hospital. we do not know the full status there. governor abbott of texas says the shooter who is also dead was an 18-year-old male who attended the local high school. officials believe he acted alone and had a handgun and possibly a rifle. there is so much we do not know tonight, we do know, though, it is the worst school shooting in the united states since 17 people died at marjorie douglas high school in parkland florida in 2018. i said it's a small town, it is, about 16,000 people live there in the southern part of the state, about 85 miles west of san antonio. moments ago, president biden arrived back at joint base andrews. he is headed to the white house. administration officials say he has been briefed and will address the nation in the next hour. we expect vice-president to address the president this hour. cnn's ed lavandera "outfront" tonight in dallas, texas and ed, as i said, there is so much we do not know and obviously so much we will never understand, but what are you learning tonight about the shooter at this hour? >> reporter: well we can report that the shooter is 18-year-old salvador ramos, he was a student at the uvalde high school, we understand the shooter is now dead. it is not exactly clear how he died, the governor of texas said there was an exchange of gunfire with the shooter and several law enforcement who were some of the initial people responding to this scene. several of those officers were hit by gunfire but we're told those are not life-threatening injuries at this point. but the governor also said that the government pulled up into a car, abandoned his car and went inside and started shooting. the governor mentioned there was a firearm, possibly rifle, but we have not heard from local authorities or any other authorities who know exactly what kind of weaponry was used in this but clearly it was enough firepower to inflict a painful amount of carnage, 14 children, and we're told by the top security officer there at the school district that it is mostly second, third, and fourth graders that attended that elementary school, rob elementary there in the town of uvalde so you can imagine the age ranges of what we're going to be hearing about here in the coming days. just an absolutely horrific scene unfolding here this afternoon and we presume at this point, erin, that many of the local law enforcement agencies are going through the process right now of informing family members and confirming to family members of those who have died in this school shooting that, breaking the news to them. many family members and parents of school children there were told to reunite with the surviving students at a nearby civic center and that's where they could reunite but right now, the law enforcement officers and investigators working what must be a gruesome scene, crime scene, inside that elementary school tonight, erin. >> absolutely, and as, you know, as i said there is so much we don't know, we do hope to hear more from officials in the next moments here and hours but ed, i mentioned that uvalde is small, i mean 16,000 people. you know, an event like this would rock and break communities much, much larger, but this is an incredibly small town. tell me what you know about the community. >> reporter: you know, i've driven through there several times especially when we, traveling from san antonio down to the border covering border issues over the years so definitely a town we passed through many times but it's a small place and what you find in a lot of these communities in south texas is, you know, as we've researched other stories, the families and friends are all intertwined. so the magnitude of this horrific scene will be felt exponentially through this community because you don't, you know, as cliche as it might seem, it's even more pronounced in a community like this. people know each other, people are connected in a myriad of different ways so the impact of what this shooting and what this fragileied will leave and the impact it will leave on the city is impossible to put into words tonight but, you know, just the degrees of separation people will have from this tragedy will be very minimal, everybody will know someone impacted by what has unfolded there today. >> ed lavandera, thank you very much, ed, in texas going back to him as we learn more. we are getting more information as the moments go by. as ed said though, many of these families showing up to reunite, still notifying the parents of second, third and fourth graders of what has happened. well, flags have been lowered to half staff already at the white house in honor of the school shooting victims and i want to go to phil mattingly "outfront" there. just spoke to texas governor greg abbott and i want to be clear, governor abbott is the one who told the country that so many children were dead. that was not clear before he spoke. president biden will be addressing the nation tonight. what do you know about the conversation in a i understand just occurred between president biden and governor abbott. >> reporter: yeah, shortly before president biden touched down at joint base andrews, 14 hour flight from japan where the country had been on a two country visit to asia, he did speak with governor abbott and pledged any and all assistance needed in the wake of this horrific shooting, something the president has had to do too many times in his first 15 months in office. the president preparing to make remarks. >> sorry to interrupt you, we'll go back in a moment, i apologize, but the vice-president kamala harris speaking now at an event, addressing the horrific attack. let's listen in. >> as many