A police chief accused of botching the response to the fatal shooting of 19 school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, has been put on leave. Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, head of the school district police force, has been blamed for law enforcement delays in confronting the gunman. Defending his actions, the 50-year-old has said he did not think he was the official in charge at the time. Public anger has risen as more details of the 24 May attack emerge. State lawmakers are investigating why police waited for more than an hour outside the Robb Elementary School classroom in … Continue reading Update: Embattled Uvalde police chief is put on leave

Three people were killed and three others injured in a shooting at a warehouse party in Los Angeles, according to police. The violence broke out when multiple people opened fire inside a building in the Boyle Heights area of the city in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to CBS Los Angeles the party, which was advertised on social media, included a performance by rapper Money Sign Suede. Officials say that the building was staffed with security guards who may have returned fire during the incident, according to KTLA. The three dead victims are all males in their 20s, but their … Continue reading Three killed and four injured in LA warehouse party shooting

A gunman has opened fire in a manufacturing plant in the US state of Maryland, killing three people, police say.Police arrive on the scene at Smithsburg, Maryland. Officers were called to the unit in the town of Smithsburg around 2.30pm (7.30pm GMT) on Thursday. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said three people have been killed and one critically injured. An officer who tried to chase down the gunman had also been shot in the shoulder.Sgt Carly Hose Sgt Carly Hose said the suspect had fled the scene by the time officers arrived but was tracked down in a vehicle about … Continue reading Gunman opens fire at US factory, killing multiple people

A teacher wounded in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has criticised police as “cowards” for delaying taking action while his pupils were killed. In a harrowing interview with ABC News he said he told his students to pretend to be asleep during the shooting. Eleven of them died when the gunman stalked his and an adjacent classroom for over an hour as police stood in the hall. “You had a bulletproof vest. I had nothing,” he said of the police. The shooting claimed the lives of 21 people, including 19 young children. The attack by an 18-year-old local has led … Continue reading Update: Teacher who got shot in Uvalde condemns police as cowards

A gunman has been shot dead after killing four people at a hospital campus in Oklahoma. Tulsa Police also said there had been “multiple injuries” in the shooting at the St Francis hospital campus in Tulsa, and officers were still in the process of clearing the building. The gunman is believed to have died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound”. The shooting had lasted four to five minutes and the suspect, a black man about 35 to 40 years old, used a long rifle and a handgun. Captain Richard Meulenberg told ABC that police were phoned about a man with a rifle on … Continue reading Gunman shot dead after killing four people at hospital campus

Six people in their teens or early 20s have been rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds in Tennessee. The victims were believed to have been struck by bullets during a shootout in downtown Chattanooga around 11.45pm. Cops were on patrol when they heard shots fired and found ‘multiple parties exchanging gunfire and numerous people fleeing the area’. Sgt Jeremy Eames said: ‘I don’t have ages or a status on the victims. However most of them will be teenagers to early 20’s. ‘We had large groups of juveniles walking around the downtown area this date and we believe it’s from within that group that … Continue reading Six people in their teens are rushed to hospital with gunshot injuries in Tennessee

The husband of a teacher who was shot dead in the horrific Texas school attack on Tuesday has suffered a fatal heart attack, according to reports. Irma Garcia was gunned down by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde this week in the US. Her grieving husband Joe Garcia “passed away due to grief”, according to a relative. The pair were high school sweethearts and had been married 24 years. Irma and Joe shared four children together. Elementary School Teacher Irma Garza Irma, 46, and colleague Eva Mireles, 44, were both killed by Ramos along with 19 kids before the killer was gunned down by police. Ramos was … Continue reading Tragic: Husband of teacher shot dead in Texas school attack suffers fatal cardiac arrest

Nineteen young children and two adults have died in a shooting at a primary school in south Texas. The gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School – which teaches children aged seven to 10 – in the city of Uvalde before he was killed by law enforcement, officials said. The 18-year-old suspect had a handgun, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and high-capacity magazines, investigators say. The teenager is suspected of shooting his grandmother before the rampage. Local media report he may have been a high school student in the area. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said … Continue reading Tragedy: 19 children shot dead in violent gun attack in Texas

A small South Carolina town was struck by a violent tragedy over the weekend after two separate shootings left four teens dead by gunfire. On Saturday night at around midnight, officers from the Newberry Sheriff’s Office said they received a call about reports of a shooting on Wise St. The victim of that shooting, a 16-year-old, was declared dead early on Sunday morning. That afternoon, approximately 15 hours after the Saturday night shooting was reported, law enforcement was called to a separate shooting on the 2400 block of Eleanor St, only a two-minute drive from the earlier location. Chief Kevin Goodman reported … Continue reading Four teens killed in South Carolina shootings

New York state’s top prosecutor has launched an investigation into the role social media companies played in Saturday’s mass shooting in Buffalo. The inquiry will look at the extent that social platforms were “used to stream, promote, or plan the event”, the attorney general’s office said. The state’s governor has argued tech firms share some blame for the attack. Critics say the companies were too slow to remove the alleged gunman’s violent posts. Announcing the investigation on Wednesday, Attorney General Letitia James said: “The terror attack in Buffalo has once again revealed the depths and danger of the online forums … Continue reading Tech & Crime: NY probes ‘bone-chilling’ social media role in Buffalo shooting

The US Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had reached a $127.5-million settlement with survivors and relatives of victims of the 2018 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. The agreement settles all 40 of the civil cases stemming from the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead and 17 wounded, the department said in a statement. “The settlement does not amount to an admission of fault by the United States,” it said. Survivors of the shooting and the families of 16 of the people killed had sued the government for damages. … Continue reading Update: US govt reaches $127.5 million settlement with high school shooting victims

A company that made a rifle used in one of the US’s deadliest school shootings has settled with the families of victims for $73m (£53.9m). The settlement from Remington Arms comes in response to a lawsuit brought by the families of nine of 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. The case marks the first time a gun-maker has faced liability for a mass shooting. Until now, the industry had immunity from litigation. Each family will receive a share of the settlement, but other details of the deal were not disclosed. Josh Koskoff, a lawyer representing the families of … Continue reading Families of Sandy Hook victims settle with Remington