United States security forces killed the 18-year-old identified as the person responsible for the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 minors and two teachers were killed. The investigators assured that although the reasons for the massacre are not yet known, the young man had previously shot his grandmother and made his plans known through social networks.
With an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos killed 21 people in a small school in a mostly Latino neighborhood in the US state of Texas. The young man, who was shot by police in the middle of a violent act, had bought the weapons just after his birthday, on May 16, according to authorities.
After crashing his truck outside the school, the Police reported that the young man got out of the vehicle with a rifle, approached a rear door of the institution, he confronted and outwitted the assigned school official and made it into the building to a fourth grade hallway.
At 11:30 a.m. local time, he opened fire. A Border Patrol team forced open the door where Ramos was staying and shot him dead after he fired at them multiple times.
According to the state senators, who debated in the Chamber about what happened and about the use of weapons in the country, the shooter was wearing a tactical vest, but not a bulletproof one. Another AR-15 rifle was also found in his truck, as well as a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition, near the entrance of the institution.
Salvador Ramos had no criminal record or reports of mental health problems.
“Evil swept through Uvalde yesterday. Anyone who shoots their grandmother in the face has to have evil in their heart. But it’s far more evil that someone shoots little children,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
He told his plan on social networks
According to official reports, half an hour before the school massacre, Ramos used the social network Facebook to announce that he was going to shoot his grandmother; he then made another post announcing that he planned to open fire at a primary school, without giving further details of the name of the institution.
In a statement, Facebook said the young man’s posts were private and only became known after the killing.
An Instagram account, allegedly linked to Salvador Ramos, is also being analyzed by investigators after they realized that, days before the shooting, images with a hand holding an ammunition magazine and several weapons were published on that profile.
The governor of Texas, under the spotlight
In the middle of a press conference this Wednesday, May 25, the Democratic politician Beto O’Rourke, who is seeking the governorship of the Texas state against the current governor Abbott, He interrupted the facilities of the place and said that the tragedy that was recorded was completely “predictable”.
“This is his fault until he decides to do something different. If he doesn’t, this will keep happening,” O’Rourke said, pointing a finger at Abbott in the midst of what was a scandal, under the gaze of the local press. The Democrat also called for Abbot’s resignation on his Twitter account.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin called O’Rourke a “sick son of a bitch” as the gubernatorial hopeful was escorted out.
Biden criticizes US gun policy
In a new opportunity, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, criticized the arms lobby in the North American country in which he aspires to impose stricter regulations on the arms industry.
Biden announced that he will travel to Uvalde in the coming days with the US first lady, Jill Biden, to “comfort the families of the young victims” of the shooting.
In the midst of national security, the president also announced his draft executive order on police reform at the White House, on the second anniversary of the death of George Floyd, the black man who was murdered in police custody of the Minneapolis authorities and that provoked massive protests in the country and around the world.
Tune in as I sign a historic Executive Order to advance effective, accountable policing and strengthen public safety. https://t.co/x2AacCz8LX
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 25, 2022
Arms maker stocks surge
This Wednesday it was also known that the shares of the main arms manufacturing companies in the United States increased.
Investors predict an increase in the accelerated purchase of weapons by people who, in turn, fear that restrictions on their sale will grow.
A situation very similar to what happened after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut in 2012, in which 26 people were killed.
At that time, almost five million people applied to be members of the National Rifle Association (NRA), an organization that indirectly influences the legislation that is made around the carrying of weapons.
Why hasn’t arms reform been achieved in the US?
And while Americans can own guns without being members of the NRA, those who agree to the law that protects them from owning guns exempt the arms industry from blame for the deaths of innocent civilians in the massacres.
The shooting in Uvalde, Texas, came just days before the National Rifle Association’s annual convention opens in Houston, at which the Texas governor and the state’s two Republican senators were scheduled to speak.
Despite the fact that the episodes of massacres shake the North American country and move a large part of its citizens, the debate on gun control is limited to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, since it states that “carrying firearms from home in self-defense” is an American right.
US school shootings, a pattern that keeps repeating itself
Tuesday’s massacre, in a predominantly Latino city, was the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the 2012 massacre in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The tragedy is the latest in an apparent wave of mass murders in churches, schools and supermarkets in the United States.
Just 10 days ago, 10 black people were shot to death in Buffalo, New York, in a racist attack by a young man who espoused white supremacist ideals.
With AP, Reuters and local media
#Texas #Authorities #shooter #announced #plan #Facebook #massacre