A shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and three adults is the 27th such mass shootings at schools in the United States in just 5 months of 2022, reports NPR.
According to a study by Education Week, which has tracked such shootings since 2018, 119 such mass shootings at schools have been reported in the last three years. The Robb Elementary School shooting at Uvalde was the 27th such shooting incident of this year.
The organisation tracked shooting incidents where a firearm was discharged and where any civilians were hit with a bullet during the incident. Education Week also includes the incidents that occur near K-12 school property or on a school bus, and that happens when school is in session or during a school-sponsored event.
According to Education Week, 2021 had 34 such incidents at educational institutions, the highest since the organisation started its database. In 2020, there were ten shootings. Both 2019 and 2018 recorded 24 shootings.
The US records more than 200 mass shootings this year
According to the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data that collects data regarding mass shootings, 212 shootings have been reported so far this year. The organisation defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people were shot or killed, excluding the shooter.
The mass shooting this afternoon at #RobbElementarySchool in #Uvalde, Texas, marked at least the 212th in 2022, less than 5 months into the year, according to @gundeaths data.
— The Trace (@teamtrace) May 25, 2022
More data on the reality of gun violence in America: https://t.co/qGGjIdHlyv pic.twitter.com/UvTCYOtsMr
As per the data, in 2021, the United States had recorded 693 mass shootings and 611 a year before. In 2019, the US reported 417 cases of mass shootings.
Texas school shootings:
In a horrific mass shooting in the United States, Texas, an 18-year-old gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, killed 19 children and three adults, including a teacher, at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday.
The killings took place at noon at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a small community about an hour from the Mexican border. More than 500 students, mostly Hispanic and economically disadvantaged, study at the school from second through the fourth grade.
The killings came on the day when students were preparing to start summer break this week. The teacher killed has been named in US media as Eva Mireles, who has a daughter in college.
The gunman is identified as an 18-year-old man who had attended a nearby high school. The shooter reportedly abandoned his vehicle and entered the school with a handgun and may also have had a rifle. The teenager is suspected of shooting his own grandmother before going on a killing spree at the school.
The gunman was shot dead by the police officers, the officials said, adding two more adults have also been killed in the attack.
The CCTV footage showed that small groups of children were being rescued through parked cars and yellow buses, even some holding hands as police escorted them from the school.
The latest attack on a Texas school is one of the deadliest attacks since the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed. The attacks also come just a week after another similar gun attack at a supermarket in New York.
