US school shooting: gunman kills at least 19 children
However, Estrada stressed that the investigation was still ongoing and that this information was still preliminary.
Biden calls for tougher gun laws
Biden immediately ordered the flags on all public buildings in the US to be at half-mast until Saturday inclusive in view of the devastating attack. He had just returned from a multi-day trip to Asia in the evening. Accompanied by his wife Jill, he gave a speech at the White House shortly after landing.
“As a nation, we have to ask ourselves when in God’s name we are going to stand up to the gun lobby,” he said. The idea that an 18-year-old boy could walk into a gun store and buy two assault rifles was simply wrong.
Biden keeps pointing the finger at the US Congress when it comes to stricter gun laws. Many Republicans oppose stricter regulations – the gun lobby is very powerful in the United States. For far-reaching legislative changes, Biden’s Democrats lack the necessary votes in the US Senate. Rampages, even at schools, occur with sad regularity in the USA.
Act commemorates Sandy Hook massacre
A massacre at an elementary school ten years ago caused a particular shock: in December 2012, a 20-year-old boy shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School. At that time, 20 schoolchildren and six teachers were killed. And just over a week ago, a gunman with an assault rifle opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, shooting ten people and wounding three others. He was arrested at the scene. According to investigators, the crime was racially motivated – 11 of the 13 victims were black.
At first, little was known about the background of the crime in Uvalde. The investigators kept a low profile. According to media reports, the shooter allegedly bought the weapon used in the crime about a week ago shortly after his 18th birthday. The behavior of the shooter has changed recently, the “Washington Post” quoted a childhood friend of the shooter. He had lived with his mother and sometimes with his grandmother and had been behaving aggressively lately.