Deadliest US school shooting in a decade shakes rural Texas town

UVALDE, Texas — Officials in Texas described in chilling detail Wednesday how an 18-year-old gunman shot his grandmother in the face and left her wounded at her home, drove a pickup truck that crashed at a high speed by a nearby elementary school, and exchanged shots with police officers on the scene who were unable to stop him before he killed 19 children and two teachers in a massacre in a single classroom.

The gunman was inside the school for roughly one hour before a tactical unit from the border patrol shot him several times, killing him.

According to preliminary investigatory documents described by a state police official, the gunman, identified by police as Salvador Ramos, used an Ar-15-style rifle in the killings Tuesday, and a second similar weapon was left in the truck outside. Ramos purchased both guns within the last week, just after his 18th birthday, the official said.

At a news conference Wednesday, officials did not name a motive or catalyst for the killings. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said Ramos had no known mental health history but suggested that mental health issues were a significant factor in the rise in mass shootings in the United States. Abbott was confronted at the news conference by a shouting Beto O’rourke, a former congressman from El Paso and political opponent who accused the governor of failing to address rising gun violence.

The chaotic rampage that unfolded in Uvalde, a small city about an hour and a half west of San Antonio, left a community in anguish, devastated families whose children had been violently gunned down at school, and renewed a national debate over firearms legislation and the stupefying tally of gun violence in the U.S.

It was the deadliest school shooting since 20 children and six educators were killed 10 years ago at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

The shooting began to unfold Tuesday morning, when the local police department in Uvalde received a 911 call around 11:30 a.m. saying that a truck had crashed at Robb Elementary School and that a man had emerged from it carrying a long rifle and a backpack.

At least one armed law enforcement officer from the Uvalde school district was at the school. That officer exchanged gunfire with the gunman, but the gunman was able to get past the officer, the official said, citing the initial reports.

The gunman then entered through a south door at the school. After he was inside, two officers from the Uvalde police department arrived, engaged the gunman and were immediately met with gunfire, the official said. Both were shot.

It appeared the gunman was contained in one classroom at that time and the officers were unable to enter it. He remained there until a tactical unit from the border patrol killed the gunman shortly after 1 p.m., the official said, citing state police reports.

Juan Paulo Ybarra Jr. said his sister, a 10-year-old student at Robb Elementary School, described what happened in the moments leading to the massacre.

Ybarra, a 19-year-old senior at Uvalde High School, said that when he and his mother first heard about a possible shooting at the elementary school, they frantically drove to the civic center, where they were told they could reunite with the students who survived. After several hours, they were reconnected with his sister.

“We were panicking,” Ybarra said. “I just wanted to talk to my sister.”

As they left together, she began to describe the horrifying moments as the gunman approached the school, Ybarra said.

Ybarra said his sister told him that her fourth-grade class had been watching a movie when she looked out of the classroom window and saw a man outside with a gun. She told him she alerted her teacher and soon the classroom could hear gunfire aimed toward nearby windows.

Finally, Ybarra said, his sister described how she and her fellow classmates jumped out of the window, one by one, and ran to a funeral home across the street, seeking refuge.

All of the victims in the shooting have been identified, a state police official said. Several other children were injured. Officials did not release the names or ages of the students killed or of the two teachers.

A 66-year-old woman who officials said was the gunman’s grandmother was in serious condition Wednesday.

University Health, a hospital in San Antonio, said Wednesday that a 10-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital in critical condition after the shooting had improved and was now in serious condition. Two other girls, 9 and 10, were also hospitalized and in good condition.

Acquaintances said the gunman frequently missed class when he was enrolled at a local high school and had few friends. The state official said he appeared to have dropped out of school and had been employed at Wendy’s.

When Jocelyn Rodriguez, 19, a Wendy’s employee, heard Ramos was the shooter, she was initially shocked, but soon his past behavior came into focus, she said. She knew him to have a bad temper and to snap at people. He had a tendency to pick fights with co-workers who were bigger than him, she said. And Rodriguez recalled he would often talk about how much he despised his mother and grandmother, whom he told her did not let him smoke weed or do what he wanted.

Earlier this month, he started picking fights with co-workers again and bragging about quitting his job, saying he no longer needed the money, Rodriguez said. He told her and others that he was going to “act out” in a big way and they would all hear about it, she said.

“He wanted to cause trouble,” she said. “He wanted to cause destruction.”

On Wednesday, families in mourning spoke about the children who were killed.

One victim, Jailah Silguero, 10, was the youngest of four children, “the baby” of the family, said her father, Jacob Silguero, 35.

The night before the shooting, she told Silguero that she did not want to go to school the next day. She seemed to have forgotten by Tuesday morning, he added, saying she got dressed and went to school as usual.

“I can’t believe this happened to my daughter,” he said, crying. He added, “It’s always been a fear of mine to lose a kid.”

Jackie Cazares and Annabelle Rodriguez were cousins in the same classroom, said Polly Flores, who was Jackie’s aunt and Annabelle’s great-aunt. Jackie, who had her first Communion two weeks ago, was the social one.

“She was outgoing, she always had to be the center of attention,” Flores said. “She was my little diva.”

Annabelle, an honor roll student, was quieter. But she and her cousin were close, so close that Annabelle’s twin sister, who was home-schooled, “was always jealous,” Flores said. “We are a very tight family,” she said. “It’s just devastating.”

At Sacred Heart, a small Catholic Church in West Uvalde, parishioners shed tears as priests opened Mass on Wednesday morning with a moment of silence for the families who lost children.

Walking into church, Rebecca and Luis Manuel Acosta said they did not know anyone killed at the school. But they described the crushing toll it has taken on a small community where it seems there is no more than a few degrees of separation among families.

“I feel so afraid,” Rebecca Acosta, 71, said. “I feel so much for those mothers.”