Texas gunman sent chilling messages online just before school shooting

It's not that America can't stop its bloody sequence of mass killings. It's that it lacks the national cohesion and common will to do so.

The elementary school massacre in Texas underscored that the world's most powerful nation can't even ensure that its most vulnerable — young children — are safe from violent death at their desks. A more stunning failure of government would be hard to find.

A deep political and cultural estrangement on guns — caused principally by the right's blocking of efforts from Democrats and moderate Republicans to pass even modest safety measures — is boiling up again over Tuesday's shooting.

Mass killings are a sickeningly familiar background noise to daily life in the US, but the latest school bloodbath, which killed 19 children and two teachers, came as an especially devastating blow. It rekindled the sense of dread millions of American parents feel when say goodbye to their kids at school drop off.

And it will further scar a generation of students haunted by the perpetual fear of a school shooting -- a frightful vision for young minds that was only alleviated by Covid-19 pandemic virtual learning, which traumatized many of them in other ways.

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Hundreds of people gathered at a vigil Wednesday night at the Uvalde County Fairplex, a community arena, for the victims of the school shooting at Robb Elementary.

"Amazing Grace" was played during the vigil as members of the community wept and hugged.

With 21 dead and 17 others injured, the attack Tuesday was the deadliest school shooting in almost a decade and shook a nation still reeling from a mass shooting just 10 days ago.

Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10, has been identified as one of the victims killed at Robb Elementary, a family member told The Washington Post.

Her cousin, Austin Ayala, told The Post that she put a smile on everyone’s face and that her family is devastated.

Her grandmother, Esmeralda Bravo, attended a vigil in Uvalde on Wednesday night. She was photographed by CNN holding an image of Nevaeh.

Funeral services for the 10-year-old are pending, according to an online obituary by Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home.

Again.

That was the front-page headline on the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday morning after 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman.

It's a sentiment many people are feeling. The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is the third mass shooting this week, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and comes days after high-profile shootings in Buffalo, New York and Orange County, California. With almost two dozen victims, it's one of the largest mass school shootings in the last decade.

"These are kids that are under 10 years old, a lot of the time. I don't even know how they begin to process it, I don't know how anybody of any age begins to process this," said David Hogg on CNN's New Day.

"This is something that never should have happened," said Hogg, who was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when 17 people were killed by a gunman in 2018.

As people across the country mourn, here's what parents, educators and students who lived through past school shootings are saying in the wake of what has become a national epidemic.

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While on a visit to the US, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shared her country's experience with gun reform in a discussion with Democratic and Republican representatives on Wednesday. 

“New Zealand had its own horrific experience, and…we made changes as a result,” Ardern said, referring to the 2019 mass casualty mosque shootings in Christchurch.

“We are a nation that has very legitimate use of guns within our society…and yet still, we were able…with almost unanimous wide support to make those changes.”

Ardern said it is not for her to tell others what to do.

"It's not for me as the leader of a of a nation with different histories and experiences to tell other nations what they should or should not do," adding, "I was not here to do anything more than share the experience that New Zealand has had (in) our own reform and the role it's played."

The Prime Minister arrived in the US earlier this week on a trade mission to support export growth and the return of tourists post-Covid-19.

Reacting to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, while appearing on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," an emotional Ardern said she saw the events “not as a politician,” but “as a mother,” adding she was “so sorry” for what happened.

President Biden announced he will visit Texas "in the coming days" to meet the grieving families after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde on Tuesday.

More information has come to light about how Tuesday's events unfolded and the lives claimed by the gunman:

The victims:

• Lexi Rubio, 10, has been identified by her parents as one of the victims. Felix and Kimberly Rubio celebrated their daughter making the All-A honor roll and getting a good citizen award at Robb Elementary on Tuesday, shortly before the shooting. In a text message to CNN, Felix and Kimberly Rubio said, “She was kind, sweet, and appreciated life. She was going to be an all-star in softball and had a bright future whether it’s sports or academic. Please let the world know we miss our baby.”
• Jose Flores Jr., 10, was one of the victims, his father Jose Flores Sr. told CNN. Flores said his son was in the fourth grade and loved baseball and video games. “He was always full of energy,” Flores said. “Ready to play till the night.” Flores also described his son as an amazing kid and big brother to his two siblings. 
• Uziyah Garcia, 10, has been identified as one of the victims, his family confirmed to CNN. Garcia was in fourth grade, his aunt Nikki Cross told CNN. His uncle, Mitch Renfro, described Garcia as a “great kid. Full of life. Loved anything with wheels, and video games.” Garcia leaves behind two sisters. 
• Eva Mireles, a fourth-grade teacher, was among those killed, her aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, told CNN. She had been an educator for 17 years and in her off time enjoyed running, hiking, biking and spending time with her family, according to her profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website.
• Irma Garcia,
• Xavier Lopez, a 10-year-old has been identified as one of the victims, his mother Felicha Martinez confirmed to the Washington Post. “He was funny, never serious and his smile,” Martinez told the paper. 
• Amerie Jo Garza, 10, was identified by her father as one of the children killed. Angel Garza posted to Facebook early Wednesday: "My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo. Watch over your baby brother for me," said the father.
• Annabell Guadalupe Rodríguez, 10, was among the children killed, her family confirmed to CNN affiliate KHOU. She was a third-grader at the school, and her family said that she was in the same classroom as her cousin, who was also shot and killed.
• Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9, was among those killed, her family told KHOU. Rogelio Lugo and Nelda Lugo, Garcia’s grandparents, told the Los Angeles Times she loved the movie “Encanto,” cheerleading and basketball, and dreamed of becoming a teacher.
• Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres, 10, has been identified as one of the victims, her aunt Leandra Vera told CNN.  “Our baby gained her wings,” Vera said.
• Tess Marie Mata, 10, has been identified as one of the victims, her sister told the Washington Post. The fourth-grader loved TikTok dances, Ariana Grande and the Houston Astros, and was saving money so that the whole family could go to Disney World, her sister said.
• Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10, has been identified as one of the victims killed, a family member told the Washington Post. Her cousin said she put a smile on everyone’s face and that her family is devastated.
• All the fatalities and injuries took place inside one classroom at Robb Elementary, officials said.
• The two funeral homes in Uvalde will cover the cost of funerals for those who were killed Tuesday.
• Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD) has opened a memorial fund to accept donations for those affected by the shooting.

