A visibly angry President Biden addressed the nation in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Ovaldi, Texas, on May 24. Today’s violence represents the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school since the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. At the time of the Sandy Hook shooting, President Biden was Vice President, and as he took the podium at the White House today, he said he was hoping Never having to give that kind of speech as president.
“Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?…It’s time to turn this pain into action.”
For viewers watching his broadcast, including lawmakers, Biden made the urgent appeal for immediate gun reform across the United States clearly. “Don’t tell me we can’t influence this massacre,” he said. “Why are we willing to live with this massacre? Why do we continue to allow this to happen? Where in the name of God is our backbone? … It is time to turn this pain into action. For every parent. For every citizen of this country. We have to make it clear to every An elected official in this country: it’s time to act.”
There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary School, ‘Elementary School chirp 10:17 a.m. “Law enforcement is on site. Your cooperation is required at this time by not visiting the campus. Once more information is collected, it will be shared. The rest of the area is under safe mode.” After several updates, the school added, “Students of Robb Primary School have been transferred to the Civic Center for reunification. Parents are encouraged to bring their children with them at this time.”
The 18-year-old suspected gunman was killed by police officers who responded to the scene on Tuesday. “He is believed to have left his car, then entered Robb Elementary School in Ovaldi with a pistol, and may also have been in possession of a rifle,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at an early morning news briefing on Tuesday. “He shot and killed in a horrific and incomprehensible manner, 14 students and a teacher,” he added. In addition to the fatally wounded, many other survivors have been injured and are being treated in nearby hospitals. Law enforcement officials have not identified a motive for Ovaldi’s shooting at this time.
The gunman reportedly shot his grandmother before going to school on Tuesday, law enforcement officials told CNN. “This young man shot his grandmother and fled from that place after the accident,” Senator Roland Gutierrez said. According to the latest developments, the suspect’s grandmother was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio, where she is “still being held.”
President Biden has asked Americans to honor family members of the missing. “I ask the nation to pray for them. Give parents and siblings strength in the darkness they are feeling right now. As a nation we have to ask, When in the name of God shall we stand up to the parlour of the gun? In God’s name, shall we do what we know in our guts to do?”
The shooting comes just days after a series of shootings across the United States. On May 14, an 18-year-old gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York during a racially motivated killing spree. On the same day, a 68-year-old gunman attacked a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods, California, killing one person and injuring five others in what is being investigated as a hate crime. Near Yuvaldi, a 25-year-old man was killed and four people were injured in a nightclub in Amarillo, Texas, and two people were killed and three others seriously injured in Houston on May 15.
Biden concluded the speech by saying, “God bless the souls of the innocent on this sad day.”
