A young man killed at least 19 schoolchildren and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Before that he had shot his own grandmother. Little is known about the perpetrator, who was killed by the police.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott identified the attacker as 18-year-old Salvador R., who himself lived in the small town west of San Antonio. A photo distributed by US media shows a young man with brown hair looking blankly at the camera.
After his grandmother was shot, he fled in a car towards the school. The car steered into a ditch nearby. He got out and headed towards the building. Police officers were no longer able to prevent him from entering around 11:30 a.m. local time (6:30 p.m. CEST) and opening fire in several classrooms before he himself was shot dead by police officers. Governor Abbott spoke of a terrible and “incomprehensible” act.
The small town with around 16,000 inhabitants has been paralyzed ever since. There is bewilderment, sadness and pain.