In the last 24 hours 19 children and two adults lost their lives in a shooting at a primary school in south Texas.
The BBC reports that an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School, Uvalde on Tuesday morning before he was shot dead by law enforcement, officials said. The teenager is suspected of shooting his grandmother before carrying out the mass shooting.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the shooter, who he named as Salvador Ramos, entered the school, which teaches pupils aged seven to 10, and killed 'horrifically' and 'incomprehensibly'.
In the aftermath of the shootings several prominent figures including Amanda Gorman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Priyanka Chopra, Meena Harris and more have spoken out to share moving and powerful reactions.
The Texas incident is the 27th school shooting in the US this year alone and comes a week after 10 people were killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
‘Why do we keep letting this happen?’ asked US President Joe Biden in his address to the nation following the Texas shooting. ‘Why are we willing to live with this carnage?
Vice President Kamala Harris has called for policy changes in order to prevent such horrific tragedies.
‘I would normally say in a moment like this — we would all say, naturally, that our hearts break. But our hearts keep getting broken,’ Harris said. ‘You know, I think — there are so many elected leaders in this room, you know what I'm talking about: Every time a tragedy like this happens, our hearts break — and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families. And yet it keeps happening.’
The crowdfunding website GoFundMe has set up a central donation page to provide family aid to those affected by the shooting. You can donate here.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
