By AFP
UVALDE: Bullied at school, difficulties at home, a history of self-harm: the young man who gunned down 19 small children in Texas had a troubled background mirroring that of past school shooters.
Salvador Ramos — an 18-year-old school dropout with no criminal history who was killed by a Border Patrol agent during his attack on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas — was a US citizen who lived with his grandmother.
A day after the violence at Robb Elementary — which also killed two teachers — a picture was beginning to emerge of the young man who carried out one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings.
Ramos’s cousin Mia told The Washington Post that he was mocked for a speech impediment in middle school, and would tell his grandmother that he wanted to stop attending class.
Stephen Garcia, a former friend of Ramos, confirmed to the Post that bullying was a problem: “He would get bullied hard, like bullied by a lot of people.”
Ramos’s since-removed Instagram account featured photos of a young man with shoulder-length hair, his eyes closed. The account also included images of two assault rifles and a plastic gun magazine.
There were problems between Ramos and his mother, which were bad enough that police were called, and he had a history of harming himself, once showing up to a park with self-inflicted cuts on his face, US media reported.
Bullying and mental health problems have been common denominators in the tragically frequent deadly US school shootings that leave students fearing for their safety and parents wondering if their children will make it home from class.
More than 20 years ago, two teenagers who had been bullied by other students went on a rampage at their local high school in Columbine, Colorado. They killed 13 people and themselves.
That attack helped inspire shootings by a mentally troubled student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 2007 that killed 32 people.
The gunman — who also killed himself — had referred to the Columbine shooters as “martyrs” in a video before the attack.
– Grandmother shot –
Mental health issues also plagued the man who killed 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, as well as a student who was expelled for disciplinary reasons and later killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida in 2018.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday deflected a question about whether changes in gun laws were needed, pointing instead to mental health care.
“We as a state, we as a society, need to do a better job with mental health,” he said.
The National Rifle Association — a powerful lobby that has been instrumental in thwarting efforts to tighten US gun laws — took a similar tack, saying the shooting was the work of a “lone, deranged criminal.”
Ramos’s first victim was his grandmother, whom he shot in the face. The 66-year-old was able to call the police and was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital in nearby San Antonio.
The gunman — who communicated on Facebook about his intention to attack an elementary school — fled the scene in a car wearing a tactical vest and armed with a rifle.
He then crashed outside Robb Elementary, got out, and headed for the school, where a law enforcement officer confronted him, but did not prevent the ensuing massacre.
Ramos barricaded himself in two adjoining classrooms, gunning down students and teachers inside, authorities said.
Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde School District Police Chief in charge of the investigation, noted Ramos acted alone.
Abbott previously reported that investigators were still trying to piece together details about the shooter.
They are working to obtain “detailed background information on the subject, his motive, the types of weapons used, the legal authority to possess them, and conduct a comprehensive crime-scene investigation and reconstruction,” he said.
