All 21 victims who died in a brutal school shooting in Uvalde, Texas were murdered in the same classroom, multiple reports said Wednesday.
The gunman killed 19 children and two adults during his rampage and then proceeded to barricade himself inside a fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School, Texas Department for Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez told CNN.
"Just goes to show you the complete evil from this shooter," said Olivarez.
Multiple children were also wounded in the classroom, though Olivarez could not provide an exact count.
"It's a small classroom, you can have anywhere from 25 to 30 students in there, plus there were two teachers in there," he said. "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."
Olivarez said authorities are trying to determine whether the shooter intentionally targeted the school.
"That's why we're working with FBI right now to kind of look back to see if there were any indicators, any red flags, looking at social media," he said.
"What we know about the shooter is that he is a resident here in Uvalde. He did attend one of the local high schools, he lived with his grandparents, was unemployed, no friends, no girlfriend that we can identify at this time, no criminal history, no gang affiliation as well," he added.
The shooter, whom authorities identified as Salvador Romas, 18, is believed to have been shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in an exchange of gunfire. Before the carnage, the shooter wounded his grandmother.
Following the shooting, President Joe Biden ordered the US flag flown at half-staff at the White House and all public buildings, military posts, and naval stations nationwide.
Biden implored legislators to enact new gun control laws.
"As a nation we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name are we going to do what has to be done?” he said.
"Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies?" he added./aa
