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The 18-year-old from Texas who killed 19 children and two teachers had written on Facebook that he would open fire on an elementary school about 15 minutes before doing so, Governor Greg Abbott said on Wednesday, as details continued to emerge. shocking about the attack.
The gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, had also posted a message saying he would shoot his grandmother, as well as another confirming that he had done so, Mr Abbott told a news conference. The grandmother Ramos shot in the face shortly before attacking the school survived and called police.
Ramos left the house where he lived with his grandparents and crashed his car near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. He entered the school through a back door carrying an AR-15 assault rifle and tactical equipment.
He locked himself in a fourth-grade classroom, authorities said, and killed students and teachers before being shot to death by a U.S. Border Patrol officer, Mr. Abbott said. Another 17 people suffered life-threatening injuries.
Facebook posts were the only warning of mass murder, Governor Abbott said, adding that Ramos does not appear to have a criminal record or history of mental health problems.
Ramos bought two rifles and hundreds of bullets a few days before the attack, several media outlets reported, citing a Texas state senator who had been briefed by law enforcement.
The attack, which came 10 days after a white supremacist shot 13 people in a supermarket in a predominantly colored neighborhood in Buffalo, has sparked a national debate over gun laws in the US.
In a sign of the politically charged atmosphere, Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic candidate for governor who is challenging Mr. Abbott in the November election, raised his voice in the middle of the press conference telling Governor Abbott that he had made it easier, in instead of restricting, state gun laws.
Some officials raised their voices against the Democrat, saying he was politicizing the issue.
O’Rourke was escorted out of the building and spoke to reporters outside, calling it “madness” that an 18-year-old was allowed to legally buy an AR-15.
Texas has some of the country’s loosest gun fire laws.
In a speech Tuesday night, President Joe Biden called for new arms safety restrictions.
“As a country, we have to ask when in the name of God we will rise up against the arms lobby,” he said.
But it does not seem likely that new legislation will be passed in Washington. Almost all Republicans in Congress oppose the new gun restrictions, citing the U.S. Constitution guarantee of the right to bear arms, and there have been no sign that Tuesday’s event will change that position.
White House officials were planning a trip to Texas for President Biden, a senior administration official said./VOA
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