What we know about the suspected gunman behind Texas school shooting
The teenage gunman, identified the Texas police as the suspect in the shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, went from classroom to classroom, killing at least 18 students and a teacher, said officials.
The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. He acted alone and was killed law enforcement.
The massacre at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a US grade school since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago.
How it unfolded
The gunman, who was wearing body armour, crashed his car outside the school before going inside, Sgt. Erick Estrada of the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN. He was reportedly armed with a handgun, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
FOX 11 has obtained the photo of the suspected Texas school shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. MORE: https://t.co/D1s6He8QGK pic.twitter.com/fISExs24MX
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) May 25, 2022
Texas senator Roland Gutierrez said Ramos killed his grandmother before heading to the school with two military-style rifles he had purchased on his birthday.
“That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday,” said Gutierrez .
Motive unclear
Officials did not immediately reveal a motive, but the Texas governor identified the assailant as Salvador Ramos and said he was a resident of the community about 135 kilometres west of San Antonio.
Ramos had hinted on social media that an attack could be coming, Gutierrez said, noting that “he suggested the kids should watch out.”
A Border Patrol agent who was working near when the shooting began rushed into the school without waiting for backup and shot and killed the gunman, who was behind a barricade, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters because he was not authorised to talk about it.
The agent was wounded but able to walk out of the school, the law enforcement source said.
(With inputs from Reuters and Associated Press reports)
