Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old who celebrated his birthday last week, killed 19 children, 2 teachers, and injured 13 others, including police, using a rifle and a handgun. Witnesses say as soon as he came in the door, he shot anyone who was in his way.
THE GRANDFATHER SPEAKS ABOUT HIS GRANDSON
Rolando Reyes, 72, the Uvalde killer’s grandfather, spoke to the media about his grandson. He said there was no suggestion that something was wrong on Tuesday, the morning of the murders. Mr. Reyes claimed Salvador had a minor argument with his grandmother.
The minor argument included Salvador shooting his grandmother in the forehead. She will undergo surgery today.
The suspect lived in a front room and slept on a mattress on the floor, according to Reyes. The suspect had been staying with his grandparents after having a falling out with his mother.
Mr. Reyes said that his grandson was quiet and he doesn’t seem to know much about him. He himself is a felon and cannot have guns but claims he didn’t know his grandson had guns. “I’m against all that,” he said.
Salvador didn’t go to school last year and was a senior in the high school in Uvalde.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
THE LONER WHO WAS BULLIED
Salvador was a loner who suffered through a difficult home life with a drug-addicted mother. He was bullied as a teen due to his lisp and stutter and social awkwardness.
Neighbors and students described strange behavior on his part.
HE JUST KEPT GETTING WORSE
Speaking with the Washington Post, a childhood friend of Ramos who used to play video games and sports with him said he would often exhibit strange behavior, even cutting up his own face for “fun” on one occasion. That same friend said Ramos would often drive around town with another friend at night, shooting random people with a BB gun and egging people’s cars.
Another former friend told the Post that Ramos was bullied incessantly in middle school and junior high before he eventually stopped going to school. One time, he posted a picture on social media wearing black eyeliner.
Students said he just kept getting worse.
One high school classmate said that in recent months, Ramos posted videos on Instagram “where the cops were there and he’d call his mom a b***h and say she wanted to kick him out.” The classmate added that in the videos, “He’d be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively.”
He worked at a local Wendy’s restaurant, where co-workers remembered him as a mostly quiet kid with “an aggressive streak,” according to the Daily Beast.
He was often rude to girls, threatening them, saying “Do you know who I am?”
Four days before the shooting Salvador was on Instagram in photos posing with his guns.
On Tuesday, the day of the attack, he posted another photo of the rifles on Instagram and tagged a random girl who lives in California, the New York Post reported.
He then messaged the girl, urging her to repost the image.
Early Tuesday morning, Ramos messaged her again, saying, “I’m about to.” The girl asked “about to what” to which he answered, “I’ll tell you before 11.”
“I got a lil secret I wanna tell u,” he wrote in another message, accompanied by a smiley-face emoji covering its mouth. He never shared the secret, but sent one last message at 9:16 a.m., saying, “Ima air out.”
The report that Salvador was wearing body armor is mistaken.
VIDEO EMERGES
A video emerged on Facebook of what might have caught the killer entering the school.
“What my girls just sent me this is at Robb. Prayers for the kids and staff,” wrote Elsa G. Ruiz, who shared the video on Facebook.
Ramos murdered 19 elementary school children and two teachers, motive unknown
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
wpDiscuz