Here's a look at the order of events on Tuesday:

• The 18-year-old gunman, who has been identified by officials, hadshared his plans on Facebook about 30 minutes before reaching the school, Texas Gov. Abbott said. A spokesperson for Meta, formerly known as Facebook, said Wednesday they were “private one-to-one text messages,” contrary to Abbott’s assertion the gunman made the posts on Facebook.
• He shot his grandmother in the face before heading to the elementary school. The 66-year-old grandmother made it to a nearby home and called police, said Texas public safety department Director Steven McCraw, adding she now remains hospitalized in critical condition.
• Minutes before his deadly assault at the school, the gunman allegedly sent a series of chilling text messages to a girl in Germany he met online, saying he had just shot his grandmother and was going to “shoot up a(n) elementary school.” According to screenshots reviewed by CNN and an interview with the teenage girl, Ramos complained about his grandmother being “on the phone with AT&T abojt (sic) my phone” and then told her he had shot his grandmother in the head.
• The gunman drove his grandmother’s vehicle about 0.29 miles, a block and a half away from Robb Elementary School. "He crashed the vehicle at that point in time. He exited with a backpack, took a rifle with him" and went to the west side of the campus, McCraw added.
• According to McCraw, a school resource officer “engaged” with Ramos, and no gunfire was exchanged. This is when Ramos entered the school through a back door and went down the hallway to the adjoining classrooms, the director said.
• Gov. Abbott offered additional details, saying, "Officers with the Consolidated Independent School District (ISD) approached the gunman and engaged with the gunman," he said. "The gunman then entered a back door and then went down two short hallways and then into a classroom on the left-hand side."
• According to Abbott, the gunman entered a classroom, which was then connected internally to another classroom. "Border Patrol, Consolidated ISD officers, police, sheriffs and DPS officers converged on that classroom. And a Border Patrol officer killed the gunman," Abbott said.
• Chip King, a firefighter and city council member from Uvalde, said it took about 30 minutes after he arrived on the scene for the gunman inside the school to be neutralized by law enforcement.
• The shooter had one rifle in his possession when he went into the school and was wearing "a tactical vest carrier with no ballistic panels," a law enforcement official said.

The suspect:

• Salvador Ramos, 18, was from Uvalde and had attended Uvalde High School, according to Abbott.
• Ramos legally purchased two AR platform rifles at a local sporting goods store on two separate dates, and 375 rounds of ammunition on another date.
• State Sen. Ronald Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said the gun purchases were made for the suspect's 18th birthday.
• A photo of two AR-15-style rifles was posted to an Instagram account linked to the gunman three days before the shooting.
• The shooter had a history of physically fighting with others, according to a former friend and a video obtained by CNN that depicts him repeatedly throwing punches. The former friend and classmate said Ramos sent him the video on Shapchat. He said the video, which he received more than a year ago, depicts Ramos fighting with someone else, which the former friend said was not out of the ordinary. “He would always get in fights in school,” the former classmate said, noting that he received multiple messages from Ramos that depicted fights, some in which Ramos was involved. 
• Two additional former classmates told CNN the individual shown in the video is Ramos. The face of the other individual who was fighting Ramos is not visible in the video. Nadia Reyes, a high school classmate, told the Washington Post that she could remember about five times that Ramos got into fistfights in middle school and junior high. CNN has reached out to the Uvalde school district for more information, but received no response.

The city and the school:

• Uvalde is about 90 miles west of San Antonio and just east of the US-Mexican border.
• Robb Elementary includes 2nd through 4th grades and had 535 students in the 2020-21 school year, state data shows. About 90% of the students are Hispanic, according to the data. 
• Uvalde County had a population of about 25,000 in the 2020 census.
• The Uvalde school district canceled the rest of its school year, which was set to end Thursday, the school's superintendent Hal Harrell said.

Remember: Tuesday's massacre is the deadliest school shooting since 2012, when 26 children and adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This is at least the 30th shooting at a K-12 school in 2022, according to a CNN tally.

Angel Garza, the father of Amerie Jo Garza, who was killed in Tuesday’s school shooting in Uvalde, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper this evening that his daughter was trying to help her classmates as the attack was unfolding.

“She was just trying to do the right thing,” he said. “She was just trying to call the cops, that’s all.”

The father noted that his daughter had received a phone for her birthday two weeks ago.

"She just got her phone. She'd been wanting a phone for so long, and we finally got it for her. She just tried to call the police," he told CNN.

Garza, who works as a med aide, learned this information while arriving on the scene to help the shooting victims. He stated that two students in the classroom confirmed that she was trying to call police when she got shot.

“One little girl was just covered in blood head-to-toe,” Garza said. “I asked her what was wrong, and she said ‘she was ok.’ She was hysterical saying they shot her best friend. ‘She’s not breathing, and she tried to call the cops.’ I asked her what’s her name and she said, she told me ‘Amerie, she said Amerie.’”

The father described his daughter, calling her "the sweetest little girl."

"She was the sweetest little girl who did nothing wrong. She listened to her mom and dad. She always brushed her teeth. She was creative. She made things for us. She never got in trouble in school," he said.

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