An 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school barricaded himself inside a classroom, "shooting anyone that was in his way," an official said, describing the latest in a gruesome, years-long series of mass killings at churches, schools and stores.
Police and others responding to Tuesday's attack broke windows at the school in an effort to allow students and teachers inside to escape, Lieutenant Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday on NBC's "Today."
Lieutenant Olivarez told CNN that all victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School. Eventually, the shooter was killed by law enforcement.
The carnage began when the 18-year-old suspect, identified as Salvador Ramos, shot his own grandmother, who survived, authorities said.
He then fled that scene and crashed his car near the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, a town about 130 kilometres west of San Antonio.
There he launched a bloody rampage that ended when he was killed, apparently shot by police.
The motive was not immediately clear but police identified the shooter as a local resident.
Law enforcement officers saw the gunman, clad in body armour, emerge from the crashed vehicle carrying a rifle and "engaged" the suspect, who nevertheless managed to charge into the building and open fire, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sergeant Erick Estrada said on CNN.
It was the deadliest shooting at a US primary school since 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut almost a decade ago and the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, occurring four years after a gunman fatally shot 10 people at Santa Fe High School in the Houston area.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott described the attack in the town of Uvalde as "horrific" and "incomprehensible".
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said the gunman acted alone.
It was not immediately clear how many people, in addition to the dead, were hurt, but Mr Arredondo said there were “several injuries".
State senator Roland Gutierrez said he had been told by state police that three people injured in the shooting remained in serious condition.
Uvalde Memorial Hospital said earlier that 13 children were taken by ambulance or bus to that facility and another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.
'When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?'
The school has just under 600 students, and Mr Arredondo said it served students in the second, third and fourth grade.
He did not provide ages of the children who were shot.
Earlier, the district had said all its schools were locked down because of gunshots in the area.
A heavy police presence surrounded the school on Tuesday afternoon, with officers in heavy vests diverting traffic and FBI agents coming and going from the building.
US President Joe Biden delivered an emotional call for new restrictions, calling for the impasse on gun reform to end.
"When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" Mr Biden said at the White House shortly after returning from a five-day trip to Asia.
With First Lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, Mr Biden added: "I am sick and tired. We have to act."
"These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world," he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier that people normally declare in moments like this, "our hearts break — but our hearts keep getting broken … and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families."
"We have to have the courage to take action … to ensure something like this never happens again," she said.
Uvalde is about 120 kilometres from the border with Mexico and home to about 16,000 people, most of them Hispanic or Latino.
Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighbourhood of modest homes.
A Border Patrol agent who was among the first law enforcement officers on scene was shot and wounded by the gunman.
The agent is hospitalised in good condition, according to a federal law enforcement official.
'Our heart is breaking': Senator makes impassioned plea
The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston.
Chris Murphy, a US senator from Connecticut, which takes in Sandy Hook, begged his colleagues to finally pass legislation to address the country's continuing gun violence problem.
The Democrat gave an impassioned speech, urging his colleagues to find a compromise.
"Our heart is breaking for these families. Every ounce of love and thoughts and prayers we can send, we are sending," he said.
"Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely."
Mr Abbott and both Texan US senators were among elected Republican officials scheduled to speak at a leadership forum on Friday sponsored by the NRA's lobbying arm.
In the years since Sandy Hook, the gun control debate in Congress has waxed and waned.
Efforts by politicians to change US gun policies in any significant way have consistently faced roadblocks from Republicans and the influence of outside groups such as the NRA.
ABC/AP
