2 hours ago
It is believed that the police who rushed to the site killed the attacker
At least 15 people were killed in a new shooting incident at an elementary school in the US state of Texas, according to an official statement from Gov. Greg Abbott, on Tuesday.
An 18-year-old gunman killed 14 students and one teacher at Robb Primary School, in the city of Ovaldi.
Abbott said the suspect was armed with a handgun, and possibly a rifle, in the attack. He added that he had died, and he believed that the officers who rushed to the scene of the accident were the ones who killed him.
Citizens were asked to stay away from the school, while police investigated the crime scene.
And shootings in primary schools, where pupils range from 5 to 11 years old, are still relatively rare.
Tuesday’s attack comes amid a surge in armed violence nationwide.
Governor Abbott identified the attacker as an 18-year-old state citizen, and said he “shot and killed 14 students and killed a teacher in a horrific and incomprehensible manner.”
“He himself is dead, and it is believed that the officers who responded to the incident killed him,” he added.
It is believed that two officers sustained gunshot wounds, but that their injuries were not serious.
And local American media reported that the gunman also killed his grandmother at the beginning of the shooting.
picture released, Archyde.com
The Ovald Unified Independent School District, 35 km west of San Antonio, told the BBC that the students had been evacuated from the school.
Local hospitals also revealed that school students are receiving treatment with emergency services.
Hospital officials said earlier that a 66-year-old woman, who was being treated at a San Antonio hospital, was in critical condition and believed to be one of the attacker’s victims.
Uvald Memorial Hospital posted a statement on Facebook saying that 13 children had been taken to the hospital “by ambulances or buses”.
A Facebook post earlier said “two people” had died when they arrived at the hospital.
“This is a very bad situation,” Don McLaughlin, the mayor of Yuvaldi, told ABC News in a text message.
The FBI is involved in the investigation, according to CBS.
Thursday is set to be the last day of classes for students in the school district. In Yuvaldi, a community of about 16,000 inhabitants.
School shootings have become a frequent emergency in the United States, with 26 cases recorded last year, according to EdWeek, an educational trade publication.
Drills to confront an attacker who shoots are a common part of the school curriculum, from elementary to high school.
The 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, USA. Twenty of the 26 victims in that attack, carried out by a 20-year-old, were between the ages of 5 and 6.
A 2020 US Accountability Office report found that about two-thirds of school shootings occur at the secondary level, and that elementary school shootings are often accidental.