The families of those involved in the Texas school shooting were asked to give DNA swabs to help identify victims: report

• The families of those involved in the Texas school shooting were asked to give DNA samples.
• Swabs were taken to help identify victims of the shooting, KHOU 11 News Houston reported.

Families of those involved in the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, were asked to give DNA samples to help investigators identify victims.

According to Anayeli Ruiz, a journalist with KHOU 11 News Houston, parents told her that they were "going one by one" to get swabbed by investigators.

—Anayeli Ruiz KHOU (@AnayeliNews) May 25, 2022

According to Interpol, DNA swabs are commonly used to verify the identities of disaster victims, particularly in cases where bodies are not immediately identifiable.

The Robb Elementary School, where the shooting occurred, has directed all parents to the Civic Center in Uvalde, a reunification site for Robb students. In a notice on its website, the school said that students also needed to be accounted for before being released to their parents.

Niki Griswold, a reporter at the Austin Statesman, reported that there were many families still waiting at the center for news about their children at around 9.40 p.m. in Texas.

"The agonized screams of family members are audible from the parking lot," Griswold tweeted.

At least 19 students and two adults died after a shooter opened fire at the Robb Elementary School. The suspected shooter, an 18-year-old male, is also dead.

The death toll has made the incident the deadliest elementary school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.