'
'He proceeded to text me, 'I look very different now. You wouldn't recognize me,' he added.
The friend said Ramos was mocked by others for the clothes he wore and his family's financial situation, and eventually was seen less in class.
He largely dropped out, and took the job at Wendy's, where co-workers remember him as quiet.
Adrian Mendes, evening manager at the Wendy's, said Ramos 'kept to himself mostly.'
'He felt like the quiet type, the one who doesn't say much. He didn't really socialize with the other employees,' Mendes told CNN.
'He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.'
Mendes said that he did not know Ramos well - he was already employed when Mendes began in February - and didn't see him most of the time because they were on different shifts.
Ramos worked from 11am to 4pm or 5pm, five days a week.
President Joe Biden gave a short but impassioned speech less than two hours after returning from a trip to Asia
Biden delivered the remarks in the White House Roosevelt Room with a silent and solemn First Lady Dr. Jill Biden by his side
The American flag flies at half staff on the White House after President Joe Biden spoke about the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
Biden: 'When in God's name are we going to stand up to gun lobby?'
Photos show a pickup truck that crashed outside the school, which, according to Abbott, Ramos abandoned before entering the school.
He was involved in a gunfight with border patrol agents who arrived on the scene. One of the agents was injured, but is expected to survive.
Biden, who flew home from Japan on Tuesday, addressed the nation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House at 8:45pm. Air Force One landed just before 7pm.
'I had hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this. Again. Another massacre,' a visibly emotional Biden said.
Speaking from the White House Roosevelt Room with First Lady Jill Biden clad in black by his side, the president said: 'Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful innocent, second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happen - see their friends die as if they're on a battlefield, for God's sake?'
He took a moment to empathize with parents who would never see their young children again after Tuesday.
'Parents will never be the same. To lose a child, it's like having a piece of your soul ripped away,' said the president, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015.
'There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.'
He lamented there were 'so many crush spirits' left to mourn the more than dozen victims.
'So tonight, I asked the nation to pray for them. Give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.'
His voice growing louder, Biden continued: 'As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God's name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?'
Biden recalled the numerous mass shootings over the last decade, including visiting Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 26 people including 20 children while he was vice president. He also remarked on the this month's mass shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.
'I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage. I spent my career as a senator and vice president working to pass common sense gun laws,' he said.
'We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired mass shootings tripled.'
He said the ability for a teenage gunman, like Salvador Ramos, to be able to 'walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.;
'What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?' Biden questioned.
He then accused gun makers of spending 'two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit.'
The flags above the White House are flying at half staff.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, is seen on Tuesday addressing the mass shooting at the school in Uvalde
Abbott addresses deadly mass shooting at Texas elementary school
Concerned parents were captured at the scene desperately searching for their children and video from the chaotic scene showed police arriving to the school campus with their guns in hand.
One widely shared video appears to show the suspected gunman approach the school while what sounds like gunfire is going off in the background.
'There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site,' The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District said.
Videos taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting show mothers frantically running towards the campus to collect their kids.
The school warned parents to stay away and instead collect their children from a rendezvous point after they had been 'accounted for'.
'Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared.'
The students were holding a day of celebrations, receiving certificates for the end of the school year.
Dr Hal Harrell, superintendent of Uvalde school district, said that classes had been cancelled for the rest of the school year.
'School will be closed,' Harrell told a press conference on Tuesday evening.
'The school year is done. All activities are cancelled throughout the district - I know graduation is on everyone's mind, but we will come to that later.
'My heart was broken today.
'We are a small community, and we will need your prayers to get through this.'
Ninety percent of the school's students are Hispanic and there are some 70 teachers.
It is one many schools in the district that is a stone's throw from the Mexican border, with the city of Coahuila 220 miles away. The school sits on the outskirts of the city of Uvalde, population 16,000.
Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, told Fox News that shots were fired off site, and that after shooting one person, the gunman ran to the school where he barricaded himself inside.
The district said that the city's civic center will be used as a reunification center and that parents will be able to pick up their children there once everyone is accounted for.
A mobile morgue was seen arriving at the school on Tuesday afternoon.
A board with the list of classes and teachers is displayed outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center
FBI agents arrive at Robb Elementary School following Tuesday's shooting
Video shows shooting suspect approaching Robb Elementary School
State police arrive at the scene of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday
Police confirm 15 killed in mass shooting at Elementary School
Matthew McConaughey has been besieged by tweets in the wake of the shooting.
