An 18-year-old gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, killed 19 children and 2 adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. The attacker was later gunned down by law enforcement.
American flags are to be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims
In his address to the nation, President Joe Biden directed that American flags are to be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims.
“I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, May 28, 2022,” President Joe Biden said in a press release.
“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Biden said. “These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world,” Biden said. “Why?” he added.
Texas school rampage: Deadliest shooting at a U.S. school in a decade
The assault at Robb Elementary School is the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since the shootout that killed 20 children and six adults in Connecticut, in December 2012.
According to Governor Greg Abbott, the suspect acted alone. “It is being reported that the subject shot his grandmother right before he went into the school,” Abbott said, “I have no further information about the connection between those two shootings”, he added.
The motive of the attack was not immediately known, but the officials identified the attacker as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles west of San Antonio. Law enforcement officials said he acted alone.
This is the second deadly mass shootout in the US in just 10 days after the racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.
