UVALDE, Texas – There were glimmering candles and prayers well into Thursday morning in Uvalde, Texas. The city west of the U.S.-Mexico border was home to the country’s latest school massacre involving an AR-15 rifle.
A group of women said they traveled from Dallas to deliver flowers outside of Robb Elementary School. The community was preparing for the funerals of two teachers and 19 fourth-grade students.
A family in anguish about an injured 66-year-old grandmother was also struggling to understand what motivated a young man to commit such evil acts about a week after celebrating his 18th birthday.
Timeline
Earlier this year, Salvador Ramos got into a fight with his mother and moved in with his grandparents. He turned 18 on May 16.
A day later, he walked into Oasis Outback and legally purchased a rifle. He also purchased 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition on May 18 and another rifle on May 20.
Ramos was a quiet loner. His grandfather Rolando Reyes told ABC News he had stopped going to Uvalde High School. He had also lost his job at Wendy’s.
Ramos was communicating regularly with a 15-year-old girl from Frankfurt, Germany, and he used Instagram and Facebook on May 24.
That day, he shot his grandmother, Celia Martinez, in the head and stole her pickup truck. Ramos crashed into a ditch outside of Robb Elementary School.
He was wearing body armor and was holding his rifle — manufactured by Daniel Defense — when he walked into the school shortly after 11:30 a.m.
Bridgette Matter joined the Local 10 News team as a reporter in July 2021. Before moving to South Florida, she began her career in South Bend, Indiana and spent six years in Jacksonville as a reporter and weekend anchor.
The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.