On May 25, 18 children [1] and one teacher were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, officials confirmed [2]. At least nine more children were reportedly injured.
Robb Elementary School teaches pupils who are generally between the ages of 7 and 10. The school teaches 90 percent Hispanic students and 81 percent are considered economically disadvantaged, according to state data. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement [3] that the 18-year-old active shooter, Salvador Ramos, "shot and killed horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher." The shooter is also suspected [4] of killing his grandmother. "He himself is deceased, and it is believed that responding officers killed him," Abbott added.
The tragedy marks the 27th shooting [5] at a school since the start of 2022, meaning there has been a mass shooting roughly once every 5.3 days this year. It comes only a little over a week after 10 people were killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. One day after, one person died and five people were injured in a shooting in a church in California.
Politicians, public figures, and celebrities have already begun to speak out about the most recent of this string of senseless, entirely preventable tragedies. Read their statements ahead.