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‘He kept getting worse and worse’: Uvalde gunman developed morbid fascinations as family life deteriorated
May 25, 2022
Friends grew increasingly concerned about the behavior of an 18-year-old who gunned down at least 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, but they were still shocked to learn of his brutal actions.
Salvador Rolando Ramos shot and critically wounded his grandmother before going on a rampage at Robb Elementary School with weapons he legally purchased this month, just after turning 18 years old, before he was fatally shot by police, and former friends struggled to process the news after the shooter's identity went public, reported the Washington Post.
“I couldn’t even think, I couldn’t even talk to anyone," said Stephen Garcia, who had been Ramos' best friend in eighth grade. "I just walked out of class, really upset, you know, bawling my eyes out, because I never expected him to hurt people.”
“I think he needed mental help," Garcia added, "and more closure with his family, and love.”
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Ramos was frequently bullied by classmates for his stutter and pronounced lisp, said Garcia, who moved to another part of Texas when his mother relocated for her job.
“He just started being a different person,” Garcia said. “He kept getting worse and worse, and I don’t even know.”
Ramos dropped out of school, started wearing all black clothing and military boots, and longtime friend Santos Valdez Jr. noticed similar changes, such as the time he showed up to a park to play basketball with cuts all over his face, which he initially blamed on a cat.
“Then he told me the truth, that he’d cut up his face with knives over and over and over,” Valdez said. “I was like, ‘You’re crazy, bro, why would you do that?’”
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Ramos told him he'd done it for fun, and Valdez said Ramos drove around sometimes at night with another friend and shot people at random with a BB gun and egged cars, and he started posting photos of automatic rifles on social media -- including a pair posted four days ago -- and accounts of his troubled home life.
“He posted videos on his Instagram where the cops were there and he’d call his mom a b*tch and say she wanted to kick him out,” said classmate Nadia Reyes. “He’d be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively.”
Multiple individuals close to the family, including Reyes, told the newspaper that Ramos' mother used drugs, and he had moved to his grandmother's home several months ago, and the grandmother was in the process of evicting the mother from a home that she rented to her.
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Cincinnati cops demand removal of painting showing ‘Officer’ Piglet gunning down Winnie the Pooh
May 25, 2022
The head of Cincinnati's police union demanded the Cincinnati Art Museum take down a painting that he claims promotes violence against officers.
The painting by artist Magnus Juliano shows Winnie the Poof handcuffed and lying face-down in a pool of blood with the character Piglet, who's wearing a police hat and holding a gun, while Tigger holds a sign off the side reading, 'Off the pig,'" reported WXIX-TV.
“This is meant to divide citizens and their police, which isn’t good for the citizens,” said Dan Hils, president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police. “Without us, crime runs rampant. Killing becomes even more commonplace.”
Hils said another officer's wife called after seeing the painting, titled “Mother Land Theme Park Black Panther Gift Shop,” while touring the museum with her child.
“She saw something that was completely hateful, completely ugly, and it was so ugly because it was so personal,” Hils said, adding that the painting suggested that child's father is a "murderer."
“You know I think you take little tiny steps at a time," Hils said. "When you hear of something like this, you should act on it. You shouldn’t sit there and just accept that people are out there putting absolute disgusting lies about police officers and having to accept it as art or accepted as something as beauty.”
But other museum goers didn't think the painting should be removed from the exhibit, “Black and Brown Faces: Paying Homage To," and said the union chief was missing the point.
“It’s art,” said museum visitor Hayden Baumgartner. “Art is supposed to make people feel things. Even if it pisses you off, it’s art -- that’s what it’s supposed to do. It’s supposed to make you feel something and evoke a reaction.”
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Desperation turned to heart-wrenching sorrow for families of grade schoolers killed after an 18-year-old gunman barricaded himself in their Texas classroom and began shooting, killing at least 19 children and their two teachers.
Relatives who gathered at a civic center following the shooting Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde pleaded for information and turned to social media for help. By Wednesday morning, many were left with the grim reality of an unimaginable horror as the names of the young victims began to emerge.
One man walked away from the civic center late Tuesday sobbing into his phone “she is gone.” Behind the building, a woman stood alone, alternately crying and yelling into her phone, shaking her fist and stamping her feet.
All of the dead were in the same fourth-grade classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself and opened fire on the children and teachers, Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Christopher Olivarez told CNN on Wednesday morning .
Manny Renfro said he got word Tuesday that his grandson, 8-year-old Uziyah Garcia, was among those killed.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”
Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break.
“We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”
Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her cousin, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming.
“He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,” she said. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”
She also lamented what she described as lax gun laws.
“We should have more restrictions, especially if these kids are not in their right state of mind and all they want to do is just hurt people, especially innocent children going to the schools,” Garza said.
Slain fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles, 44, was remembered as a loving mother and wife.
“She was adventurous. ... She is definitely going to be very missed,” said 34-year-old relative Amber Ybarra, of San Antonio.
As Ybarra prepared to give blood for the wounded, she wondered how no one noticed trouble with the shooter in time to stop him.
“To me, it’s more about raising mental health awareness,” said Ybarra, a wellness coach who attended Robb Elementary herself. “Someone could possibly have seen a dramatic change before something like this happened.”
Mireles posted a letter on the school's website at the start of the school year, introducing herself to her new students.
“Welcome to the 4th grade! We have a wonderful year ahead of us!” Mireles wrote, noting she had been teaching 17 years, loved running and hiking, and had a “supportive, fun, and loving family.” She mentioned that her husband was a school district police officer, and they had a grown daughter and three “furry friends.”
In the hours after the shooting, pictures of smiling children were posted on social media, their families begging for information. Classes had been winding down for the year and each school day had a theme. Tuesday’s was Footloose and Fancy. Students were supposed to wear a nice outfit with fun or fancy shoes.
Adolfo Cruz, a 69-year-old air conditioning repairman, remained outside the school Tuesday night, waiting for word about his 10-year-old great-granddaughter, Eliajha Cruz Torres. He had driven to the scene after a tearful and terrifying call from his daughter shortly after the first reports. He called the waiting the heaviest moment of his life.
Federico Torres rushed to the school Tuesday and waited for news about his 10-year-old son Rogelio. He told KHOU-TV on Tuesday he was praying that “my son is found safe. ... Please if you know anything, let us know.”
Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, which is located across the street from Robb Elementary School, said in a Facebook post that it would be assisting families of the shooting victims with no cost for funerals.
(AP)
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