After a teenage gunman killed 18 children at an elementary school in Texas’ Uvalde, US president Joe Biden on Wednesday urged Americans to stand-up to the powerful pro-gun lobby to stop the menace of school shooting.
“When, in God’s name, are we going to stand up to the gun lobby,” Biden said in his address to the nation from the White House, with a visibly concerned US First Lady Jill Biden on her side.
Biden urged US citizens and signaled that following this incident the political establishment in the United States needs to react. “It’s time to turn this pain into action for every parent, for every citizen of this country. We have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: it’s time to act,” Biden said.
“Their friends died as if they’re on a battlefield,” Biden added, expressing his grief at the death of the young children.
The US president, who was in Tokyo, only hours ago, was briefed regarding the school shooting in Robb Elementary School. He ordered that the US flag be flown at half-staff outside the White House to pay respect to victims of the mass shooting in Uvalde.
Texas governor Greg Abbott, a pro-gun lawmaker, said that the lone gunman named Salvador Ramos who was 18-year-old, was believed to have shot his grandmother before heading to the school where he entered armed with a handgun and a rifle.
The death toll from the Texas school shooting rose to 21, as authorities revealed that 3 adults were also shot along with the 18 children, but it is unclear if the shooter was also among those three killed. According to an AFP report, Abbott said that ‘responding officers killed him.’
A law enforcement officer told news agency The Associated Press that a Border Patrol agent who was close to the school shot the gunman.
Pete Arredondo, Uvalde CISD chief of police, told the Texas Tribune that the gunman, Salvador Ramos, acted independently.
The Texas Tribune also reported that three hospitals in the area were treating the injured. According to their report, Uvalde Memorial Hospital received 13 children and one adult while two were brought dead.
The Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and University Health were also providing care to those injured in the shooting. The latter is treating a 66-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl both of whose conditions are critical.
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