Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the gunman who opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two adults, posted on Facebook just before the shooting that he was going to attack a school. The gunman, identified as an 18-year-old man from the area, was killed by law enforcement, police said.
Abbott said the gunman posted three times on Facebook before the attack: once to say he was going to shoot his grandmother, once to say he had shot his grandmother, and a third time — approximately 15 minutes before the shooting — to say he was going to open fire at a school.
“Evil swept across Uvalde yesterday,” Abbott said. “Days before yesterday, when these children were in school, some were receiving awards for perfect attendance — these kids will never attend school again.”
Upon arriving at the school, the gunman immediately engaged with police on the scene, shooting several officers before barricading himself in a classroom, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department Public Safety told “CBS Mornings.”
“At that point, [he] just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom, having no regard for human life,” Olivarez said. “Just a complete tragedy. An evil person going into the school and killing children for no reason whatsoever.”
The suspect had a handgun, AR-15 assault weapon and high-capacity magazines, two law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News’ Pat Milton. Olivarez said the officers who first responded to the scene “were at a point of disadvantage” and were not able to make entry.
“There was no way they were able to make entry, especially with the amount of manpower that was on scene,” he said. “So at that point, their primary focus was to evacuate as many children as possible.”
A specialized tactical unit made of local, state and federal law enforcement officers were eventually able to enter the classroom, Olivarez said. One of those officers was shot but is recovering.
Abbott on Tuesday identified the gunman as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. Olivarez said he lived with his grandparents in the Uvalde area and attended a local high school.
The attack was the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school since a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 first-graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Many, including President Biden, invoked Sandy Hook and the many mass shootings that have followed to call for stronger gun laws.
“As a nation, we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Mr. Biden said in an address from the White House Tuesday night. “When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”
