At least 19 primary school children and two adults have been killed following an attack by a gunman at Robb Elementary School, Uvalde in Texas, the latest mass shooting in the U.S.

On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott told reporters at a press conference that an 18-year-old gunman attacked the elementary school.

“The shooter was … an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde. It is believed that he abandoned his vehicle and entered the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde with a handgun and he may have also had a rifle, but that is not yet confirmed,”  Mr Abbott said. “He shot and killed – horrifically, incomprehensibly – 14 (now 19) students and killed one teacher (now two adults).”

The gunman died at the scene, said officials though there was an earlier claim he was in custody. 

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) announced in a tweet that “all district and campus activities, after-school programmes, and events are cancelled” following the attack.

The elementary school shooting is the 212th mass shooting the U.S. has witnessed since the year began, according to data by the Gun Violence Archive, an organisation that groups mass shootings if four or more people were killed or injured. 

The U.S.Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported an increase of almost 35 per cent in firearm killings, noting 19,350 instances in 2020.