Meghan Markle pays respects to Texas school shooting victims as she visits memorial

Meghan Markle paid her respects to the Texas school shooting victims as she visited the memorial of 21 people that were killed - including 19 children.

• Meghan Markle has visited the Texas memorial to pay her respects to those who lost their lives in the Robb Elementary school shooting.
• The Duchess of Sussex made the personal visit to Uvalde to offer her "condolences and support".
• This royal news (opens in new tab) comes after Prince Harry and Meghan confirmed they will be returning to the UK with Archie and Lilibet (opens in new tab) next month.

Meghan Markle was pictured placing a floral tribute at the Texas memorial as she paid her respects to the victims of the Robb Elementary school shooting.

Twenty one people died, including 19 children, when gunman had “shot and killed — horrifically, incomprehensibly" before being shot dead himself.

A brief statement released from Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, confirmed that authorities were first called to the school, which educates children in grades two to four, shortly after 11:30 a.m (May 24th).

Gov. Greg Abbott identified the shooter as an 18-year-old Uvalde man who is believed to have been killed by responding officers.

The governor said at least two police officers were struck by rounds but not seriously injured.

How exactly the shooting unfolded remains unclear, and the investigations continue.

The Duchess of Sussex visited the makeshift memorial outside Uvalde County Courthouse on Thursday (May 26th) wearing a baseball cap, white t-shirt, jeans and trainers.

And she also put on a black face mask when she dropped by to see volunteers at the Herby Ham Activity Center that was hosting a blood drive, where she visited the kitchen and donated two crates filled with food, beverages and desserts for blood donors.

A Sussex representative confirmed to BuzzFeedNews (opens in new tab) that the duchess traveled to Uvalde "in a personal capacity as a mother" in order to offer "her condolences and support in person to a community experiencing unimaginable grief".

One volunteer Georjean Burnell, 46, told the news outlet, "She was just really sweet. She just kind of walked in with her [security] crew and started putting ice waters in the bucket with us and laying out chips for the people who were needing snacks before and after donating."

"It's funny, we didn't even know it was her until after she left and now we're so sad. I mean, to be honest, we thought she was our neighbour."

Meghan made the 1,387-mile visit from her LA home (opens in new tab) to the Latino community without her husband Prince Harry and their children Archie (opens in new tab), three, and Lilibet Diana (opens in new tab), aged 11 months.