of you know, the reports have been there was a mass shooting at an elementary school and the preliminary reports are that 14 children have been killed. and the details still coming in and of course the president and i are monitoring the situation closely. so while we don't know all the details yet, we do know that there are parents who have lost children, families that have lost children and their loved ones, of course, and many others who may have been injured. so i would normally say in a moment like this, say naturally, our hearts break, but our hearts keep getting broken. you know, i think, there's so many elected leaders in this room, they know what i'm talking about. every time a tragedy like this happens, our hearts break. and our broken hearts are nothing compared to the broken hearts of those families. and yet it keeps happening. so i think we all know and have said many times with each other, enough is enough. enough is enough. as a nation, we have to have the courage to take action and understand the nexus between what makes for reasonable and sensible public policy to ensure something like this never happens again. so the president will speak more about this later. but for now, i will just say to the people of uvalde, please know that this is a room full of leaders who grieve with you. and we are praying for you and we stand with you. and it is difficult at a time like this to think about much else, but i do look around this room and i know who is here and i know this is a room full of american leaders who know and have the courage to take a stand. and so let us, tonight, as we do every time we all get together, recommit ourselves to having the courage to take action. and so that does bring me to the leaders who are in this room and the leaders of apex and again i want to thank chair woman judy shu for the warm introduction as a former member of apaics, i saw her leadership firsthand and she is a true leader who lifts up the people of this country and of course i'm honored tonight to be with honor reasonable member strickland. >> vice-president talking about the horrible shooting in texas and as i said, the president will be addressing the nation shortly after 8:00 eastern standard time, just landed at andrews air force base. back to you, phil mattingly, we heard from the vice-president, going to hear from the president who had this conversation with the texas governor greg abbott and hoping you could tell me exactly what was in that conversation. >> the primary crux of that conversation, making clear whatever the governor of texas needs from the federal government will be provided. as noted earlier, a call the president made too many times in the wake of violence like this over the course of his first 15 months in office and i think it's going to be something he directly addresses when he speaks to the nation in about an hour. i think what you heard from the vice-president, who has been briefed along with the president about what transpired on the ground over the course of last several hours, still learning, more information, white house officials made clear is a window into what is very real, very palpable, consistent frustration here at the white house, down the street, pennsylvania avenue as well that these types of horrific events continue to occur and nothing substantive on the federal level is done. now it's very unclear what the motive was here, how things transpired but the emotion, the horror, the terror for parents and families and just keep in in mind, erin, before the president departed for that trip to south korea and japan, two days prior was in buffalo warning , mournig the 10 individuals killed at a grocery store, now returns from his trip, and mourning the individuals killed in a mass shooting, and those pushed by president biden, not been able to make it through the u.s. senate, been block said by republicans, whether that dynamic shifts at all i think is a very open question primarily because the president was vice-president when the sandy hook massacre occurred up in connecticut. he was the point person for then president obama on attempting new gun laws and that effort fell short so it will be interesting to see how things transpire in the days ahead but one thing is very clear, the emotion, the horror and the president trying to address that will certainly be top of mind when he speaks to the country in about an hour. >> phil mattingly, thank you very much and as i can just confirm now, we do now understand that the shooter killed his own grandmother before he went to the school. as we said we're confirming bits and pieces of this story as we learn them but now able to confirm that and i would like to go to the texas state senator guitierrez, representing the state legislature, first, senator, let me start out by saying, telling you, just so sorry for this horror that now is impacting you and so many around you. i understand as this news comes in, you are learning about more, the death toll going up. >> yes, erin, it's unfortunate but i was just briefed by the texas rangers, 18 children have passed on. and three adults. what i was just told about 20 minutes ago is that the grandmother is still holding on, that she was airlifted to san antonio and so these are the, it's a very tragic event as you can imagine. i can't imagine what it would mean to send your child off to school in the morning and not have him return. so devastating. >> senator, just to be clear here, i understand you're hearing that the grandmother may still be alive but for the children who did go to school in the second, third and fourth grades as we understand it at