Photo Credit: AP
Twenty-one people, including 18 children, have been killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Texas, the United States, on Thursday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect, an 18-year-old who was also killed, was a member of the local community who entered the school armed with a handgun, possibly a rifle, and opened fire. The gunman is believed to have been killed by police responding to the scene, which is still under investigation.
While other law enforcement officers were confronting the suspected shooter, the agent led a team into the school and shot and killed the suspect, the report said, citing us Border Patrol sources. In the process, the agent was shot in the leg and was not seriously injured.
Police recovered an AR-15 assault rifle and multiple magazines at the scene, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
The U.S. Border Patrol requires immediate response to high-risk incidents and has a full-time presence in El Paso, Texas.
The 18-year-old suspect who was shot dead by police.
Photo Credit: Internet
Biden urged the U.S. to put pressure on lawmakers
Biden said parents who lost children in the shooting “will never see their children again, never be able to jump on their beds and hug them.”
“As a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?”
“We have to act,” Biden said.
The shooting left Biden with the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, on top of four decades of high inflation and a war with Ukraine.
The mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, 10 days ago has increased pressure on supporters of tough gun laws to make good on the Biden administration's pledge to fight gun violence.
Biden campaigned for president on a promise to push for gun safety measures to reduce the tens of thousands of gun deaths in the country each year. Biden and Democrats failed to get enough votes in Congress to pass background checks for gun purchases or other proposed legislation.