Texas Shooting: Pope Francis Reacts To Killing Of 19 School Children

The horror killing of nineteen children and two adults at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday has been described as heartbreaking by Catholic head, Pope Francis.

Naija News had reported earlier that an 18-year-old man simply identified as Salvador Ramos, of Uvalde, stormed the Texas school, shooting aimlessly.

Two adults were also killed in the shooting spree.

Meanwhile, reports have it that Ramos had earlier shot his grandmother before crashing a vehicle near the school.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Erick Estrada confirmed this in a statement released on Wednesday (today), noting that Ramos’s grandma is currently in a critical condition.

Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo confirmed that the teenager was killed by law enforcement officers after the shooting spree.

Reacting to the development, Pope Francis on Wednesday said he was heartbroken by the incident, calling for greater controls on weapons.

“I am heartbroken by the massacre at the elementary school in Texas. I pray for the children and the adults who were killed and for their families,” Francis said of the shooting in Uvalde.

He added: “It is time to say ‘enough’ to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all commit so that tragedies like this cannot happen again.’’

Speaking from the White House hours after the shooting, a visibly shaken President Joe Biden urged Americans to stand up to the politically powerful gun lobby, which he blamed for blocking the enactment of tougher firearms safety laws.

Francis has often taken on the weapons industry. In 2015 he said people who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian, Naija News reports.