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Maryland Offers "Full Support" After 19 Children, 2 Adults Killed In Texas Elementary School Shooting

BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) -- Maryland is offering its support to Texas after a man opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school, killing 19 children, one teacher, another adult, and injuring others.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday that the state's security team, which includes Maryland State Police and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management, has offered its "full support and assistance to state and local officials in Texas."

"Schools should never be a place of fear," Hogan said in a statement. "No mom or dad should ever have to worry when they send their kids off to school whether they'll come home safely."

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott tweeted his support Tuesday for the loved ones of those killed, alluding to his city's own struggle with gun violence.

"We can't become desensitized to the suffering and loss of life that happened today and earlier this month in Buffalo," Scott said. "Sadly, in Baltimore we are all too familiar with this pain."

Scott continued to say that prayers aren't enough, and that gun reform must happen.

"We can honor the victims of Uvalde, Buffalo, Baltimore, and every corner of the country touched by gun violence by passing tougher gun laws," he said. "We cannot afford to do anything else."

The gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun and possibly a rifle, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Officials have not revealed a motive for the shooting, but said the shooter, an 18-year-old, was a resident of the community that's about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio.

Abbott said the shooter was likely killed by responding officers but that the events were still being investigated. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Chief of Police Pete Arredondo said at a news conference that the gunman acted alone.

It was not immediately clear how many people, in addition to the dead, were wounded, but Arredondo said there were "several injuries." Earlier, Uvalde Memorial Hospital said 13 children were taken there. Another hospital reported a 66-year-old woman was in critical condition.

Robb Elementary School has an enrollment of just under 600 students, and Arredondo said it serves students in the second, third and fourth grade. He did not provide ages of the children who were shot.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the school shooting on Air Force One as he returns from a five-day trip to Asia and would continue to receive updates. Jean-Pierre said Biden will deliver remarks Tuesday evening at the White House.

Uvalde is home to about 16,000 people and is the seat of government for Uvalde County. The town is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes. There is a funeral home across the street from the school.

The shooting in Texas came less than two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and workers in what officials have described as a hate crime.

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