The 18-year-old gunman who fatally shot 19 children and two teachers in a Texas elementary school announced on Facebook about minutes earlier that he was planning to shoot up a school.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at an afternoon news conference that Salvador Ramos shot his grandmother in the face Tuesday morning before heading to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where he entered a classroom with a semi-automatic rifle and shot to death 19 students and two teachers.
"There was no meaningful warning of this crime," Abbott said. "The only information that was known in advance was posted by the gunman on Facebook approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school."
Ramos made three Facebook posts, Abbott said. In the first, he said he was going to shoot his grandmother; the second stated that he had shot his grandmother; in the third, he said he was going to shoot up an elementary school.
Abbott and other Texas and Uvalde officials met with reporters Wednesday afternoon and provided additional details about the horrific attack at the school.
Ramos drove from his grandmother's house in Uvalde and crashed the vehicle near the elementary school. A school district resource officer approached Ramos, but he was able to enter the school building carrying a backpack and a rifle. He barricaded himself inside two adjoining classrooms and began firing his weapon. All of the 19 students and two teachers who died were shot to death in those classrooms.
Tactical officers breached a door to the classroom and fatally shot Ramos, said Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw.
In addition to those who died, 17 people, including three law enforcement officers suffered injuries, but none of those was life-threatening," Abbott said.
Ramos' grandmother was hospitalized in critical condition, McCraw said.
McCraw said Ramos bought two rifles in March, shortly after his 18th birthday. He had both weapons with him in the car, but brought only one into the school.
Investigators were still gathering evidence about the exchange of gunfire between Ramos and law enforcement, but McCraw said, "We believe all the children were shot and killed by Ramos."
Abbott said the attack at Robb Elementary underscored the need for more mental health services in Uvalde and the surrounding area.
"We have a problem with mental health illness in this community," the governor said. "There is no mental health hospital in the region. There is a greater need for a physical mental health facility in this region."
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