The suspect purchased two AR-15-style rifles on May 22, two days before the massacre and six days after his birthday, multiple law enforcement officials told ABC News. They were legal purchases.
According to information, Ethan, accused Daniel Defense of being the gun manufacturer that sold the AR-15 to the shooter, Salvador Ramos.
Ethan wrote: “This is the company that sold the shooter an ar-15 a week before the shooting, all online. Absolutely vile.”
Newsy reported that a neighbor said Ramos, who lived with his grandparents, was angry that he didn’t graduate and got into an argument with his grandmother. She was screaming “He shot me! He shot me!” the neighbor recounted to Newsy.
Former friend Santos Valdez Jr., told The Washington Post that the two had been close friends until Ramos’ behavior started to “deteriorate.” He said Ramos, who was often bullied over a speech impediment that included a stutter and lisp, once cut up his own face with a knife “just for fun.” Valdez said he first said he was scratched by a cat and then admitted he had done it himself. “Then he told me the truth, that he’d cut up his face with knives over and over,” Valdez told the Post, adding that he had messaged over Instagram two hours before the massacre. Ramos didn’t open or read Valdez’s final message.
Another friend told the paper that he used to egg people’s vehicles and shoot random strangers with a BB gun from a car.
On Tuesday morning, authorities say, Ramos shot his grandmother then crashed his car near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Police pursued him as he ran into the school wearing a tactical-style vest and carrying a rifle, Texas DPS spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said.
“As soon as he made entry into the school he started shooting children, teachers, whoever was in his way, he was shooting everybody,” Olivarez said. Ramos was unemployed and had no criminal history, he said.
Former high school classmate Nadia Reyes recalled to the Post that he had posted an Instagram story showing himself screaming at his mother—who has not commented publicly—and calling her a bitch as she tried to kick him out the house. “He posted videos on his Instagram where the cops were there,” Reyes told the Post. “He’d be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively.”
Police say Ramos acted alone in the act and is believed to have abandoned his car outside the school.
Officers tried to engage the suspect, clad in body armour, before he entered the school grounds with a handgun and possibly a rifle.
Photos on his social media show him posing with what appears to be a semi-automatic weapon.
Days before the attack, photos believed to be posted by Ramos on Instagram include what appeared to be a Daniel Defense AR-15 with a high-capacity magazine. Another image from 28 April showed someone holding a magazine.
According to CNN, Ramos texted photos to a former classmate of a firearm and a bag full of ammunition days before the attack.
“He would message me here and there, and four days ago he sent me a picture of the AR he was using… and a backpack full of 5.56 rounds, probably like seven mags,” the former classmate said.
“I was like, ‘Bro, why do you have this?’ and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it’,” the student said. “He proceeded to text me, ‘I look very different now. You wouldn’t recognise me’.”
The Daily Dot reported that one of Ramos’ friends on Instagram shared a screenshot that Ramos had sent showing a receipt for a gun he bought from Daniel Defense, a gun manufacturer.
List of killer shooters who have used AR-15:
Buffalo: AR-15
Boulder: AR-15
Orlando: AR-15
Parkland: AR-15
Las Vegas: AR-15
Aurora, CO: AR-15
Sandy Hook: AR-15
Waffle House: AR-15
San Bernardino: AR-15
Midland/Odessa: AR-15
Poway synagogue: AR-15
Sutherland Springs: AR-15
Tree of Life Synagogue: AR-15
From @adamcbestBuffalo: AR-15
Boulder: AR-15
Orlando: AR-15
Parkland: AR-15
Las Vegas: AR-15
Aurora, CO: AR-15
Sandy Hook: AR-15
Waffle House: AR-15
San Bernardino: AR-15
Midland/Odessa: AR-15
Poway synagogue: AR-15
Sutherland Springs: AR-15
Tree of Life Synagogue: AR-15
