An 18-year-old teenager killed, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 19 children from an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas (United States). What happened ? Who are the victims ? We answer you.
The teenager who killed 19 children from an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday and announced his crime on social networks on the day of the tragedy, was able to go to the establishment in the first minutes without encountering opposition. , police said Thursday, May 26, in this small town with a Hispanic majority located 130 km west of San Antonio.
What happened ?
Tuesday around 11 a.m. (4 p.m. GMT), the killer, later identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, announced “on Facebook” that he was going to “shoot” his grandmother, with whom he lives, according to the governor of the Texas, Greg Abbott.
Touched in the face, the 66-year-old woman can nevertheless alert the police. She will be transported in critical condition to University Health Hospital in San Antonio.
The young man, in paramilitary uniform, fled with his grandmother’s pick-up. On Facebook, he also announces that he will attack “a primary school”, still according to Mr. Abbott.
After 3.5 km of road, he is the victim of an accident for an undetermined reason near the Robb primary school, where more than 500 children between 7 and 11 years old are educated. They only had a few more school days before the end of the school year.
He exits the vehicle with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a backpack full of ammunition. He saw two people in the distance near a funeral home and shot them, Victor Escalon, an official with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Thursday.
No obstruction
At around 11:40 a.m. (4:40 p.m. GMT), he then marched towards the school, scaled a gate and headed for the west side of the establishment while firing and meeting no opposition, according to Mr Escalon.
Contrary to what had been reported previously, Salvador Ramos was thus not confronted with a policeman assigned to the security of the primary school when he arrived on the scene, he rectified.
Police arrived at the scene four minutes later and exchanged fire with Mr Ramos who then barricaded himself in a classroom.
The three police officers ask for reinforcements and this is where “the carnage begins”, according to Steven McCraw, the director of the department of public security.
He killed 19 students, aged 9 and 10, and the two teachers present, according to the authorities.
Who are the victims ?
The children’s identities have been exposed by their families who share their pain on social media. Among them, Xavier Lopez, a 10-year-old boy who loved to dance, or Amerie Jo Garza, a little girl with a broad smile who had just turned 10.
The two teachers were Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia.
The first, aged 44, had been teaching at Uvalde for 17 years, according to her family and the primary school. Married, she was the mother of a daughter.
The second, mother of four children, had been married for 24 years to her husband Joe Garcia, who died Thursday of a heart attack according to the press, and “of grief” according to family members.
How was the killer stopped?
Outside the school, the police break the windows of the other classes and evacuate pupils and teachers.
Inside the establishment, the police prepare their intervention. They position themselves in the hallway and in the adjacent classroom to prevent the assailant from escaping.
About an hour after arriving at school, he was killed by an elite unit of border police — Mexico being about 90 km from Uvalde.
Who is the killer?
Salvador Ramos is an American citizen enrolled in high school in Uvalde, where he had dropped out, said Greg Abbott. He had been living with his grandmother for two months, after arguments with his mother.
He has no juvenile criminal history or psychological issues known to local health departments, Governor Abbott said.
On May 17, the day after his 18th birthday, he had purchased a semi-automatic rifle, then ammunition, and another automatic rifle on May 20 at the same Uvalde armory, Steven McCraw said.
Investigators have so far found no evidence to explain his action, he said.
A cousin, Mia, told the Washington Post that he was “not very social” and no longer wanted to go to classes where he was bullied because of his stutter.
Two students who knew him, however, assured AFP on Thursday that Salvador Ramos was himself “a stalker” in high school.
According to CNN, he announced just before his act that he had “shot (his) grandmother in the head” and was going to “shoot in a primary school now” in a message to a young German girl he met online in early May. She did not specify which social network he used.
The 15-year-old, who lives in Frankfurt, said he was angry with his grandmother that morning because she was “on the phone with (telephone company) AT&T” about his phone.
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