Texas school shooting: Matthew McConaughey, Taylor Swift, Priyanka Chopra and other celebrities mourn tragedy

Amid an outpouring of grief and anger following a Texas school shooting on May 24, prominent celebrities have shared their condolences over the murder of 19 children and two teachers. Salvador Ramos, 18, opened fire at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and killed at least 21 before being fatally shot by police.

Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey, who was born in Uvalde and spent 12 years in the city, took to social media to share an impassioned note about the tragedy that has rocked the US and the rest of the world. “As you are all aware, there was another mass shooting today, this time in my hometown of Uvalde, Texas,” McConaughey wrote. “Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us.”

He added: “This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured.”

Grammy-winning singer Taylor Swift also took to her social media to share her sadness at the shooting and other such incidents. She retweeted a video of NBA coach Steve Kerr’s emotional speech regarding gun control, and added: “Filled with rage and grief, and so broken by the murders in Uvalde. By Buffalo, Laguna Woods and so many others. By the ways in which we, as a nation, have become conditioned to unfathomable and unbearable heartbreak. Steve’s words ring so true and cut so deep.”

Another Texas native, singer Selena Gomez, shared her condolences on Twitter along with a link to website for Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit organisation that advocates for gun control and against gun violence. “Today in my home state of Texas 18 innocent students were killed while simply trying to get an education. A teacher killed doing her job; an invaluable yet sadly under appreciated job. If children aren’t safe at school where are they safe?” Gomez tweeted. “It’s so frustrating and I’m not sure what to say anymore. Those in power need to stop giving lip service and actually change the laws to prevent these shootings in the future.”

Basketball icon LeBron James echoed the feelings of many people in his tweet. “My thoughts and prayers goes out to the families of love ones loss & injured at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX! Like when is enough enough man!!! These are kids and we keep putting them in harms way at school. Like seriously “AT SCHOOL” where it’s suppose to be the safest!” he wrote.

Actress and director Mindy Kaling tweeted: “It happens, and then life goes on. Then it happens again. And the only thing that changes - the literal only thing - is that it happens sooner and sooner.”

Singer Becky G tweeted her grief, and referenced the deadly, racially motivated Buffalo shooting that took place on May 14 killing 10. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Just last week a targeted mass shooting at a market in Buffalo and now a school shooting in Uvalde. Communities should be safe in their grocery stores, our CHILDREN should be safe in class! This has to end,” she exclaimed.

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas shared a screen shot of a news article on her Instagram Stories and wrote: “Condolences are not enough. There needs to be more done. So tragic.”

The Uvalde incident is the deadliest US school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, 20 of whom were children. NPR said May 24’s tragedy is the 27th American school shooting in 2022.