'This is your hometown, these are your people! A word from you now will go further than a word from almost anyone else,' wrote one person.
'Please use your voice and address gun control in Texas. People listen to you,' wrote another.
'I really hope @McConaughey will reconsider his run for Governor after what occurred in his childhood hometown today. It's time to and his cronies out of office and get real gun control in place NOW!'
McConaughey previously teased a possible Texas gubernatorial run for 2022, but last year announced he wouldn't proceed with his plans to enter politics.
Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, tweeted that he and his wife are 'lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.'
Ken Paxton, the attorney general for Texas, told Fox News that more teachers should carry guns.
'We can't stop bad people from doing bad things,' he said, adding that he had 'never understood that argument'.
'We can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through.
'We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly.
'The reality is that we don't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school.
'So it takes time for law enforcement - now matter how prepared, no matter how good they are - to get there. So having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope.
'Nothing is going to work perfectly, but that, in my opinion it's the best answer to this problem.'
But Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic from Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, made an impassioned appeal for concrete action to prevent further violence.
'This isn't inevitable, these kids weren't unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day,' Murphy said on the Senate floor.
'I'm here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues: Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely,' he added.
Kamala Harris, the vice president, said: 'Enough is enough. As a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again.'
The deadly violence in Texas follows a series of mass shootings in the United States this month.
Law enforcement crowds the entrance of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where a gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told Fox News that shots were fired offsite and that after shooting one person the gunman ran to the school where he remained barricaded. He was then shot and killed by law enforcement
A gunman was on the run at Robb Elementary School (pictured) in Uvalde as the campus and all other schools in the district went into lockdown
Police and ambulances arrive at scene of Texas school shooting
On May 14, an 18-year-old white man shot 10 people dead at a Buffalo, New York grocery store.
Wearing heavy body armor and wielding an AR-15 rifle, the self-declared white supremacist allegedly livestreamed his attack, having reportedly targeted the store because of the large surrounding African American population.
The following day, a man blocked the door of a church in Laguna Woods, California and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five.
Despite recurring mass-casualty shootings, multiple initiatives to reform gun regulations have failed in the US Congress, leaving states and local councils to enact their own restrictions.
The National Rifle Association has been instrumental in fighting against stricter US gun laws. Abbott and Cruz are listed as speakers at a forum that is being held by the powerful lobby in Houston, Texas later this week.
The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the 'monstrous' shooting before directing her ire at colleagues that have stood in the way of gun reform.
'Words are inadequate to describe the agony and outrage at the cold-blooded massacre of little schoolchildren and a teacher at Robb Elementary School today,' Pelosi said in a statement.
'This monstrous shooting stole the futures of precious children, who will never experience the joys of graduating from school, chasing the career of their dreams, falling in love, even starting a family of their own.'
Referring to the multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, the Democrat continued: 'Across the nation, Americans are filled with righteous fury in the wake of multiple incomprehensible mass shootings in the span of just days.'
'This a crisis of existential proportions – for our children and for every American. For too long, some in Congress have offered hollow words after these shootings while opposing all efforts to save lives,' she said.
'It is time for all in Congress to heed the will of the American people and join in enacting the House-passed bipartisan, commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.'
Texas elementary school massacre is just the latest in long line of bloody school shootings over the last 10 years
SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2012: 27 DEAD, 2 INJURED
Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 elementary school students at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the largest school shooting in the US
In December 2012, the deadliest school shooting in America took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Lanza arrived to the school with three guns - a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, and two pistols after killing his mother, Nancy - with whom, he reportedly only communicated via email.
When he arrived to the school around 9.30am, the doors were locked as part of a new safety feature the school had recently rolled out. He allegedly 'shot the entrance into the building,' according to CNN.
The school psychologist and vice principal went to investigate after hearing 'popping' noises and the psychologist was shot by Lanza.
The elementary school was placed in lockdown and students were ushered into restrooms and closets to hide.
Lanza moved toward kindergarten and first-grade classrooms first. In one of the classrooms, he shot all 14 kindergarteners and six first-graders.
By the time law enforcement arrived to the scene, 20 students and six staff members were killed.
Sandy Hook anniversary: Activists call for gun restrictions in 2015
Little angels and stuffed animals lined the dirt in honor of the elementary schoolchildren who died in the shooting
As law enforcement approached the 20-year-old, he shot himself.
