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We may never know why a shooter gunned down 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School.
But as the nation mourns the 21 lives lost, more details are emerging about the investigation, the gunman and troubling clues leading up to Tuesday’s massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
Here’s what we know:
Authorities have identified the lone gunman as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.
Minutes before the mass shooting, Ramos allegedly sent a series of text messages to a teen girl in Europe whom he had met online, describing how he had just shot his grandmother and would “shoot up a(n) elementary school.”
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Attendees light candles during a memorial in Uvalde, Texas, Wednesday, May 25.
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People react during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday.
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An officer with the Texas Highway Patrol prays with a community member before taking his flowers to the growing memorial in front of Robb Elementary School on Wednesday.
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From left, Michael Cavasos, Brenda Perez and Eduardo Galindo are seen in the foreground as they wait in line to donate blood in Uvalde on Wednesday. Galindo, who lives in Uvalde, said: “When it hits you in your hometown, you wake up and say, ‘Wow.’ … We have to be here and show support for these families right now.” Approximately 200 people donated blood to South Texas Blood and Tissue, who will deliver the units to surrounding area hospitals after they have been processed.
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People attend Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde on Wednesday.
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Flowers are seen at the memorial in front of the school on Wednesday.
confronted Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials during a news conference Wednesday about the shooting. “The time to stop the next shooting is right now and you are doing nothing,” O’Rourke told Abbott. The two will face off in November’s election.” class=”gallery-image__dam-img”/>Photos: Mass shooting at Texas elementary school
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Law enforcement vehicles are lined up outside the school on Wednesday.
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Members of City Church from San Antonio pray outside the civic center in Uvalde on Tuesday night.
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Kladys Castellón prays during a vigil that was held in Uvalde on Tuesday.
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Law enforcement officials work the scene after the shooting on Tuesday.
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People comfort each other outside the civic center in Uvalde.
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Law enforcement personnel run near the scene of the shooting on Tuesday. US Customs and Border Protection, which is the largest law enforcement agency in the area, assisted with the response.
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People react outside the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students were transported after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday.
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A Texas state trooper walks outside the school on Tuesday.
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A woman reacts Tuesday outside of the civic center in Uvalde.
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A child gets on a school bus Tuesday under the watch of law enforcement. Robb Elementary teaches second through fourth grades and had 535 students in the 2020-21 school year, according to state data. About 90% of students are Hispanic and about 81% are economically disadvantaged, the data shows. Thursday was set to be the last day of school before the summer break.
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People react outside the civic center in Uvalde. This marks at least the 30th shooting at a K-12 school in 2022.
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Law enforcement officials and other first responders gather outside the school following Tuesday’s shooting.
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A woman cries and hugs a young girl while on the phone outside the civic center in Uvalde.
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Another child gets on a bus to leave the school.
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A woman cries as she leaves the civic center.
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Law enforcement officials stand outside the school following the shooting. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been assisting local police with the investigation.
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People sit on the curb outside of the school as state troopers guard the area Tuesday.
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Police walk near the school following the shooting.
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A woman and a child leave the Uvalde civic center on Tuesday.
According to screenshots reviewed by CNN and an interview with the girl, whose mother gave permission for her to be interviewed, Ramos complained about his grandmother being “on the phone with AT&T abojt (sic) my phone.”
“It’s annoying,” he texted.
Six minutes later, he texted: “I just shot my grandma in her head.”
Seconds later, he said, “Ima go shoot up a(n) elementary school rn (right now).”
The 15-year-old girl, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany, said she began chatting with Ramos on a social media app on May 9.
She said Ramos told her on Monday that he received a package of ammunition. She said he told her that the bullets would expand when they struck somebody.
At some point, the girl asked what he planned to do. She said he told her it was a surprise and to “just wait for it.”
On Tuesday, at 11:01 a.m. CT, Ramos called and told her he loved her, she said. Then, about 20 minutes later, he texted her that he had shot his grandmother.
As of Wednesday, the shooter’s 66-year-old grandmother was in serious condition at a San Antonio hospital, officials said.
It’s not clear why Ramos decided to target Robb Elementary – a school that had 535 students in grades 2 through 4 as of last school year.
But before he entered the school, his vehicle crashed into a nearby ditch, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sgt. Erick Estrada said. The cause of the crash was not clear.
Ramos got out of the vehicle wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a rifle, the sergeant said.
The gunman encountered a school district police officer, who wasn’t able to stop him, Estrada said.
“He was engaged by an Uvalde ISD police officer who works here at the school. And then after that, he was engaged by two other officers from the Uvalde Police Department,” Estrada said.
