Who is Salvador Ramos? What we know about Texas elementary school shooting suspect
UVALDE, Texas - An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers as he went from classroom to classroom at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday, officials said.
The suspect, later identified as Salvador Ramos, was killed by a Border Patrol agent who rushed into the school without waiting for backup, according to a law enforcement official.
The assault happened at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde, located about 85 miles west of San Antonio. It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
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Investigators shed no immediate light on the motive. Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.
But about 30 minutes before the bloodbath, Ramos made three social media posts, Abbott said. According to the governor, Ramos posted that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman, and finally that he was going to shoot up an elementary school.
Instagram
confirmed to The Associated Press that it is working with law
enforcement to review the account but declined to answer questions about
the postings. Investigators are also looking at an account on TikTok,
possibly belonging to the shooter, with a profile that reads: "Kids be
scared IRL," an acronym meaning "in real life." The profile is not
dated.
Investigators do not yet know why Ramos targeted the school, said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
"We don’t see a motive or catalyst right now," he said.
Officers found one of the rifles in Ramos’ truck, the other in the school, according to the briefing given to lawmakers. Ramos was wearing a tactical vest, but it had no hardened body-armor plates inside, lawmakers were told. He also dropped a backpack containing several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance.
On Tuesday morning, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at her home, then left. Neighbors called police when she staggered outside and they saw she had been shot in the face, Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine said.
Ramos then crashed his truck through a railing on the school grounds, and an Uvalde school district officer exchanged fire with him and was wounded, Considine said. Ramos went inside and exchanged more gunfire with two arriving Uvalde police officers, who were still outside, Considine said. Those officers were also wounded.
Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a nearby classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie "Moana" when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past the door.
"Oh, my God, he has a gun!" the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. "The teacher didn’t even have time to lock the door," he said.
A tactical team forced its way into the classroom where the attacker was holed up and was met with gunfire from Ramos but shot and killed him, according to Olivarez.
Uvalde, home to about 16,000 people, is about 75 miles from the border with Mexico. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.
The attack came as the school was counting down to the last days of the school year with a series of themed days. Tuesday was to be "Footloose and Fancy," with students wearing nice outfits.
Law enforcement officers were serving multiple search warrants Tuesday night and gathering telephone and other records, the official said. Investigators were also attempting to contact Ramos' relatives and were tracing the firearms.
Other officials said that the grandmother survived and was being treated, though her condition was not known.
FOX News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox 2 Detroit
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