There’s still a lot to sift through here. There are a ton of questions and not many answers about the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. No one knows the motive of Robb Elementary School shooter Salvador Ramos. The eighteen-year-old committed the second deadliest school shooting in US history, killing 19 students and two teachers. It’s an evil crime. What we do know is that Ramos’ home life was not stable. His mother did drugs, his antics were known to the police, and he was an evening manager at the local Wendy’s. He was a loner but also had an aggressive streak according to his former co-workers.
The NY Post also said that his grandfather didn’t know he has legally purchased two long guns. If he had known, he would’ve called the police. There was nothing as of now that would have barred Ramos’ firearm purchases. He had no criminal record. The only window into his intentions yesterday was a series of Facebook posts that outlined his plan to attack the elementary school in the small border city. Ramos shot his grandmother prior to his attack on the school. By some miracle, the grandmother survived (via Reuters):
The gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, also posted a message saying he was going to shoot his grandmother, as well as another one confirming that he had done so, Abbott said at a news conference. His grandmother, whom Ramos shot in the face shortly before attacking the school, survived and called police.
Ramos fled the home he shared with his grandparents and crashed his car near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. He entered the school through a backdoor carrying an AR-15 assault-style rifle and wearing tactical gear.
He barricaded himself in a fourth-grade classroom, authorities said, and killed students and teachers before he was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer, Abbott said. An additional 17 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The Facebook posts were the only advance warning of the rampage, Abbott said, adding that Ramos did not appear to have any criminal record or history of mental health problems.
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This happened minutes prior to the attacks. It’s the only red flag but one that was not actionable. It wouldn’t have made a difference. Unlike Parkland, where local, federal, and state authorities knew that Nikolas Cruz was trouble but then dropped the ball. Ramos, as of now, appears to be a loner and a ticking time bomb who had no mental health or criminal history at the time of his firearm purchases.
Now, regarding mental health, more might come out about that because the motive is still unclear. Who knows? We’ll keep you updated.
UPDATE: Another odd communication but also one where nothing could be done (via Daily Mail):
The 18-year-old Texas shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers chillingly messaged a random girl saying: 'I got a lil secret I wanna tell u. I'm about to...'
Salvador Ramos sent an Instagram private chat to the California woman appearing to hint at the terror he would inflict on Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
The sick killer asked her to repost pictures of two of his AR-15s as well as a magazine of ammunition that he bought last week.
He also sent her a haunting post at 9.16am on Tuesday - just two hours before the deadly attack got underway - saying: 'Ima air out.'
And as the shooting got underway it emerged he had also tagged her in a highlighted post on his page with pictures of his guns.
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