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Police officers outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
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AARON M. SPRECHER / EPA
The shooter at an elementary school in the US state of Texas caused the bloodbath in a single classroom, according to police.
Police spokesman Chris Olivarez told US broadcaster CNN that all of the fatalities were in a fourth-grade classroom where the alleged perpetrator had previously barricaded himself.
Olivarez reported that the fatalities were 19 children and two teachers.
There are several children who survived injured, Olivarez told Fox.
The police spokesman did not give an exact number.
It was initially reported that the armed man, wearing a protective vest, entered several classrooms at the elementary school.
It is unclear whether all children have already been identified.
One of the two adult victims was a teacher, according to Governor Greg Abbott, and a fourth-grade teacher, according to CNN.
The 18-year-old suspected gunman was killed by police after Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, near San Antonio.
Perpetrator builds an accident near the school
As police spokesman Olivarez said, the alleged perpetrator lived with his grandparents and first shot his grandmother – she is still alive.
He then fled in a vehicle and had an accident near the school.
The police were alerted shortly afterwards because a man with a gun had broken into the school.
When the security forces arrived, the gunman opened fire and injured two police officers.
He then holed himself up in the classroom and began "shooting at children and teachers who were in the class."
Olivarez said this shows how vicious the shooter was.
The act sparked horror beyond America.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed their condolences to US President Joe Biden.
"Our thoughts are with the injured and survivors of the victims of this incredible massacre, for which words can hardly be found," wrote Scholz, for example.
hba/dpa/AP