Robb Elementary victims were all in same 4th-grade classroom
All those wounded and killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting were inside one 4th-grade classroom, Lt. Chris Olivarez, spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety, told CNN on Tuesday.
The shooter barricaded himself in the room before killing two teachers and at least 19 children, Olivarez said.
"Just goes to show you the complete evil from this shooter," he added. The total number of children injured is still unknown.
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"It's a small classroom, you can have anywhere from 25 to 30 students in there, plus there were two teachers in there. ... So don't have exact number of how many students were in that classroom, but it could vary," he continued. "It was a classroom setting, a typical classroom setting where you have mass groups of children inside that classroom all together, with nowhere to go."
While the shooting unfolded, police evacuated children and staff before forcing entry into the room with the shooter. The bodies of the victims have since been removed and identified, and their families have been notified.
Authorities are still trying to figure out if the school was a target, Olivarez told CNN. They know the shooter was an Uvalde resident who attended a local high school and lived with his grandparents. He "was unemployed, no friends, no girlfriend that we can identify at this time, no criminal history, no gang affiliation as well," he continued. The shooter's grandmother, who he shot prior to entering the school, is still alive, Olivarez noted.
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Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
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