Multiple shootings in Texas leave 5 dead, 21 injured; gunman killed

At least five persons were killed and 21 injured in US state of Texas after possibly two shooters, who hijacked a mail truck, allegedly opened fire on random people on Saturday, police said.
The incident happened in the area of Odessa and nearby Midland and police said at least one active shooter was shot dead near the Cinergy movie theatre.

The shooter was in his 30s, police said.
There are at least five deceased and 21 injured in the shooting, an official of the Odessa Police Department said at a press conference.
In a Facebook post, the Midland Police Department said: "There is no active shooter at this time. All agencies are investigating reports of possible suspects."
Earlier, two people were suspected to be involved in the shootings and police had said they were believed to be driving around separately in a gold/white-coloured Toyota vehicle and a stolen US Postal Service van.
Authorities have urged the public to get off the road "and use extreme caution".
President Donald Trump said he has been briefed about the incident by Attorney General William Barr. "FBI and Law Enforcement is fully engaged," he tweeted.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott described the incident as a "senseless and cowardly attack".
"The state of Texas and the Department of Public Safety are working closely with local law enforcement to provide resources as needed and deliver justice for this heinous attack," he said in a statement.
"I thank the first responders who have acted swiftly and admirably under pressure, and I want to remind all Texans that we will not allow the Lone Star State to be overrun by hatred and violence. We will unite, as Texans always do, to respond to this tragedy," he added.
The University of Texas campus in Permian Basin told students, staff and faculty to shelter in place.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Gunman kills 20 at Texas Walmart store in latest US mass shooting

A gunman armed with an assault rifle killed 20 people Saturday when he opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store in the latest mass shooting in the United States.
As residents of the southern border town of El Paso in Texas tried to absorb the full horror of what is being treated as a potential "hate crime," fresh calls rang out to end the nationwide "epidemic" of gun violence.

It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend.
One suspect was taken into custody while authorities were studying an extremist manifesto purportedly written by the gunman.
Footage shot on camera phones appeared to show multiple bodies lying on the ground in the store's parking lot while El Paso authorities made a desperate appeal for blood donations.
Other footage showed terrified shoppers running out of the store as gunfire echoed.
"Twenty innocent people from El Paso have lost their lives," Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a press conference.
"We as a state unite in support of these victims and their family members... We pray that God can be with those who have been harmed in any way and bind up their wounds."
Police chief Greg Allen confirmed that in addition to the 20 confirmed fatalities, there were 26 wounded.
Various news reports said the ages of victims being treated at hospitals ranged from two to 82 years.
Police said that Walmart was "at capacity" at the time of the shooting, with 1,000-3,000 customers inside.
After officials initially said three people had been detained, police confirmed that a 21-year-old from Allen, Texas, was the only person in custody.
"Right now we have a manifesto from this individual that indicates to some degree, it has a nexus to potential hate crime," Allen said. US media named the suspect as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, who is white.
The "manifesto" purportedly written by Crusius that was circulated online includes passages railing against the "Hispanic invasion" of Texas and the author makes clear that he expected to be killed during his attack.
Witnesses said the gunman appeared to be shooting at random when he opened fire around 10:30 am.
One woman, who gave her name as Vanessa, said she had just pulled into the Walmart parking lot when the shooting began.
"You could hear the pops, one right after another and at that point as I was turning, I saw a lady, seemed she was coming out of Walmart, headed to her car. She had her groceries in her cart and I saw her just fall," she told Fox News.
The witness said the gunman wore black t-shirt, combat trousers and was wearing ear muffs.
"He was just shooting randomly. It wasn't to any particular person. It was any that would cross paths." Another shopper described how he managed to avoid being hit by hiding along with his mother between two vending machines just outside the store.
"That's where the individual tried to shoot at me, which he missed cause I kind of ducked down," Robert Curado told the El Paso Times.
Video captured by a witness in the parking lot in the immediate aftermath of the shooting showed three people lying motionless on the ground.
One had fallen next to a truck, while two were on the sidewalk outside the store entrance. " Ambulance! Help!" people cried as they rushed to the victims.
"How you doing, brother, how you doing," one man was heard saying on the recording.
A still captured from CCTV showed the gunman carrying what appeared to be an AK-47.
President Donald Trump, who is spending the weekend at his golf club in New Jersey, condemned the "terrible" shooting after being briefed by Attorney General Bill Barr and Abbott.
It has been a particularly bad week for gun violence in the United States. Two people died and a police officer was wounded Tuesday at a Walmart in Mississippi.
Last Sunday a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a food festival in northern California, killing three, including two children.
Beto O'Rourke, a former US congressman for El Paso who is now running for president, cut off his campaigning in the wake of the shooting.
"I'm incredibly saddened and it's very hard to think about this. But I tell you El Paso is the strongest place in the world, this community is going to come together," he told supporters.
Elizabeth Warren, a senator who is among the frontrunners for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, said "far too many communities have suffered through tragedies like this already.
"We must act now to end our country's gun violence epidemic," she said. Another presidential hopeful Cory Booker said the US had "to end this national nightmare" and "find the moral courage to take action to end this carnage.

