Texas Mourns 21 Victims After School Shooting

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News

UVALDE (Worthy News) – Evidence has emerged that the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers in the U.S. State of Texas warned on social media he would shoot his grandmother and attack a school.

Facebook owner Meta said the 18-year-old suspect’s messages were sent privately on the social media platform ahead of the shootings in the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The attacker does “not appear to have had a criminal record” or “a history of mental health problems,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

However, his Democratic rival Beto O’Rourke confronted Abbott on gun laws during a turbulent press briefing. Abbott ordered law enforcement officers to escort O’Rourke, who won his Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, outside the building.

O’Rourke and other Democrats claimed the state’s lax gun laws led to Tuesday’s massacre.

During the interruption, O’Rourke could be heard referring to a 2019 shooting in El Paso, Texas.

He wrote on social media on Tuesday that Texas officials like Abbott should have taken action on gun control at the time but did nothing.

BIDEN IN TEXAS

U.S. President George Biden shares O’Rourke’s concerns saying he “will travel to Texas” in the coming days.

Vice-President Kamala D. Harris said the United States “must pass reasonable gun laws.”

But those words did little to comfort a grieving Uvalde, a town of about 16,000 people some 84 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio and near the Mexico–United States border.

The children killed were aged between seven and 10. Teachers Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia also died in the attack, authorities said.

The suspect was identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at nearby Uvalde High School, who died in a shootout with police, authorities said.

Yet the mother of the teenager claimed her late son “wasn’t a violent person” despite killing 21 people, Adriana Reyes added: “I’m surprised by what he did.”

Reyes spoke from a hospital where her mother was treated for a gunshot wound to her face after the suspect reportedly shot his grandmother before attacking the school.

NO TOXIC RELATIONSHIP

She denied reports that she had a toxic relationship with her son. “I had a good relationship with him. He kept to himself; he didn’t have many friends,” Reyes told reporters.

Reyes, 39, said she was “very upset about everything” as “a lot of stuff has happened, but right now I don’t feel good.”

Juan Alvarez, Reyes’ boyfriend, told NBC television the attacker was “a weird one.” And, “I never got along with him. I never socialized with him.

He doesn’t talk to nobody,” added Alvarez, 62. “When you try to talk to him, he’d just sit there and walk away.”

Elsewhere, a Texas student was detained after being found with an “AK-47 style pistol” and a “replica AR-15 style” rifle, police said. The arrest took place outside a high school in Richardson, over 350 miles (560 kilometers) north of Uvalde.

Police said a witness called the 911 emergency line to report a person carrying a rifle outside Berkner High School.

Police responded and located the gunman, a student. The firearms were found in his car, and he was charged with unlawful carrying of weapons in a weapons-free school zone, authorities said.

Authorities declined to release other information citing the suspect’s age.

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