This post has been updated.
Twenty people were killed and more than two dozen injured in a shooting massacre at an El Paso mall, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday.
A police spokesperson said that a white male in his 20s had been taken into custody “without incident.”
“No law enforcement personnel fired their weapons during this incident,” the spokesperson, Sgt. Robert Gomez of the El Paso Police Department, said.
Gomez earlier told reporters that “at this time we have ruled out multiple shooters.”
Police first received reports of a shooter at approximately 10 a.m. El Paso time. Gomez identified the Walmart in the mall area as the source of the initial calls, though he said subsequent calls reported potential activity at Cielo Vista Mall itself. The Walmart building and the mall are in the same vicinity, though they are separated by a parking lot.
Gomez said the El Paso Police Department was “working with our federal partners” at the scene, including the FBI, DEA and other agencies.
USA Today noted that, in addition to the shooting massacre that left three dead in Gilroy, California last weekend, the situation Saturday also followed the shooting deaths of two people in a Mississippi Walmart on Tuesday.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), who represents El Paso, ended a town hall event 15 miles from the mall after being “asked by law enforcement to just send everybody home,” she told the crowd, the Washington Post reported.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), who lives in El Paso, said upon taking the stage at an AFSCME candidate forum in Las Vegas that he had “just learned” about the situation. Las Vegas was the scene of the largest mass shooting in modern American history in 2017 when a gunman killed 58 people at a music festival.
“It’s a real reminder of what’s most important at the end of the day for all of us,” O’Rourke said.
The President tweeted about the shooting at 4:10 p.m. Eastern time, following his well-wishes to those affected with a tweet cheering on the MMA fighter Colby Covington, 14 minutes later.
This post has been updated.
The headline photo shows everything wrong with the 2nd Amendment. This shit is something we see in Afghanistan or Syria. It is something that never should be on our streets.
Another Second Amendment week in the US…Gilroy, CA; Southaven, MS; and now El Paso.
MoscowMitch does nothing.
100% agree with you. Soldiers going to war complete with armored vehicle at a shopping mall in the U.S.A.
This from the Journal Sentinel which has up the most recent article
Since the suspects are in custody as opposed to dead, my first thought is white. Terrible times when my thoughts go to the race of the murderers and just hope they’re not POC.
Also reporting multiple fatalities. Shit.
The idiot in the WH doesn’t even bother with thoughts and prayers anymore. These ‘events’ keep happening and nothing ever changes. It’s beginning to feel like the reports from Afghanistan about bombings aimed at civilians.