Shooting spree at US elementary school: Attacker announced action on Facebook

The Texas gunman announced his crime on Facebook. This was confirmed by Governor Abbott at a press conference. According to the media, the shooter was in contact with a young person from Germany.

According to Governor Greg Abbott, the shooter at an elementary school in the US state of Texas announced his plans on Facebook shortly before the crime. The young man initially wrote that he would shoot his grandmother, Abbott said at a press conference. His second post was that he shot his grandmother. A little later – about a quarter of an hour before arriving at the school – the 18-year-old then wrote that he would shoot around in an unnamed elementary school, Abbott continued.

A spokesman for the Facebook parent company Meta said it was private messages. They may have gone to a young person in Germany. According to a report by the US news channel CNN, the 18-year-old sent a 15-year-old from Frankfurt am Main messages shortly before the crime that corresponded to what Abbott mentioned.

Apparently a chat with a 15-year-old from Frankfurt

CNN relies on screenshots of the news and an interview with the 15-year-old. She therefore said that two and a half weeks ago she started exchanging ideas with the shooter via an app. The 18-year-old sent her videos of himself and also announced that she wanted to visit her in Europe. According to her own statements, the young person spoke to the attacker daily via the Facetime chat service and was also in contact with him on two other apps.

The young man shot 21 people with an assault rifle at the Robb Elementary School in the small Texas town of Uvalde on Tuesday – 19 schoolchildren and two teachers. He had previously shot his grandmother in the face, seriously injuring her. The attacker was shot dead by the police.

According to Governor Abbott, the shooter had no criminal record. However, it is not certain whether the gunman had any entries as a young person. That still has to be determined. Mental illnesses are not known.

Perpetrator apparently fired hundreds of times

Security officials from the elementary school had apparently tried to stop the assassin. The 18-year-old managed to gain admission to the school anyway. Investigators say he wore bulletproof clothing and fired hundreds of times.

According to police spokesman Chris Olivarez, the perpetrator apparently shot all of his victims in a single classroom. All the dead were found in a room where the shooter had previously barricaded himself.

Scandal at press conference

The case has once again intensified the debate about gun rights, which has been very emotional in the United States for many years. Republican Gov. Abbott — an outspoken supporter of loose gun laws — blamed the crime not on easy access to guns, but on an increase in mental illness.

At Abbott’s press conference, there was a scandal. Democrat Beto O’Rourke interrupted the event, criticizing Abbott for his stance and blaming him for the massacre. “It’s your fault,” O’Rourke called out to Abbott.

“We can do something”

Abbott did not respond to the allegations, while other officials called O’Rourke to order and ordered him to leave the room. Uvalde’s Mayor Don McLaughlin, a Republican, called O’Rourke a “sick son of a bitch”.

O’Rourke left the room after the verbal altercation. “We can do something,” he said afterwards, visibly upset in front of the cameras. Abbott cares more about his political career than the people of Texas. O’Rourke wants to run against Abbott in the next Texas gubernatorial election in November.

Biden: Gun ownership amendment ‘not absolute’

A tightening of gun laws in the USA has failed for many years due to a fundamental disagreement between Democrats and Republicans on this issue. While many Democrats have long called for a substantial tightening of regulations, many Republicans vehemently oppose it.

After the massacre, US President Joe Biden is now calling for a reform of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the federal government from restricting the right to own and carry guns. “I’m just fed up with what’s going on,” Biden said. Many changes could make a difference without adversely affecting the Second Amendment.

“You are not allowed to own certain types of weapons”

Biden emphasized that certain weapons did not exist when the Second Amendment was passed. It is not true that an 18-year-old can simply go into a shop to buy weapons of war. The amendment is “not absolute”. Rather, there have always been limitations. “You can’t own a gun. You can’t own certain types of weapons,” Biden said. The corresponding passage dates from the 18th century.

The President also announced that he would travel to the affected community in Texas with First Lady Jill Biden in the coming days. He hopes to be able to donate “some consolation” with the visit there. “As a nation, we all have to be there for them, I think,” Biden said. “And we have to ask ourselves when in God’s name are we going to do what needs to be done.”