A look at some of the deadliest US school shootings

There have been dozens of shootings and other attacks in U.S. schools and colleges over the years, but until the massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999, the number of dead tended to be in the single digits. Since then, the number of shootings that included schools have killed 10 or more people has mounted. The most recent two were both in Texas.

Robb Elementary School, May 24, 2022

An 18-year-old gunman opened fire Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two adults, also injuring others, Gov. Greg Abbott said. The shooter died.

Santa Fe High Sschool, May 2018

A 17-year-old opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing 10 people, most of them students, authorities said. The suspect has been charged with murder.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, February 2018

An attack left 14 students and three staff members dead at the school in Parkland, Florida, and injured many others. The 20-year-old suspect was charged with murder.

Umpqua Community College, October 2015

A man killed nine people at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, and wounded nine others, then killed himself.

Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 2012

A 19-year-old man killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut, then went to the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first-graders and six educators. He took his own life.

Virginia Tech, April 2007

A 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007; more than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.

Red Lake High School, March 2005

A 16-year-old student killed his grandfather and the man's companion at their Minnesota home, then went to nearby Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a teacher, and a security guard before shooting himself.

Columbine High School, April 1999

Two students killed 12 of their peers and one teacher at the school in Littleton, Colorado, and injured many others before killing themselves.

School shootings have become recurring emergencies in the US, with 26 recorded last year, according to EdWeek, an education trade publication.

Active shooter lockdown drills are a common part of the school curriculum, from primary to high school.

Speaking on the floor of the US Senate in Washington DC on Tuesday, Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy begged his colleagues to pass gun control legislation.

"These kids weren't unlucky," he said. "This only happens in this country. Nowhere else, nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day."

But Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, rejected the calls for gun control. He said restricting the rights of "law-abiding citizens... doesn't work. It's not effective. It doesn't prevent crime."

Guns overtook car crashes to become the leading cause of death for US children and teenagers in 2020, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month.

On Monday, an FBI report found that "active shooter" rampage attacks have doubled since the coronavirus began in 2020. (With inputs from Associated Press)