The gunman who killed 19 students at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday was a loner, who exhibited bizarre behavior from time to time that included cutting his own face, his friends have claimed. Salvador Ramos, 18, according to one of his friends, once cut his own face with knives "just for fun".
He was also aggressive at times but would mostly keep to himself and avoided any kind of conversation, said the boyfriend of Ramos' mother. His mother Adriana Reyes also said that Ramos, "kept to himself and didn't have many friends." However, she denied that the two had a volatile relationship.
Troubled Past
According to a Daily Mail report, Reyes said that her son was a loner but non-violent. "My son wasn't a violent person," Reyes told the outlet on Wednesday. "I'm surprised by what he did. I pray for those families," she said.
"I'm praying for all of those innocent children, yes I am. They had no part in this," she added.
However, Ramos' friends and former colleagues have painted a different picture of him.
According to the Washington Post, one of his friends, Santos Valdez Jr., 18, said that Ramos and he were close and often played video games and basketball until his behavior "deteriorated." He also recalled that Ramos once showed up at a park with scratch marks on his face and claimed he had been assaulted by a cat.
"Then he told me the truth, that he'd cut up his face with knives over and over and over," Valdez told the Post.
"I was like, 'You're crazy, bro, why would you do that?'" he said. Ramos told him it was just "for fun," Valdez said.
When Ramos went to school after that he told his other friends that he cut himself "because I like how it looks," another friend said.
Valdez said he last spoke to Ramos two hours before he opened fire inside Uvalde's Robb Elementary School, killing 19 children and two teachers before being shot dead by a Border Patrol agent.
The two messaged on Instagram, where Valdez reshared a meme that said, "WHY TF IS SCHOOL STILL OPEN," according to the Washington Post, which reported that Ramos replied, "Facts" and "That's good tho right?"
Valdez reportedly wrote: "Idek [I don't even know] I don't even go to school lmao."
However, Ramos didn't respond to the message as he never opened it or read it.
Family, Friends in Disbelief
The friends and family of Ramos are still in disbelief that he could go on cranage of that massive scale. His grandfather and mother said that they had no idea he bought two AR-15 rifles.
However, many also believe that Ramos was extremely "aggressive" and his troubled childhood led him to shoot so many people dead.
According to reports, Ramos' mother struggled with drug addiction and had forced her unstable son to move in with his grandmother, whom he shot before going on his unfathomable spree.
Celia Gonzalez, the grandmother, is still in the hospital. Ramos allegedly crashed his pickup truck near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, then stormed the school with a semi-automatic rifle, according to police.
Ramos used to go around with a friend and shoot people at random with a BB pistol, as well as egged people's cars, according to Valdez. He said Ramos last year posted on social media images of automatic rifles that "he would have on his wish list" – and a few days ago, he posted photos of two rifles he referred to as "my gun pics," the outlet reported.
According to investigators, Ramos had legally purchased two AR-15 assault rifles on his 18th birthday and brought one of them into the school before opening fire.
Reyes said that she last spoke to her son on his birthday and "had a card and a Snoopy stuffed animal to give to him," the report mentioned.
