'This Cannot Continue': Minnesota Leaders React To Deadly Texas School Shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- At least 19 children and two adults are dead after a school shooting in Texas Tuesday morning.

It happened at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which is west of San Antonio. The shooter, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde, is also dead. It's believed responding officers killed him.

Minnesota politicians are reacting to the unfathomable news Tuesday.

"I am watching the news coming out of Texas in horror," Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said on Twitter. "This cannot continue. Minnesota grieves with the parents and families of every child who was shot and killed in Uvalde today."

Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she is "beyond heartbroken over the horrific tragedy."

"It has been nearly a decade since Sandy Hook and gun safety legislation has been repeatedly blocked. Unconscionable," Klobuchar said on Twitter.

Democratic Sen. Tina Smith echoed Klobuchar on gun safety in a Tweet late Tuesday afternoon, saying blockage of legislation "has caused an untold number of unnecessary deaths in this country."

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer also took to Twitter to express shock and grief.

"[My wife] Jacquie and I are absolutely heartbroken to hear about the tragedy unfolding in Uvalde," Emmer said. "Praying for the entire Robb Elementary community and the families of those lost in today's senseless act of violence."

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips also responded to the tragedy on Twitter by criticizing modern views of the 2nd Amendment.

"Only in America does this carnage happen," Phillips said. "I'm a gun owner. Do not tell me our Founders conceived of this carnage when they wrote the Constitution. Do not tell me they would have tolerated this madness. Do not tell me that teachers must be armed. And do not tell me your AR15 is worth more than another 14 children's lives."

Democratic Rep. Angie Craig called the school shooting "every parent's worst nightmare."

"I'm sickened and heartbroken by this terrible news. But I'm also angry," Craig said on Twitter. "We don't have to live in a country where murdering elementary school children results in a lot of thoughts and prayers but no real action."

In a statement released Tuesday evening, Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum called for "weapons of mass murder" to be banned by Congress. She also blamed Republicans for making it "easier to carry weapons and access weapons used to murder children, shoppers, and people at places of worship."

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar also called for the passage of gun safety legislation.

"[The Robb Elementary School shooting] cannot and should not be normal," Omar said on Twitter. "As a parent of an elementary school student, the pain and anger is unbearable."

President Joe Biden has order U.S. flags to be flown at half staff as "a mark of respect for the victims."