A gunman opened fire on a children's summer camp containing 250 campers and staffers outside of Dallas, Texas on Monday, US media outlets reported, the latest in a string of shootings across America. He was quickly shot and killed by police.
The shooting in Texas
At 8:43 a.m. on Monday, the Duncanville Police Department received reports of an armed individual at the Fieldhouse, a sports rec space, and were on the scene within two minutes, the department said in a release.
In a press conference held on Monday, Duncanville Assistant Chief of Police Matthew Stogner said that the man had entered "through the main lobby doors with a handgun," CNN reported.
"The suspect went to a classroom, was unable to get inside, and did fire one round into the classroom where there were children inside," Stogner said, according to the report.
Naomi Rodgers, one of the Fieldhouse counselors, was in the classroom with her four-to-six-year-old campers when he came to the door.
"He said if we didn’t let him see who he wanted to see he was going to shoot the place up," she told KXAS, an NBC affiliate in Forth Worth.
He then moved to the gymnasium, where gunfire was quickly exchanged between him and the police and he was wounded. He was then taken to hospital for medical care and eventually died of his wounds, the department added.“I just started to pray… I know what happened in Uvalde — and I was like this cannot happen.”An 18-year-old camp counselor — helping to corral 4-6yrs old — said they hid in a room & tried to keep quiet as the gunman fired. https://t.co/2KuWeCUNNz @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/Pr0D2VgT8o
— Katy Blakey (@KatyBlakeyNBC5) June 13, 2022
The campers were all four to fourteen years old. None sustained any physical injuries and all were picked up by parents or guardians.
An outrageous pattern
Just three weeks ago, about 600 kilometers away from Duncanville, 19 students and two teachers were killed in the Uvalde shooting, which broke the fatality record for school shootings since Sandy Hook in 2012.
A Texas teen was arrested two days later in an alleged copycat attempt.