Although his motive is unknown, Lanza's old writings were discovered years later and shed light into the young man's mind. He had written to a fellow gamer that he had a 'scorn for humanity' and had been 'desperate to feel anything positive for someone for my entire life.'
A child advocate's for the state of Connecticut also said Lanza had severe mental health problems and suffered from anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and was on the autism spectrum. He was also preoccupied with violence, according to CBS News.
With ease of access to his mother's weapons and being home-schooled, the advocate said it was 'proved a recipe for mass murder.'
MARYSVILLE PILCHUCK HIGH SCHOOL, OCTOBER 2014: 4 DEAD, 1 INJURED
Jaylen Fryberg, 17, killed his four 'ride or die' friends at lunch in October 2014 and said he 'needed to do this'
Marysville student Jaylen Fryberg, 17, gathered his friends around a table in the Washington state's school cafeteria and shot each of them in the head one-by-one to take them to 'the other side,' in October 2014. He shot them with a 'blank stare' and shot them 'left to right.'
Fryberg had sent a photo of the handgun to a friend just moments before he would open fire, killing four. He told the person he texted to call him before he did 'the thing.'
After shooting the four students as others watched on, he shot himself as a teacher ran toward him, the Washington Post reported.
The teen had methodically planned the massacre, even leaving a note for his parents with his funeral arrangements and what to do with his assets, if he had any.
He had texted his father: 'Read the paper on my bed. Dad, I love you.'
Students hug and cry after the shooting that took the lives of four and injured one
Inside the note, he told his parents he wanted to be 'fully dressed in Camo in my casket' and all his 'trust money or whatever goes to my brother.'
Fryberg also apologized to his friends' parents, but said he needed 'ride or dies with me on the other side.'
'I LOVE YOU FAMILY! I really do! More then anything,' he wrote. 'I needed to do this tho[ugh]…I wasn’t happy. And I need my crew with me too. I’m sorry. I love you.'
UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, OCTOBER 2015: 9 DEAD, 9 INJURIED
Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, killed himself after the shooting
Student Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26, opened fire in Snyder Hall at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, in October 2015 around 10.45am.
He killed eight students and one teacher before police arrived. Authorities and Mercer engaged in a brief shootout, before Mercer turned the gun on himself and took his own life.
More weapons were found in his apartment, which he shared with his mother, and he had handed a student a USB drive with his manifesto on it.
'It's pretty well laid out that he was a dejected failure,' Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said at the time. 'The only thing that I can conclude from it is he was mentally and emotionally ill.'
His manifesto detailed a life of a lonely virgin, who self-described himself as the 'most hated person in the world' and said he hated black men, whom he said only cared about their 'penises.'
Mercer also reportedly said he was constantly 'under siege' by 'morons and idiots,' the Oregonian reported.
Mercer wrote: 'What was it that was supposed to happen, what great event was it that was supposed to make me realize how much there was going for me?
'But for people like me there is another world, a darker world that welcomes us. For people like us this all that's left. My success in Hell is assured.'
Police arrived on campus in bulletproof vests and rifles after Mercer killed eight students and one teacher
Hundreds gathered for a vigil for victims of a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College
Roseburg residents mourn victims of Umpqua college massacre in 2015
The young man also reportedly said he was 'denied' everything he deserved and likened himself the Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook shooters.
'Though we may have been born bad. Society left us no recourse, no way to be good,' he reportedly wrote.
'I have been forced to align myself with demonic forces. What was once an involuntary relationship has now become an alignment, a service. I now serve the demonic Heirarchy(sic). When I die will become one of them. A demon. And I will return to kill again and again.'
NORTH PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, APRIL 2017: 2 DEAD, 1 INJURED
Cedric Anderson, 53, shot and killed his wife at North Park Elementary, killing one student and injuring one other
Cedric Anderson, 53, entered the San Bernardino, California, school around 10.30am in April 2017, where his wife Karen Elaine Smith, also 53, worked as a special-education teacher.
He told administrators he was there to see his wife and walked into her classroom, which was positioned near the office.
He fired six shots from a Magnum revolver when he entered the classroom, killing his wife and an eight-year-old student and injuring another child. He reloaded the revolver and shot himself.
Although the motive is unknown, many suspected his wife - who had recently divorced him - was being abused, according to the San Bernardino Sun.
Since the shooting, her classroom IB, no longer exists. The classroom walls have been knocked down and it is now an open space for students to work on projects.
