At least 19 students and two adults were killed when a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday. Abbott said the shooter is also dead, and is believed to have been killed by responding law enforcement officers.
Abbott said the shooter was an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde. He said it’s believed the suspect, who he named as Salvador Ramos, abandoned his vehicle, then entered the school with a handgun and possibly a rifle.
“He shot and killed — horrifically, incomprehensibly — 14 students and killed a teacher,” Abbott said at the time.
Uvalde’s district chief of police Pedro “Pete” Arredondo confirmed during a press conference Tuesday that the suspect is dead, noting they are believed to have acted alone during the “heinous” crime.
Arredondo called the shooting a mass casualty incident and said families are being notified.
Celebrities like LeBron James, Taylor Swift, Chris Evans and many more took to social media to express their shock at what happened in Texas and their prayers for the families affected by the senseless shooting.
“My thoughts and prayers goes out to the families of love ones loss & injured at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX! Like when is enough enough man!!!,” James tweeted, adding, “These are kids and we keep putting them in harms way at school. Like seriously “AT SCHOOL” where it’s suppose to be the safest!”
Evans also tweeted, writing simply, “F***ING ENOUGH!!!!”
Swift echoed Evan’s outrage, writing that she was filled with “rage and grief” after Tuesday’s shooting.
“Filled with rage and grief, and so broken by the murders in Uvalde. By Buffalo, Laguna Woods and so many others,” Swift tweeted. “By the ways in which we, as a nation, have become conditioned to unfathomable and unbearable heartbreak. Steve’s words ring so true and cut so deep.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Matthew McConaughey, who spent the first 12 years of his life in Uvalde, wrote: “We have to rearrange our values and find common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue.
“This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better.”
The Kardashians have also shared “heartbreaking” messages about the fatal shooting.
In a lengthy post Kourtney Kardashian wrote: “Schools should be a place where our kids go to learn, to make friends, to laugh, to grow, to discover themselves. A safe place where they can envision their futures. Not a place where their futures are taken away from them. How have we gotten to a point where it is acceptable for our children to be murdered in their schools?
“It breaks my heart. I plead to lawmakers to take accountability. We need a plan to protect our babies.”
Khloe Kardashian added: “My heart is breaking. I pray, I hope, I beg, I plead… please, law makers, government officials, leaders of our country, do something to protect our children.”
Kylie and Kris Jenner also shared their grief on their respective social media profiles.
