Shock, grief after teenage gunman kills 21 at Texas school

An 18-year-old gunman stormed Robb Elementary School in Texas, United States, on Wednesday, shooting dead at least 19 children and two adults. In this picture, people react outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Centre, where students were transported from Robb Elementary School after the shooting. (Reuters)

The gunman went from classroom to classroom, officials said, in the deadliest school shooting in the US in nearly a decade. The attacker was killed by law enforcement. (Reuters)

Outside the town civic centre, where families were told to gather. The silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing. “No! Please, no!” one man yelled as he embraced another man. (Reuters)

Many of the wounded were rushed to Uvalde Memorial Hospital, where staff members in scrubs and devastated victims' relatives could be seen weeping as they walked out of the complex. (AP)

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos, a resident of the community about 135 kilometers west of San Antonio. Law enforcement officials said he acted alone. Ramos had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, according to state Sen. Roland Gutierrez. Seen here is a police vehicle parked near of a truck believed to belong to the suspect. (Reuters)

A priest comforts people as they react outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting, in Uvalde. (Reuters)

President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight, calling for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack. “As a nation we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" he asked. (AP)

Robb Elementary School has an enrollment of just under 600 students, and it serves students in the second, third and fourth grades. There were no details of the ages of the children who were shot. This was the school's last week of classes before summer break. (Reuters)

A child gets on a school bus as law enforcement personnel guard the scene of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. (Reuters)

People pray and comfort one another during a vigil for the victims that died in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde. (AP)

Children, holding flowers, stand outside the Ssgt Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students had been transported from Robb Elementary School after a shooting in Uvalde. (Reuters)