19 students and 2 teachers dead after shooting at Texas elementary school

It has now been confirmed nineteen students and 2 teachers are dead after a gunman opened fired at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott said the gunman, who he named as Salvador Romas, was an 18-year-old male from Uvalde.

Texas elementary school shooting details

“He shot and killed incomprehensibly students and killed the teacher … the shooter, he himself is deceased and it is believed responding officers killed him,” Abbott said.

The suspect also allegedly shot his grandmother before entering the school, Abbott said. He did not say anything further about her condition.

Abbott said the shooter had a handgun and also possibly a rifle when he opened fired at Robb Elementary School.

“When parents drop their kids off at school, they have every expectation to know that they’re going to be able to pick their child up when that school day ends. And there are families who are in mourning right now,” Abbott said. “The state of Texas is in mourning with them for the reality that these parents are not going to be able to pick up their children.”

Uvalde Memorial Hospital earlier said it received 13 children via ambulance or bus for treatment after a shooter was reported at Robb elementary school, about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The hospital said two died. Another hospital, University hospital, said a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

The Uvalde school district has an enrollment of just under 600.

The shooting comes little more than a week since 10 people were killed in a supermarket in a predominantly African American area of Buffalo, New York, an attack which was deemed a racially motivated.

The shooting at Robbs Elementary is now the deadliest school massacre since Sandy Hook in 2012.