The school remodeled its building and outfitted every classroom with tempered glass windows, installed steel doors with locks on the inside, and a door that leads to the outside, which is mandated by law.
Although his motive is unknown, many suspect he abused his wife and that's what led to their divorce
AZTEC HIGH SCHOOL, DECEMBER 2017: 2 DEAD, 0 INJURED
William Atchison, 21, shot and killed two students at Aztec High School
Former student William Atchison, 21, disguised himself as student and hide in a bathroom with a Glock on the second floor of the New Mexico school, according to Fox News.
The custodian reported ran down the hallways screaming about an active shooter and telling teachers to go into 'lockdown.'
He killed a male student who walked into the bathroom before killing a girl in the hallway and then turned the gun on himself.
The shooter had left a manifesto on a USB drive that was found on his body, where he had allegedly wrote: 'Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks. I just want out...'
Atchison had been on the FBI's radar since 2016 after he allegedly asked in a forum: 'Where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting?'
He told investigators he just liked to troll online forums and authorities found that he was not in possession of any weapons at the time after interviewing him at his parent's house.
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS - PARKLAND, FEBRUARY 2018: 17 DEAD, 17 INJURIED
Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members in February 2018. He pleaded guilty and now faces the death penalty
The now-third biggest school shooting in US history happened in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day.
Nikolas Cruz, then 19, shot and killed 14 students and three staff members and injured an additional 17.
The shooter, who was adopted, shot students with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He began shooting students outside of the school before working his way inside, according to NBC News.
After the shooting, he slipped past authorities by hiding among the crowd running out of the school.
For years, Cruz was a subject of police attention as his parents had called 911 several times on him for being out of control and had been tripped off to the FBI about concerning behavior, NPR reported.
Starting when Cruz was 10 years old, his mother reported seeing violent behavior and had called the police after he and his other adopted brother Zach had gotten into a fight. She also reported Cruz had pushed her up against a wall after taking an X-Box game away and he had used a BB gun to shoot a chicken.
Students were ushered out of the building with their hands on each other's backs after the Valentine's day shooting
Hundreds of memorial items were gathered around the school sign after the shooting, which killed 17 and injured 17 others. It is the second largest school shooting in the US
Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to 2018 mass shooting in Parkland
After his mother died, he went to live with a family friend and had reportedly gotten in a fight with their son.
He told police: 'The thing is, I lost my mother a couple days ago. So like, I'm dealing with a bunch of things right now. I kind of got mad. And I started punching walls and stuff and a kid came at me and threw me on the ground. And he kicked me out of the house.'
The family claimed he put a gun to their son's head and had done it to his adoptive mother as well before.
Cruz (pictured in 2022) was adopted and showed signs of violent behavior the age of 10
Cruz had also been expelled from two school, was self-harming and had reportedly been diagnosed with depression, NPR reported.
He pleaded guilty in October 2021 and now faces the death penalty.
SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL, MAY 2018: 10 DIED, 12 INJURED
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, shot up Santa Fe High School and now awaits trial and faces up to 40 years in prison
Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then 17, killed 10 and injured 12 others at Santa Fe High School in Texas in May 2018.
A student said Pagourtzis hid a shotgun and a handgun under his trench coat before opening fire in a first-period art class.
The then-student told police he did not kill anyone he liked because he wanted them to be able to tell the story, AP reported.
Authorities say Pagourtzis planned the killings, carried out with weapons owned by his father. Though Pagourtzis allegedly wrote about his intention to carry out the attack, authorities have not indicated a motive for the violence.
Although the motive is unknown, a student's mother said her daughter had rejected Pagourtzis romantically and her daughter, Shana Fisher, had made clear that she was not interested in him.
'He continued to get more aggressive,' the mother told AP. 'She finally stood up to him and embarrassed him.'
The incident took place one week before the shooting and it is unclear if that drove Pagourtzis to kill.
Police also said they found multiple IEDs, pressure cookers, Molotov cocktails, pipe bombs, propane tanks, and other homemade explosives near the school and parking lot after the shooting.
He had engaged in a 25-minute shootout with police before surrendering after being injured.
Pagourtzis is currently awaiting trial. He faces 40 years in prison.
Police gather outside the high school, where 10 died and 12 were injured
SAUGUS HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2018: 2 DEAD, 3 INJURED
Nathaniel Berhow, 16, attempted suicide after the shooting and later died in the hospital
Nathaniel Berhow, 16, killed two students and injured two others at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, in November 2018.
