Texas governor tweets about Biden ‘taking our guns away’ hours before deadly mass shooting

The mass shooting has left one dead and five injured

Hours before the deadly shooting in Bryan left one person dead and five others injured, governor Greg Abbott had criticised the gun control measures introduced by president Joe Biden as he vowed to make Texas a “2nd Amendment sanctuary state.”

“Biden is threatening our 2nd Amendment rights. He just announced a new liberal power grab to take away our guns,” Governor Abbott had tweeted. “We will NOT allow this in TX. It’s time to get legislation making TX a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary State passed and to my desk for signing.”

The tweet did not age well, predictably drawing sharp reactions from Internet users following the violence. “And like clockwork there’s been a mass shooting in Bryan, Texas, since you tweeted this,” wrote a user.

“This tweet didn’t even have time to circulate much less age before the “let my state freeze to death or die from COVID” Governor had to face a mass shooting. Responsible gun legislation is required,” wrote another user.

“Your open carry law facilitated the murder of 4 employees of a cabinet manufacturer in Bryan, Texas today,” said another.

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President Biden had unveiled six executive orders to combat gun violence hours before the shooting incident at a cabinet-making facility in Bryan, Texas.

The suspect, identified as Larry Bollin, 27, also fired at a state trooper who was pursuing his arrest. The trooper remains in a stable condition, said authorities.

Mr Bollin, believed to be an employee of the company Kent Moore Cabinets, is suspected to have acted alone. Bryan police chief Eric Buske told the press that they do not know the period for which he had been working at the company and are still probing the motive behind his deadly outburst.

According to officials, he used a handgun in the mass shooting.

Of the five wounded in the shooting rampage, four are critically injured and have been taken to the St Joseph Health Regional Hospital. Another person with non-serious injuries was taken to the hospital while one person suffered an apparent asthma attack and was also rushed to an area hospitals, the police said.

The suspect had fled the spot shortly before the police arrived at around 2:30 pm local time. The police first tried to apprehend him at Iola, Texas, at about 3:30 pm but he shot the trooper and fled. He was taken into custody 50 minutes later in Grimes Country, said the Department of Public Safety.

“It was like I was living a horror movie, you know,” Amelia Rodriguez, an employee at Kent Moore Cabinets, was quoted as saying by ABC News in the aftermath of the incident. “You see everything all the time in the movies and they will happen to us today, and it’s indescribable.”

“I don’t know how to feel,” she continued. “Like two hours ago, I thought I was gonna pass out, you know, my legs are feeling weak and everything. ... Life is unpredictable, and it can go in a second.”

Kent Moore Cabinets in a statement to KBTX said that it was “devastated” by the event and would assist law enforcement officials in investigation of the matter.

“We are devastated by the events today at our Bryan manufacturing facility located on Stone City Drive. Our hearts go out to the families and the loved ones of those affected,” it said. “We want to thank the many members of our law enforcement teams and other emergency personnel who responded so quickly. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation of this horrible crime.”

This is the latest in the line of the mass shooting in the country, which was dubbed as an “epidemic” by President Biden on Thursday. “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and an international embarrassment.”

Roughly 11,000 Americans have died from gun violence in 2021 alone while at least 43,436 Americans were killed in shooting-related incidents in 2020.