Officials shed no light on motive
UVALDE, Texas — The gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas warned in online messages sent minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and was going to shoot up a school, the governor said Wednesday.
Salvador Ramos, 18, used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the bloodshed Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, which ended when police stormed a classroom and killed him. He legally bought the rifle and a second one like it last week, just after his birthday on May 16, authorities said.
“Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday. Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have evil in his heart,” Gov. Greg Abbott said. “But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids.”
Investigators shed no light on the motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded. The governor said Ramos, a resident of the small town about 85 miles west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.
But about a half-hour before the mass shooting, Ramos sent the first of three messages online, Abbott said. Ramos wrote
“He was just a loving 10-yearold little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today. He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.” — Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, on the death of her young cousin, Xavier Javier Lopez
shooting.
One man walked away from the Uvalde Civic Center where desperate relatives had gathered for news late Tuesday sobbing into his phone: “She is gone.” Behind the building, a woman stood alone, alternately crying and yelling into her phone, shaking her fist and stamping her feet.
All of the dead were in the same fourth grade classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself and opened fire on the children and teachers, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN on Wednesday.
Manny Renfro said he got word Tuesday that his 8-year-old grandson, Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said.
Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break. “We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”
Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her young cousin, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming.
“He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,” she said. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”
She also lamented what she described as lax gun laws.
“We should have more restrictions, especially if these kids are not in their right state of mind and all they want to do is just hurt people, especially innocent children going to the schools,” Garza said.
Arizmendi also spoke angrily, through tears, about how the shooter managed to get a gun.
“It’s just difficult to understand or to put into words,” she said. “I just don’t know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old. What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?”
Slain fourth grade teacher Eva Mireles, 44, was remembered as a loving mother and wife. “She was adventurous . ... She is definitely going to be very missed,” said relative Amber Ybarra, 34, of San Antonio.
As Ybarra prepared to give blood for the wounded, she wondered how no one noticed trouble with the shooter in time to stop him.
“To me, it’s more about raising mental health awareness,” said Ybarra, a wellness coach who attended Robb Elementary. “Someone could possibly have seen a dramatic change before something like this happened.”
In the hours after the shooting, photos of smiling children were posted on social media, their families begging for information. Classes had been winding down for the year and each school day had a theme. Tuesday’s was Footloose and Fancy. Students were supposed to wear a nice outfit with fun or fancy shoes.
Even for the survivors, there was grief. Lorena Auguste was substitute teaching at Uvalde High School when she heard about the shooting. She began frantically texting her niece, a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary, until Auguste heard from her sister that the child was OK.
Adolfo Cruz, a 69-year-old air-conditioning repairman, remained outside the school Tuesday night, waiting for word about his 10-year-old granddaughter, Eliajha Cruz Torres. He had driven to the scene after a tearful and terrifying call from his daughter shortly after the first reports. He called the waiting the heaviest moment of his life.
Federico Torres rushed to the school Tuesday and waited for news about his 10-year-old son Rogelio. He told KHOU-TV on Tuesday he was praying that “my son is found safe . ... Please if you know anything, let us know.”
Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, located across the street from Robb Elementary, said in a Facebook post that it would be assisting families of the shooting victims with no-cost funerals.