The 18-year-old who launched a deadly shooting attack at a Texas elementary school posted haunting pictures of his weapons on social media in the days before the shooting.
Salvador Ramos killed 19 children and two adults after storming Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and opening fire on students and teachers on 24 May.
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Before his attack, Ramos uploaded a series of pictures of his two AR15-style rifles on Instagram.
Several classmates confirmed to CNN that the Instagram account belonged to Ramos, who attended Uvalde High School student.
What's even more confronting is that he allegedly tagged a girl in his social media posts.
According to claims by the girl, Ramos messaged her and told her he had a 'lil secret' for her.
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"Be grateful I tagged you," he added, according to the Daily Mail.
She responded with: "No, it's just scary. I barely know you and you tag me in a picture with some guns."
He later messaged: "I'm about to."
She asked him what he meant and Ramos responded he would message her later.
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Another student has revealed to CNN that the gunman messaged him about weapons before the attack.
The person, who wanted to remain anonymous, revealed to the news outlet: “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.
“I was like, ‘bro, why do you have this?’ and he was like, ‘Don’t worry about it'.
"He proceeded to text me, ‘I look very different now. You wouldn’t recognize me'."
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Ramos was killed during his shooting rampage at the Texas elementary school and an investigation is underway into his motives.
A Meta spokesperson has since confirmed to CNN that the Instagram account has now been taken down.
News of Ramos' social media activity came as his first victim was identified: 44-year-old teacher Eva Mireles.
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Mireles was a special education teacher and mum-of-one. She had taught at the elementary school for five years and was married to a police officer at the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District.
Mireles' family has since lashed out at gun laws in Texas.
Her aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, told the ABC: "I’m furious that these shootings continue. These children are innocent, rifles should not be easily available to all."
The mother of a child taught by Mireles has expressed her grief and disbelief over the teacher's brutal slaying.
"My daughter’s beautiful teacher was the teacher who was killed in Uvalde, Texas. Eva taught Gabby in elementary school," she tweeted.
"She was a beautiful person and a dedicated teacher. She believed in Gabby and went above and beyond to teach her as you can see below. There are no words."
There is a lot of pressure on US lawmakers to amend gun legislation to ensure something like this can't happen again.
According to a CNN count, there have been at least 38 shootings in K-12 schools, colleges and universities so far in 2022.
There have also been more mass shootings in the US in 2022 than days elapsed this year.
The nonprofit organisation Gun Violence Archive has revealed there have been 212 mass shootings in 2022 and we are only 145 days into the year.
The Robb Elementary School shooting is also the deadliest since the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy, where 20 children were gunned down, along with six adults.
Joe Biden has called on Congress to end the madness and introduce laws to make it harder for people to access weapons in the US.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
