The mother of the teenage gunman who opened fire at a Texas elementary school this week, killing 21 people, is sharing her disbelief that her son could carry out such a heinous act of violence.
Salvador Ramos reportedly shot his maternal grandmother in the face on Tuesday morning and allegedly bragged about it in chilling text messages on Facebook, the New York Post reports. After shooting the woman, Ramos then drove his grandparents’ car to Robb Elementary School in his hometown of Uvalde and fatally shot 19 children and two adults.
Ramos’s mother, Adriana Reyes, offered some insight into her son’s mindset in an interview with ABC News. While she claims that her son was “not a monster,” Reyes admitted that he could “be aggressive.”
“I had an uneasy feeling sometimes, like ‘what are you up to?” Reyes told ABC News’ chief national correspondent Matt Gutman. “He can be aggressive… If he really got mad.”
In a series of one-to-one Facebook text messages that Ramos wrote to a 15-year-old German girl on the morning of the shooting, he said: “I’m going to shoot my grandmother,” and “I’ve shot my grandmother,” and “I’m going to shoot up an elementary school,” according to authorities.
“Anyone who shoots his grandmother in the face has to have evil in his heart,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press conference Wednesday. “But it is far more evil for someone to gun down little kids.”
Ramos may have a shot his grandmother after an argument over his failure to graduate from Uvalde High School, according to the UK Independent or over a cell phone bill, per CBS News. She reportedly went to the home of a neighbor after being shot and remains in critical condition at a San Antonio hospital.
Ramos allegedly purchased two assault rifles to carry out the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
“We all have a rage, that some people have it more than others,” Reyes said, claiming she was not aware that her son had been buying weapons.
“Those kids…I have no words,” an emotional Reyes said in the interview that was conducted at her home. “I don’t know what to say about those poor kids.”
Some of Ramos’ classmates told ABC News that his penchant for violence extended to the school grounds, as he often threatened fellow students and was known for fighting.
Reyes’ boyfriend, Juan Alvarez, 62, is also speaking out. In an interview with NBC News, Alvarez claims Ramos and his mother often had intense arguments which prompted him to go live with his grandparents two months ago.
“He was kind of a weird one,” said Alvarez. “I never got along with him. I never socialized with him. He doesn’t talk to nobody. When you try to talk to him, he’d just sit there and walk away.”
Ramos was reportedly fatally shot by an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent who went into the school without backup.
Gov. Abbott noted Wednesday that the gunman had no known history of mental health issues.
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