Officials haven’t made clear how Ramos managed to get past the officers and open fire in adjacent classrooms.
While “engaged” with the school officer, the gunman dropped a black bag full of ammunition outside of the school, Estrada told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“Inside that bag was actually more ammunition. He actually dropped that ammunition and ran inside the school where he barricaded himself inside one of the classrooms and, unfortunately, that is where he started conducting his business of shooting innocent children, shooting the two innocent adults that were inside that classroom,” he said.
DPS is still investigating what happened during that interaction, but during a news conference, Director Steven McGraw said that no shots were fired.
More than 100 federal officers responded to Tuesday’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, according to Customs and Border Patrol.
“When it was all said and done, we had over 80 officers immediately on the scene, and then right after that, 150 or so officers converged on this area,” CBP Chief Raul Ortiz told CNN on Wednesday.
Ortiz said those officers came from several divisions, including the Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations and Homeland Security Investigations.
The agents and other law enforcement officers took fire from the shooter, who had barricaded himself, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Marsha Espinosa tweeted.
“Risking their own lives, these Border Patrol Agents and other officers put themselves between the shooter and children on the scene to draw the shooter’s attention away from potential victims and save lives,” she wrote.
Eventually, a tactical agency “was able to eliminate the threat and bring the suspect down,” Estrada said.
Hours after the shooting, families waited in agony at a nearby civic center to find out if their loved ones had survived. Some told CNN they gave DNA samples to help identify the victims.
“We see people coming out just terrorized. They’re crying one by one. They’re being told that their child has passed on,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who was at the civic center Tuesday.
Outside, a father who had just learned his child was killed fought tears as he was embraced by his cousins, CNN’s Nicole Chavez reported.
A few yards away, a grandmother arrived from San Antonio. She said she would not stop praying for her 10-year-old granddaughter as they waited for the identification results from the DNA swabs.
By Wednesday morning, several families confirmed they had received devastating news.
Just hours before he was killed, 10-year-old Xavier Lopez was celebrated at Robb Elementary’s honor roll ceremony, his mother Felicha Martinez told The Washington Post.
“He really couldn’t wait to go to middle school,” she said.
Angel Garza said he spent seven hours searching for his 10-year-old daughter. He eventually learned Amerie Jo Garza was among the children killed.
“Please don’t take a second for granted,” Garza posted on Facebook. “Hug your family. Tell them you love them.”
10-year-old Eliahana ‘Elijah’ Cruz Torres was also one of the victims, her aunt Leandra Vera told CNN. “Our baby gained her wings,” she said.
Tess Marie Mata, also 10, was killed in the shooting, her sister Faith Mata, 21, confirmed to the Washington Post.
“My precious angel you are loved so deeply. In my eyes you are not a victim but a survivor. I love you always and past forever baby sister, may your wings soar higher then you could ever dream,” Faith Mata wrote on Twitter.
Tess was a fourth-grader who loved TikTok dances, Ariana Grande and the Houston Astros, Faith Mata told the Post. Tess was saving money for a family trip to Disney World.
As of Wednesday, six victims remained hospitalized, four of whom – including the gunman’s grandmother – are at University Hospital in San Antonio, according to the hospital.
Two 10-year-old girls are among those in the hospital – one of whom in serious condition and the other in good condition, the hospital said. A 9-year-old child at the hospital is also in good condition.
Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio was treating two adult patients from the shooting. Both are listed in serious condition, the hospital tweeted.
The bodies of nine victims were planned to released to funeral homes Wednesday evening, Judge Lalo Diaz told CNN. The remaining 12 will be released by Thursday, Diaz said.
The gunman was a student at Uvalde High School, officials said.
Three days before the shooting, a photo of two AR-15-style rifles appeared on an Instagram account tied to Ramos.
One of Ramos’ former classmates, who didn’t want to be identified, told CNN that Ramos recently sent him a photo showing an AR-15, a backpack with rounds of ammunition and several gun magazines.
“I was like, ‘Bro, why do you have this?’ and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it,’” the friend said.
“He proceeded to text me, ‘I look very different now. You wouldn’t recognize me,’” the friend added.
The friend said Ramos had stopped attending school regularly.
Ramos worked at a local Wendy’s, the restaurant’s manager told CNN.
Evening manager Adrian Mendes said Ramos “kept to himself mostly” and “didn’t really socialize with the other employees. … He just worked, got paid, and came in to get his check.”
The teen girl in Germany who said she and Ramos had communicated for weeks said Ramos told her he spent a lot of time alone at home.
“Every time I talked to him,” she said, “he never had plans with his friends.”