Texas shooting in Santa Fe High School; 10 killed, mostly students; updates

A student opened fire at a high school in the US state of Texas today, killing at least 10 people, mostly students, in the latest such incident in the country.
The incident took place at Santa Fe High School in the city of the same name, located about 50 kilometres southeast of Houston. An unidentified law enforcement officer was shot, but sources said he was "clipped" and was not seriously injured. At least 10 people were killed in the gunfire, Houston Chronicle quoted federal and county law enforcement officials have confirmed. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said a majority of those that were killed in the shooting were students. He said that the two people who were taken into custody, including the person believed to be the gunman, are students at the school.
A search of the school is ongoing, Gonzalez said. He said he has no information about explosives being found at the scene. Several other students were injured in the shooting.
This is the third school shooting in the past seven days, and the 22nd since the beginning of the year in the US.
Here are the top updates of the Texas school shooting
1. Trump says early reports not looking good: President Donald Trump said Friday that mass shootings have been "going on too long in our country" as he offered his first public remarks on the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.
"Unfortunately, I have to begin by expressing our sadness and heartbreak over the deadly shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas," Trump said Friday from the East Room of the White House. "This has been going on too long in our country. Too many years. Too many decades now."
Trump said federal authorities are coordinating with local officials.
"We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack," Trump said.

We grieve for the terrible loss of life, and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School – we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever... pic.twitter.com/LtJ0D29Hsv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
2. Ten people were killed in Texas: At least three people were killed, according to Mark Henry, the Galveston County judge, the county’s top elected official.
School shooting in Texas. Early reports not looking good. God bless all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
3. Gunman in police custody: The gunman opened fire inside the school at about 7:45 a.m., around the time school was about to start for the day, according to Joe Giusti, a Galveston County commissioner. He said the injured officer worked for the Santa Fe school district as a school resource officer. The gunman was uninjured, he said.
Media briefing from @SheriffEd_HCSO https://t.co/c8HUyarBYp
— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) May 18, 2018
We are assisting @SantaFeISD with a multiple-casualty incident at Santa Fe High School. This is no longer an active shooting situation and the injured are being treated. #hounews pic.twitter.com/m7Wuauk9jk
— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) May 18, 2018

it’s been three months since my school was terrorized by an AR-15 on Valentine’s Day. And it breaks my heart, so much, that another high school, in Texas, has to go through what we went through. The heart wrenching after math of gun violence is pure devastation.
— Kyra Parrow (@longlivekcx) May 18, 2018
8 killed at a Texas high school in yet another school shooting!! Or Friday in America! If only we luv’d our kids as much as we do our guns!
— DL Hughley (@RealDLHughley) May 18, 2018

Above.Millions®
@ABOVEMILLIONS_
Wait another School shooting just happened in Texas. You have to be kidding me.
9:26 PM - May 18, 2018
22
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4. Maryland school shooting: A 17-year-old male student shot two other students at Great High School in Maryland in March, in eastern United States (US), but the event was quickly “contained”, officials said. The shooter was killed in gunfight and the injured were immediately rushed to a local hospital.
According to local sheriff's office, a male student opened fire at a girl in the hallway shortly after school started, injuring another male student in the process. Other students of the school were evacuated to another school to be reunited with their parents.
5. 20th shooting in a US school this year: It was the 20th shooting in a U S school so far this year. That tally includes suicides and incidents when no one was injured, as well as the January shooting in which a 15-year-old gunman killed two fellow students at a Benton, Kentucky, high school. More than 40 “active shooter” episodes in schools have been recorded in the United States since 2000, according to FBI. and news reports. The shootings have become common enough that many schools, including Douglas High, run annual drills in which students practice huddling in classrooms behind locked doors.
6. People protest on Twitter: Right after Texas shooting, people took to Twitter to express their anguish.

Ed Krassenstein
@EdKrassen
At least 8 dead at Santa Fe High School in Texas.
If you don't think that our gun laws need to seriously be examined, hardened & enforced, you are part of the problem.
This isn't a problem in countries with strict gun laws!
Laws can be HARDENED without being UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
9:25 PM - May 18, 2018
11.9K
6,078 people are talking about this
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Leah McElrath
@leahmcelrath
If you watch nothing else about the mass shooting at #SantaFe High School in Texas, watch this.
Her name is reportedly Paige.#SantaFeHighSchool
9:26 PM - May 18, 2018
28.4K
17.1K people are talking about this
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7. Florida shooting: Valentine's Day 2018 turned into a Day of Carnage for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, when a 19-year-old gunman opened fire with an assault-style rifle on Wednesday. The attack killed 17 people and injured more than a dozen. The gunman, identified as Nikolaus Cruz, had once been expelled for disciplinary reasons from the Florida school.
8. March against shootings at schools: Thousands of people are expected to rally in Washington, DC, this weekend for a March for Our Lives protest to advocate for gun control. This marks the second big push of teenage activism against gun violence in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
9. Number of US citizens backing gun control rises: The number of US citizens who want more gun control is growing, an NPR/Ipsos poll said. Three-quarters of Americans said gun laws should be stricter than they are today, up from 68 per cent in a October 2017 survey following the Las Vegas shooting, Xinhua cited the latest poll as saying. The poll also found widespread bipartisan support for gun-control policies, including expanding background check for all gun buyers (94 per cent), adding people with mental illnesses to the federal gun background check system (92 per cent), raising the legal age to purchase guns from 18 to 21 (82 per cent), banning bump stocks (81 per cent), banning high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds (73 per cent) and banning assault-style weapons (72 per cent).
10. Trump accused of backpedaling on gun control: President Donald Trump stood accused of caving in to the US gun lobby one month after the Florida school shooting, as the White House pushed ahead with plans to arm teachers but backpedaled on curbing access to assault rifles.
Under pressure to act after a teenager killed 17 people with a semi-automatic rifle in Parkland, Trump had signalled support for raising from 18 to 21 the federal minimum age for purchasing the powerful weapons.
But measures unveiled by his administration Sunday made no mention of any such action -- nor of enforcing the vetting of buyers for firearm sales that take place online and at gun shows, another idea floated by the White House.