Houston : The 19 children and two teachers killed during the mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, have been identified, authorities said.
On Tuesday, they were shot and killed inside a fourth grade classroom at Robb Elementary School, just two days before the summer break, Xinhua news agency quoted Chris Olivarez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, as saying to reporters on Wednesday.
Another 17 people were injured in the shooting and their injuries are not critical, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated at a news conference on Wednesday.
The gunman, a local high school student named Salvador Ramos, 18, shared his plan on Facebook minutes before the attack.
He was killed by a Border Patrol officer on the scene, Abbott said. Local media reported that Ramos purchased two assault rifles and 375 rounds of ammunition legally from a federally authorized dealer in the Uvalde area last week for his 18th birthday.
"It's the first thing he did when he turned 18," Texas State Senator Ronald Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, told CNN on Wednesday. "(He) had no problem accessing those weapons,” he further added.
A background check revealed a bullied loner with few, if any, friends and no criminal or known mental health history, according to a CNN report.
Abbott, who is seeking re-election this year, placed the blame for the Uvalde school shooting on mental health issues. "Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge, period. We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it," the Governor said at the news conference, doubling down concerns about an 18-year-old's ability to purchase firearms.
The Uvalde tragedy has been termed as the deadliest shooting at a school since the Sandy Hook massacre in Connecticut in 2012 that left 26 people dead, including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old.
Including the Uvalde tragedy, there have been at least 40 shootings in schools, colleges and universities in the US so far this year, resulting in at least 31 deaths and more than 50 injuries.
