The gunman who shot nineteen children and two teachers on Tuesday at an elementary school in the Texas village of Uvalde announced his atrocity about half an hour in advance via Facebook. Texan Governor Greg Abbott said this at a press conference on Wednesday, the AP news agency reported. Salvador Ramos, 18, made three posts in which he also said he would shoot his grandmother.
Ramos used a semi-automatic AR-15. It is a weapon that has been used more often in such shootings. Ramos had legally bought the gun just after his eighteenth birthday. All the victims were in one classroom. Seventeen people were also injured in the attack. The shooter had no known history of mental health problems or criminal past.
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Press conference disrupted by Democrat
“Evil swept through Uvalde yesterday,” said Abbott. His words did not go down well with everyone. Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is running against Abbott in this year’s governorship elections, interrupted the conference by saying that Abbott’s response was “predictable” and accused him of having done nothing to reduce gun violence. “You’re not doing anything,” the Democrat shouted. O’Rourke was taken out of the room, with those in attendance berating him. The politician was in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019 and was one of 29 politicians who wanted to run on behalf of the Democrats for president in the 2020 elections.
US President Joe Biden will travel to Uvalde sometime “in the next few days,” he said in a speech which was broadcast via Twitter† He will speak there with relatives of the killed children and teachers. On Tuesday, Biden expressed his horror at the massacre in a televised speech.