rob elementary, we understand 14 of them were killed in this horrific shooting and that number now gone up to 18 in the school? >> that is correct as of a briefing i just had with the texas rangers, that is correct, yes, ma'am. >> senator, do you know anything more about what happened or how this happened? there is so little that we know right now, other than that the shooter is an 18-year-old male. we know so little. what else have you learned? >> well erin, what i do know, of course, this is an on going investigation. what i do know is this young man shot his grandmother and then fled that scene, from that incident, and was in a car wreck near the school, ran into the school and proceeded to, all this carnage proceeded to unfold after that time. the young man was 18 years old. and as was suggested earlier, born in north dakota, went to high school here in uvalde and unfortunately, on his 18th birthday, bought those two assault rifles you've been talking about and they are assault rifles. first thing he did when he turned 18. just some time ago. there was some social media interaction, some threats that, you know, kids should watch out. i think that will be reported in the days to come. i just -- i'm very speechless about all this, just so sad for my constituents in this community as a father of two little girls, i'm just at a loss for words. >> i think everyone watching is. i do appreciate your sharing this as people try to understand. so your understanding, senator, that he bought these two -- as you're clearly describing them, assault rifles on his 18th birthday. he is, of course, 18, so that would mean within the past year. and you mentioned something else, senator gutierrez, said kids should watch out, that there is, to your understanding, social media discussion about violence from the shooter. >> yes, ma'am. they're still investigating those aspects of this crime, but there was some social media assertions, obviously, this is a very troubled person. we know that he bought those weapons from a dealer on his 18th birthday in the uvalde area from a federally authorized dealer and had no problem accessing those weapons. >> right, bought legally -- >> yes, ma'am. >> and do you, one other thing, and i'm sorry, senator, to ask you this, but there is so little that we know. do you know if he was currently a student at the high school in uvalde or what was his status and to why he went to rob elementary? you mention he was born in north dakota, do you know if he ever went to rob elementary? >> i do not know. i've been hearing different things from different folks but what i'm trying to tell you is what i've heard from the texas rangers and that he was 18 years old, a high school student in uvalde and that he did proceed to try to kill his grandmother. she's still holding on. and then he went over and caused this great tragedy at the school. that's about all i know, erin, as far as the facts. i'm headed over to uvalde right now to talk to some of my constituents, county judge, school superintendant to try to assess their needs and it's a very small community. they don't have access to psychological care and i've talked to some of my school districts in san antonio and to offer -- >> all right, senator gutierrez, i am very grateful for your time, everyone is, and we thank you. as we saw you literally pull over on the side of the road, he's on his way to uvalde right now. as we continue to follow this horrific breaking news, you heard senator gutierrez say he understand the death count went up to 18 children and 3 adults, the latest he heard from texas rangers. we've confirmed 14 with dead but we await confirmation of what you just heard from him. teacher also killed at that shooting and we'll have more when we come back. eep number 360 smart bed. why choose proven quality sleep from sleep number? because every green thumb, 5k, and all-day dance party starts the night before. the sleep number 3 360 smart bd senses your movements and automatically adjusts to help keep you both comfortable all night and can help you get almost 30 minutetes more restful sleep per night. sleep number takakes care of the science. all you have to do is sleep. save $1,000 on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed, queen now only $1,999. plus 0% interest for 36 months, and free home delivery when you add a base.ends monday. ♪ it's a lovely day today ♪ ♪ so whatever you've got to do ♪ ♪ you've got a lovely day to do it in, that's true ♪ [ chuckling ] ♪ and i hope whatever you've goto do ♪ ♪ is something that... ♪ [ music stops ] [ beeping ] cars 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arrived at joint base andrews moments ago and set to address the nation in less than an hour's time. i want to go to our senior justice correspondent evan perez "outfront" for us tonight with what you're learning right now, evan and we were just talking to state senator gutierrez who gave us a lot of new information he is learning from the texas rangers but what more is the federal government, the fbi, saying about what happened here? >> reporter: well erin, one of the focuses now for the fbi is to try to figure out the motivation, what prompted this gunman to go to the school, he's 18 years old, obviously, these are second, third and fourth graders according to local officials. what relationship did he have with the school? we know that this was, this incident was -- as it began, there was a call for help from the school and one of the first people who was there was a customs and border protection agent, is reporting from priscilla alvares and tells us according to the ccp, this officer e