Newsinc24 Team 
In a deadliast US school shooting, a teenage gunman killed 18 young children at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, addressing a news conference, said the 18-year-old gunman was believed to have shot his grandmother before heading to Robb Elementary School at around noon, abandoning his vehicle and entering with a handgun, and possibly also a rifle.The governor said the suspect, whom he named as Salvador Ramos, a local resident and a US citizen, was also dead adding that "it is believed that responding officers killed him." "He shot and killed, horrifically and incomprehensibly," Abbott said. Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez told CNN that three adults had also died in the attack, though it was unclear if that toll included the shooter.
It was the deadliest such incident since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, in which 20 children and six staff were killed. The White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in mourning for the victims -- whose deaths sent a wave of shock through a country still scarred by the horror of Sandy Hook. The 18-year-old gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos. Shooter Salvador Ramos was a resident of the heavily Latino community about 85 miles (135 kilometre) west of San Antonio.The school has over 500 students, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged, from second through fourth grade. The school authorities called on parents not to pick up their children until all were accounted for.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for Americans to stand up against the country's powerful pro-gun lobby. "It's time to turn this pain into action for every parent, for every citizen of this country. We have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: it's time to act." he said. Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that "enough is enough" in the wake of the country's latest mass shooting. "Our hearts keep getting broken. We have to have the courage to take action," Harris said. The United States suffered 19,350 firearm homicides in 2020, up nearly 35 percent compared to 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest data.