Authorities said the attack was planned, but the victims were chosen at random.
'It was a planned attack; it was deliberate. He knew how many rounds he had, for example,' Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at the time, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Berhow was dropped off at the school by his mother and was standing in the quad alongside other students. Authorities said he was standing away from students and was still before moving toward the center of the quad, where he dropped his backpack and began firing at students.
He shot five people in 16 seconds, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Berhow also shot himself in an attempted suicide and was taken to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The motive for the attack is still unknown.
Students mourned outside the high school after the shooting that killed two and injured three
Students reunited with parents recount their terror as shooting began
OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL, NOVEMBER 2021: 4 DIED, 7 INJURED
Ethan Crumbley, 15, faces life in prison and is scheduled to go to trial in September
The most recent well-known school shooter is 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan after a guidance counseling meeting with his parents at the school.
Four students were killed and seven more people were injured in the shooting.
Crumbley had a meeting with school administrators, and his mother was contacted via voicemail by the school about her son's inappropriate ammunition-related internet search.
According to the prosecutor, the mother and father also failed to ask Ethan if he had his gun with him, or where his gun was, and did not inspect his backpack.
Instead, the teen returned to class and the shooting occurred later.
His parents were also arrested after a large-scale manhunt. James and Jennifer were captured in the basement of a building in Detroit, less than half a mile from the Canadian border.
All the Crumbleys are being held at the Oakland County Jail. His parents are currently facing trial for four counts of manslaughter and have requested their trial be moved out of Oakland County.
Ethan is awaiting trial, which is schedule for September, and he faces life in prison.
Students gather around the school sign to place flowers after the shooting that killed four and injured seven others
James and Jennifer Crumbley also face trial and have recently requested their trial be moved out of Oakland County
Joe Biden's address to the nation in full
Good evening my fellow Americans. I had hoped when I became president I would not have to do this. Again
Another massacre, Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent, second, third, fourth-graders. And how many scores of little children, see their friends die, as if they're on a battlefield for God's sake. Gotta live with it the rest of their lives.
There's a lot we don't know yet. But there's a lot we do know.
The parents who will never see their child again. Never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them Parents who will never be the same.
To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There's a hollowness in your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it. And never going to be able to get out. Suffocating. And it's never quite the same. It's the feeling shared by the siblings and the grandparents and the family members and the community that's left behind.
Scripture says - and Jill and I have talked about this in different contexts, in other contexts - the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
President Joe Biden delivered remarks from the White House Tuesday night about the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas after returning from a five-day trip to South Korea and Japan
So many crushed spirits.
So tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them.
And give the parents, siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.
As a nation we have to ask, when in God's name are we doing to stand up to the gun lobby?
When in God's name we all do in our gut needs to be done?
It's been ... 3,448 days, 10 years, since I stood up at a high school in Connecticut - a grade school in Connecticut, where another gun man massacred 26 people, including 20 first-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Since then, there have been over 900 incidents, gun fires reported on school grounds - Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Santa Fe high school in Texas, Oxford high school in Michigan, and the list goes on and on and the list grows - when we include mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship - as we saw just 10 days ago at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
I am sick and tired of it.
We have to act. And don't tell me we can't have an impact on this carnage.
I spent my career as a senator and a vice president working to pass common-sense gun laws.
We can't and won't prevent every tragedy, but we know they work and have positive impact.
When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down, when the law expired, mass shootings tripled.
The idea that an 18-year old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.
What in God's name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?
Deer aren't running through the forest with Kevlar vests on for God's sake. It's just sick.
And the gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons, which make them the most and largest profit. For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry.
Here's what else I know.
Most Americans support common sense laws, common sense gun laws.
I just got off a trip from Asia meeting with Asian leaders. And I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. What struck me on that 17-hour flight, what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.
Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why we we keep letting this happen?
Where in God's name is our backbone?
To have the courage to deal with, to stand up to the lobbies.
It's the time to turn this pain into action. For every parent, for every citizen of this county, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country, it's time to act.
For those who obstruct or delay or block the common sense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget. We can do so much more, we have to do more.
Our prayer tonight is those parents lying in bed trying to figure out, will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?
May God bless the loss of innocent life on this sad day.
And may the lord be near the brokenhearted and save those crushed in spirit becaue they're going to need a lot of help, a lot of our prayers. God love you.
FOLLOW 6IX WORLD NEWS HERE