Primary school shooting: 21 dead, including 19 children - gun violence continues

Created: 05/25/2022, 08:43

By: Lukas Zigo, Christian Stör

Another killing spree shakes the United States.

In Texas, the nation experiences the next shock - of almost incomprehensible proportions.

Update, 8:43 a.m .:

The Uvalde elementary school shooting is the second deadliest in recent US history.

Only the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 killed 26 people.

There have been 13 school shootings in the United States since 1988.

A total of 126 people died.

An overview:

• 1988: Chicago, Illinois - 4 dead

• 1989: Stockton, California- 5 dead

• 1992: Olivehurst, California - 4 dead

• 1998: Jonesboro, Arkansas - 5 dead

• 1999: Littleton, Colo. - 13 dead

• 2005: Red Lake, Minnesota - 8 dead

• 2006: Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania - 5 dead

• 2012: Newtown, Connecticut - 26 dead

• 2014: Marysville, Washington - 4 dead

• 2018: Santa Fe, Texas - 10 dead

• 2018: Parkland, Fla. - 17 dead

• 2021: Oxford, Michigan - 4 dead

• 2022: Uvalde, Texas - 21 dead

Primary school shooting in the US: Uvalde in shock

Update from Wednesday, May 25, 6:30 a.m .:

An almost incomprehensible act took place in the US state of Texas.

An 18-year-old opened fire in an elementary school, killing at least 19 school children.

It is one of the deadliest school massacres in US history.

According to investigators, the shooter entered the primary school in the small town of Uvalde on Tuesday afternoon (May 24) and shot himself.

He also killed at least two adults.

According to initial findings, the shooter was killed by security forces.

It was unclear if he himself was counted among the adult fatalities.

US President Joe Biden addressed the nation after the massacre and called for stricter gun laws.

At least 19 children have been killed in a shooting spree at Robb Elementary School in Texas, USA.

© William Luther/dpa

Uvalde, Texas: rampage in the USA – police comment on the course of events

Initially, the Uvalde police did not provide any information on the death toll.

Erick Estrada from the Texas Department of Public Safety only commented on the numbers later in an interview with CNN.

He also described the events leading up to the massacre.

First, the suspect shot his grandmother, Estrada said.

The incident happened in the grandmother's apartment - she was taken to a hospital.

Nothing was known about her condition at the moment.

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The shooter then drove to school in a car and had an accident there, Estrada said.

He then got out of the car and entered the school wearing a protective vest, a backpack and a gun.

There he opened fire.

The 18-year-old was then asked by the school's security staff.

However, Estrada emphasized that the investigation was still ongoing and that this information was still preliminary.

Emergency services at the primary school in Uvalde.

© Dario Lopez-Mills/AP/dpa

Gunman kills 14 children in attack at US elementary school in Uvalde, Texas

First report from Tuesday, May 24, 11:35 p.m.:

Uvalde / Washington – 14 children and a teacher were killed in a shooting spree at an elementary school in the US state of Texas.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said after the attack in the small town of Uvalde near San Antonio.

The shooter was also dead. According to initial findings, the attacker was an 18-year-old young man who had been killed by officials.

Tat reminiscent of Sandy Hook rampage

Shooting sprees, including in schools, occur with sad regularity in the United States.

A massacre at an elementary school ten years ago was particularly shocking: In December 2012, a 20-year-old with severe mental health problems in Newtown, Connecticut, first shot his mother.

He then went to his elementary school, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and killed 20 school children and six teachers there.

He then killed himself.

At the time, the act caused a shock nationwide and also caused horror beyond the borders of the USA.

Just over a week ago, a gunman with an assault rifle opened fire in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing ten people and injuring three others.

He was arrested at the scene of the crime.

According to investigators, the act was racially motivated - 11 of the 13 victims were black.

Buffalo has a mostly black population.

Number of rampages has doubled since 2017

Last year, the FBI counted 61 gun shootings in the United States.

That's more than 50 percent more than the year before, the FBI said in Washington.

The number has doubled since 2017.

In 2021, 103 people were killed and 140 injured in rampages.

That, too, is an increase of almost 50 percent compared to 2020. According to the information, 60 of the 61 shooters were men.

The FBI uses a strict definition for the count: it only includes cases in which a perpetrator shoots at people in public in order to kill them.

Classic criminal cases involving armed violence or shootings among gang members are ignored.

The level of gun violence overall is far greater in the United States.

Fatal incidents involving firearms, which are readily available there, occur regularly.

In its most recent statistics from 2020, the health authority CDC recorded a total of 45,222 gun deaths in the USA - more than 120 deaths per day.

(Luke Zigo/dpa)