Texas : One killed, five hospitalised in mass shooting

One person was killed and four others were hospitalised after a shooting at a cabinet business in Bryan, Texas, on Thursday, police said. In addition, a Texas state trooper is in the hospital after being shot while pursuing the suspect.

Bryan Police Chief Eric Buske told reporters the gunman was apparently an employee of the business where the shooting took place, Kent Moore Cabinets, and that the suspect had been taken into custody.

The shooting left one person dead at the scene and four others struck by gunfire, the chief said. A fifth person was taken to the hospital suffering from an apparent asthma attack, according to Buske.

Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said the male suspect was arrested in the tiny town of Iola, about 48 km (30 miles) away from the cabinet plant. Bryan is about 160km (100 miles) northwest of Houston.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement that “the state will assist in any way needed to help prosecute the suspect.”

Bryan Police Lieutenant Jason James said officers from his department responded to reports of a shooting at 2:30pm local time (19:30 GMT) and found “several victims” at the cabinet business.

Employees of the business were interviewed, James said, and witnesses had identified a suspect.

“At this site, when law enforcement showed up it was already over with,” James said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has sent agents and dogs to the scene of the shooting, said spokesman Deon Washington. He could not provide more detail on what happened and said “it’s a pretty rapidly evolving situation.”

And other News , President Joe Biden and his Attorney General Merrick Garland have announced limited measures to tackle gun violence in the United States, in what the White House described as a first step to curb mass shootings, community bloodshed and suicides.

The new measures, announced on Thursday, include plans for the Justice Department to crack down on self-assembled "ghost guns," and make "stabilising braces" – which effectively turn pistols into rifles – subject to registration under the National Firearms Act.

Biden said he will ask the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to release an annual report on firearms trafficking in the United States, and make it easier for states to adopt "Red Flag" laws that flag at-risk individuals who own guns.

Biden also outlined more ambitious goals that he needs the support of Congress to accomplish, including reintroducing a ban on assault weapons and passing a nationwide Red Flag law.

"Enough prayers," Biden said. "Time for some action."

"Today we're taking steps to confront not just the gun crisis, but what is actually a public health crisis," Biden said, speaking in the Rose Garden.

He noted another mass shooting in South Carolina this week.

"This is an epidemic, for God's sake, and it has to stop," Biden said.

Family members whose children were killed at the Sandy Hook, Connecticut, school massacre in 2012 and the shooting at Marj ory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 attended the hearing, and Biden thanked them for attending, saying he understood it would remind them of the awful days when they got the calls.

He assured them, “We’re absolutely determined to make change."