Chronology of a massacre: hour by hour of the Texas shooting that has left 21 dead

In early May, Salvador Ramos bought two assault rifles for his 18th birthday. Days later, he broke into a primary school causing panic.

• USA At least 19 children and two teachers are killed in a shooting at a Texas school
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At least 21 people, 19 students and two teachers have been killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The slaughter re-immerses USA -the only developed country in the world where shootings are commonplace in schools -in a chronic nightmare and revives an eternal unresolved problem, that of gun ownership. The perpetrator, an 18-year-old former student of the school, identified as Salvador Ramos, entered the Robb Elementary School armed and unleashed a nightmare. He was shot by the police. This is the reconstruction of what happened-

May 6, 2022

Salvador Ramos, unknown to almost everyone, He buys two assault rifles on his 18th birthday. In the United States, that is the minimum age, according to federal law, for anyone to buy long weapons such as shotguns or rifles. In the state of Texas, in addition, Republican Governor Greg Aboot approved a law in September 2021 that allows everyone over the age of 21 to carry weapons in public and without a license. Returning to Ramos, who has been known to had suffered harassment in school because of his stutter, had been out of school for a long time and was not going to graduate this year. He had been working at Wendy’s, a fast-food restaurant in Uvalde, but had left a month ago, the manager revealed to The Associated Press. New York Timeswho said he used to pick on female employees and that “no one really knew him.”

May 21, 2002

Ramos posts several selfies on his instagram account. He dresses in black, has long hair, poses very seriously. He himself publishes a ‘story’ in which he comes out yelling at his mother. There are also photographs of two semi-automatic shotguns that then go unnoticed: in one of the images the weapon rests on Ramos’ knees. Days before, as revealed by the newspaper ‘New York Post’, Ramos sends a message to an Instagram user with whom he had no relationship. “You gonna repost my gun pics“, he tells her. Days later, she replies, “What do your weapons have to do with me?” And then, last Friday, Ramos writes again: “I’m about to do it,” to which the girl asks: about to do what?”I have a little secret I want to tell youRamos answers again, accompanying that message with a smiley emoticon that covers his eyes. And one last message, just two hours before the massacre: “I’m out.”

May 24, first thing in the morning

Ramos shoots his grandmother, as confirmed hours later by the authorities. Grandma’s house is the one on Ramos’s driver’s license, so they could live together. Neither the woman’s health status nor the reasons that could have led to this attack have been reported yet.

May 24, 11:30 a.m.

Ramos rushes to school, crashes his vehicle near the entrance and breaks into the school, wearing a bulletproof vest and believed to be carrying two weapons, a pistol and a rifle. “As soon as he walks into the school he starts shooting kids, teachers, anyone who gets in his way,” a Texas police spokesman reports. A half hour later, the school reports that there is an active shooting in the building. At one in the afternoon, the police confirm that Ramos has been killed after leaving at least 21 fatalities: 19 children under the age of 10 and two teachers, both with decades of experience. In addition, there are more than a dozen wounded, including two police officers who suffered minor injuries when confronting Ramos.

May 24, in the afternoon

Politicians begin to react. Fresh from his tour in Asia, a rueful Joe Biden he wonders, “When, for God’s sake, are we going to take on the gun lobby?” Meanwhile, Democratic Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, publicly calls for a vote to be taken in the next few days a law that strengthens background checks criminal or psychological of those who want to buy weapons, a measure that the associations have been demanding for years but that the Republicans have repeatedly blocked. In fact, in the midst of the drama, Texas Senator Ted Cruz does not hesitate to state that some “take advantage of tragedies to rise up against the second amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear and use arms.”

Early morning of May 25

Almost 12 hours have passed since the massacre and there are many families from Uvalde who are still looking for their children, who do not appear at the meeting point nor have they been located at the hospital. The whole city is in awe. Social networks are flooded with calls for help from people looking for a son, a grandson, a nephew, a friend.