. Uvalde, TX, USA
Texas school shooting brings back Sandy Hook memories
A woman cries as she leaves the Uvalde Civic Center, Tuesday May 24, 2022 (Photo Credit: AP)
- An 18-year-old gunman went on a shooting spree at a school in Texas’ Uvalde Tuesday
- At least 19 students and two adults were killed in the attack
- The shooting brought back memories of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre
Tuesday’s school shooting in Texas, in which at least 19 students and two adults were killed, immediately brought back memories of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. At Texas’ Uvalde, the gunman, who was eventually killed, was 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. At Sandy Hook Elementary School, it was a 19-year-old gunman who was later identified as Adam Lanza. Twenty first-graders and six teachers were killed in the shootout.
When the Sandy Hook massacre took place, then US President Barack Obama, a stoic yet bedazzling presence in the nation’s political life, was moved to tears. “…So our hearts are broken today – for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. Our hearts are broken for the parents of survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early, and there are no words that will ease their pain.”
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Ten years later, Obama, now former president with his then-vice president at the helm of affairs, tweeted, “Across the country, parents are putting their children to bed, reading stories, singing lullabies – and in the back of their minds, they’re worried about what might happen tomorrow after they drop their kids off at school, or take them to a grocery store or any other public space.”
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden, said, “I had hoped, when I became president, I won’t have to do this, again.” The president called upon the people of the United States to stand up to the gun lobby.
At Texas’ Uvalde, Salvador Ramos, reportedly first shot his grandmother at home and then took his car to the school where he himself was a student. A body armour on his self, the 18-year-old crashed his car in a ditch while attempting to enter the school premises. He then entered several classrooms and began shooting.
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At the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, 19-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother at home in Newtown, Connecticut, and then went to the school and shot 20 first-graders and six educators. He subsequently took his own life.