Fifteen Slain, Mostly Kids, in Mass Texas School Shooting

Fourteen students and one teacher were killed during a massacre in a Texas elementary school, the deadliest US school shooting in more than four years. 

The shooter, an 18-year-old, was killed by responding officers, Governor Greg Abbott said during a briefing Tuesday that was broadcast on Twitter by a WFAA reporter.

Two police officers were shot but not hurt seriously, the governor said. The last time a school shooting resulted in such a death toll was in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when 17 perished.

“He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher,” Abbott said. The shooter “is deceased and it’s believed responding officers killed him.”

The shooting occurred in the town of Uvalde, a community of about 16,000 residents 85 miles (137 kilometers) west of San Antonio, the Lone Star state’s second-largest city. The shooter was armed with a handgun and possibly a rifle, the governor said.

“We’re in the process of obtaining detailed background information on the subject, his motive, the types of weapons used, the legal authority to possess them, and conduct a comprehensive crime-scene investigation and reconstruction,” the governor said.