Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified the suspected gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an Uvalde elementary school Monday as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.
The suspect entered Robb Elementary armed with a pistol and possibly a rifle as well, Abbott said at a news conference.
State Senator Roland Gutiérrez said he was informed this Monday afternoon by the state police about the death of four more children, who were hospitalized in serious condition.
Salvador Ramos, suspected of killing 14 children and a teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. NBC News
Authorities confirmed that Ramos died at the scene of the shooting.
It is believed that he died during a shootout with the authorities:
two police officers hit him.
He is the only suspect in the massacre.
"He horrifically, incomprehensibly, shot and killed 14 students and a teacher," the Republican governor said.
Authorities raised the death toll Monday night.
According to Senator Gutierrez,
the suspect had recently purchased two assault rifles
at a gun store in Uvalde, just after his 18th birthday.
Officers respond to a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. Dario Lopez-Mills / AP
Ramos was a former student of the school, a member of the Uvalde community,
and also a US citizen, Abbott added.
[A Suspect in the Murder of a Latino Shot in the New York Subway Is Arrested]
The authorities are still investigating his possible motives, as well as whether he had a legal permit to carry those weapons.
Abbott also claimed that the suspect shot his grandmother before heading to the school.
"I have no further information on the connection of these two shootings," he said.
Two officers were also injured but not seriously.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that
a Border Patrol agent was injured
while responding to the incident at the school, at the request of Uvalde police.
"I looked at the boy, very suspicious": a mother says she saw the Texas gunman before the attack
May 24, 202201:09
“Uvalde is experiencing the aftermath of a terrible mass shooting.
Pray for your students and teachers,” declared the mayor of the city of some 25,000 inhabitants, 70% of them Latino.
It is
the worst massacre at a Texas school in state history.
And the worst in the United States since a man gunned down 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, nearly a decade ago.
It also comes just 10 days after the massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, when a white supremacist opened fire on shoppers in what authorities said was a racist attack.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
