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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"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.
-
Bluetoothing: the phenomenon driving HIV spike in FijiUnder the Radar ‘Blood-swapping’ between drug users fuelling growing health crisis on Pacific island
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
3 officers killed in Pennsylvania shootingSpeed Read Police did not share the identities of the officers or the slain suspect, nor the motive or the focus of the still-active investigation
-
Colleges are being overwhelmed with active shooter hoaxesIn the Spotlight More than a dozen colleges have reported active shooter prank calls
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Trump lambasts crime, but his administration is cutting gun violence preventionThe Explainer The DOJ has canceled at least $500 million in public safety grants
-
Aimee Betro: the Wisconsin woman who came to Birmingham to killIn the Spotlight US hitwoman wore a niqab in online lover's revenge plot
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
