Texas school shooting: World reacts with shock and grief

World leaders have expressed shock and horror at the shooting in Texas that saw 19 children and two teachers killed at an elementary school in the town of Uvalde.

The incident was the deadliest school shooting in the US since a gunman killed 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

How the world reacted to the Texas school shooting

Pope Francis told a crowded audience in St. Peter's Square that he was "heartbroken" Wednesday.

"It is time to say 'enough' to the indiscriminate trafficking of weapons. Let us all make a commitment so that tragedies like this cannot happen again," Francis said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent his condolences "to all of the relatives and family members of the children who were killed in an awful shooting in Texas in a school," while speaking from Ukraine at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"This is terrible to have victims of shooters in peaceful times," Zelenskyy said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted: "Our thoughts are with the injured and the bereaved of the victims of this inconceivable massacre for which hardly any words can be found." 

His words were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said: "We share the shock and the grief of the American people, and the rage of those fighting to end the violence." 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his "heart breaks" after the shooting. "Canadians mourn with you, and we are here for you," he tweeted. 

European Council President Charles Michel sent his "deepest condolences."

"My thoughts go out to the people of the United States in the wake of the horrific attack in Texas," Michel said on Twitter, adding that he was "heartbroken by the senseless loss of so many innocent lives."

Calls for tougher gun control in the US

In a TV address late Tuesday, US President Joe Biden demanded action and stricter gun control.

"As a nation, we have to ask: 'When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?'" Biden said. "When in God’s name are we going to do what has to be done? Why are we willing to live with this carnage?" He added that he is "sick and tired of it. ... We have to act."

The head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr, who was in Dallas on Tuesday night to play the Mavericks, seeking a spot in basketball's NBA Finals, refused to answer questions on the game in his pre-match press conference.

"In the last 10 days, we've had elderly Black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, we've had Asian churchgoers killed in southern California, and now we have children murdered at school. When are we going to do something?" he asked, before calling on US senators to reconsider a draft law on background checks for gun purchases, called HR8, which has passed the House of Representatives twice in recent years.

"We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to put it to a vote despite what we, the American people, want," Kerr said.

"Like when is enough enough man!!!" NBA veteran Lebron James wrote on Twitter, saying "these are kids and we keep putting them in harm's way."