Shooter says “I love you” to young girl through video call… A few minutes later “I shot my grandmother”
Police misunderstand hostage confrontation and do not enter classroom… Arguing with parents pushing for entry
“Good night”
Salverdore Ramos, 18, the shooter in the shooting at Rob Elementary School in Uvald, Texas, on the 24th (local time) said these words before breaking into a classroom and pulling the trigger at a female teacher.
On the 29th, CNN and the daily New York Times (NYT) reconstructed the shooting incident by time zone, combining official announcements from the authorities, interviews with parents, witnesses and police officers, 911 calls, public videos, and media reports. .
On the 23rd, the day before the shooting, Ramos made a FaceTime call to a 15-year-old girl in Frankfurt, Germany, whom he recently became friends with.
Then he said that he was given a box of bullets that unfolded into the tissue.
When the girl asked why she bought it, Ramos said, “Wait a minute.”
On the 24th, the day of the incident, Ramos called the girl again around 11 am and said that she loved her.
Shortly after the call, Ramos texted again, complaining about her grandmother’s contacting AT&T about her phone, saying she was “annoyed.”
Then at 11:06 he sent a horrifying message.
“I just shot my grandmother in the head,” it said.
I sent the last message again at 11:21.
“I will go to elementary school and shoot,” Ramos said.
Prior to this, at Rob Elementary School, which is less than a mile (about 1.6 km) away from Ramos’s house, an awards ceremony was held two days before the closing ceremony to honor students with excellent grades.
The students were watching Disney’s animated ‘Lilo and Stitch’ after taking a picture with their family.
Ramos drove a pickup truck to the vicinity of Rob Elementary School and drove the car into a nearby drain.
It was 11:28 am.
He shot two people outside the funeral home across from the elementary school.
Fortunately, they weren’t shot.
Ramos’ grandmother, who was shot around this time, managed to call 911 and was later taken to the hospital by helicopter.
The grandmother suffered serious injuries, but her life was not reported to be critical.
At 11:33 a.m., Ramos entered the school without any restraint through the open back door.
It was the door that a teacher held open with an object just 6 minutes ago.
He went through the school hallway into classrooms 111 and 112, which are adjacent to each other, and started shooting.
When one of the teachers heard that the gunman was on campus, he tried to lock the door, but Ramos smashed the glass in the classroom door with his gun.
Ramos entered the classroom and shot the teacher, saying “good night.”
Then he opened fire on other teachers and students.
In just a few minutes, more than 100 gunshots rang out from the hallways of Rob Elementary School.
Two to six minutes after the shooting started, seven police officers arrived at the school.
Three of them approached the classroom that Ramos had barricaded and locked.
However, the two suffered abrasions when they were shot through the door by Ramos.
The survivor, Mia Serillo, 11, a student at the school, testified that she heard screams and gunshots after the shooter went to an adjacent classroom.
Mia said the shooter “played a sad song like they wanted people to die.”
Mia recalled that she was afraid that the shooter would come back to her, so she smeared the blood of her dead friends on her body and pretended to be dead.
He said he used the phone of the dead teacher to call 911.
Around 12:03 noon, when students called 911, 19 police officers were stationed in the school hallway.
But instead of entering, they were waiting for the classroom keys and tactical gear to arrive.
At 12:16 PM, a girl who had already called 911 several times told the counselor that there were 8 or 9 friends living in the same classroom.
While the confrontation continued as police clamored for entry into the classroom, some officers managed to escape students and teachers from other classrooms through windows.
Students who had evacuated to the cafeteria also escaped.
However, the parents who heard the gunshot and rushed to the school complained about the police’s lukewarm response, raising tensions between the police and parents.
The parents urged their restraining officers to quickly attack the gunman’s hiding room to stop the bloodshed.
Some parents even asked for police equipment, saying they would go in.
In the released video, there is a scene where police officers push these parents or subdue them with physical force.
It was not until 12:50 p.m. that the tactics team of the Federal Border Patrol entered the locked classroom and shot the shooter.
It was 1 hour and 20 minutes after the shooting was first reported at 11:30 a.m.
The border patrol tactics team arrived at the school and waited for 35 minutes, then opened the classroom door with the master key they got from the school janitor and entered.
The shooter, Ramos, kicked the classroom closet door open and opened fire.
While one tactical team member was holding a shield, at least two other agents fired 27 shots at the shooter, subduing him.
In the United States, theories of responsibility are rising as to whether the police have missed the opportunity to save more lives through such a delayed response.
“It was the wrong decision,” Texas Department of Public Safety’s Director of Public Safety Stephen Macro said.
There is no excuse,” he said.
“Who’s going to pay for all this?” asked Alfred Gaza, father of 10-year-old Amery Joe Gaza, who was killed in the shooting.
/yunhap news
