Matthew McConaughey reacts to school shooting in his Texas hometown: 'This is an epidemic we can control'

• At least 21 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday.
• Matthew McConaughey reacted to the tragic incident, which occurred in his hometown.

Matthew McConaughey urged Americans to "do better" in a statement on Twitter after at least 21 people were killed in a mass shooting at an elementary school in his Texas hometown.

A teenage shooter opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, killing 19 children and two adults. Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed that the suspected gunman is dead.

"Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us," Oscar winner McConaughey wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.

The 52-year-old actor continued: "The true call to action is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, 'What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state and neighborhood tomorrow?'"

He added: "We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo."

Later in the statement, McConaughey said mass shootings were an "epidemic we can control."

He continued: "Whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured."

The shooting at Robb Elementary School has been described as the deadliest elementary school shooting in 10 years, since the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 27 people dead in December 2012.

President Joe Biden addressed the parents of victims of the elementary school shooting on Tuesday, saying: "To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There's a hollowness in your chest, you feel like you're being sucked into it. And it's never quite the same."