Heartbreaking scenes emerged from rural Texas after a gunman opened fire in an elementary school on Tuesday morning, killing at least 19 children and two adults.
An anxious crowd of more than 300 people gathered at one time, as distraught parents tried to confirm whether their children were among those slain in the mass killings at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School a decade ago.
Videos by VICE
The police have identified the suspected shooter as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who was killed by officers responding to the violence in the rural Texas town of Uvalde, about an hour from the Mexican border. He was possibly armed with a long rifle and a handgun, police said. Officials didn’t say what may have motivated the shooting.
Some students who survived the massacre had crawled through windows to escape and hid in a nearby funeral home, witnesses said. As of Tuesday night, some children remain missing.
Students were evacuated from the school, some covered in blood and injured. Those in critical condition were rushed to nearby hospitals.
The Willie DeLeon Civic Center became a tearful gathering place as parents awaited news of their loved ones. The center will also offer grief counseling to families.
Outside the center and near the hospitals, parents and children were seen sobbing and hugging each other for comfort on a hot muggy day. Families got swabbed for DNA to confirm their relationship to their children, as they waited for news of their kids.
On Tuesday evening, members of the community gathered in Uvalde’s town square to hold a prayer vigil to mourn the 21 lost lives.
Tuesday’s massacre comes just 10 days after a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, which left 10 dead and three injured. 11 of the victims were black.
The deadly rampage in Robb Elementary School is the 27th school shooting in 2022 alone.
Here are some photos from the aftermath of the Texas school rampage:
