As time marches on, more and more information is coming out around the tragic shooting that took the lives of 21 people in Uvalde, Texas.
Some of the information that's coming out is about the shooter responsible for the slaughter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. Sadly, many students and members of the community familiar with the young man say that the warning signs that he was capable of something like this were there.
The only one to speak in his defense, to a degree, has been the shooter's mother, Adriana Reyes. She says that he was troubled and that she had no idea what made him come to this place, but that he was "not a monster."
The most recent information on the shooter is the discovery of an unsettling video that seems to show him holding a bag full of dead cats. At least two cats are visible, both bloodied, in the video where he sits in the passenger seat of friend's car.
"The shooter was known for hurting cats," David Trevino Jr., who is related to the shooter's grandmother by marriage, told the New York Post.
"He liked hurting animals. I'm told he killed the cats and carried around the bag of bodies for [expletive] and giggles," he continued.
"The video shows he was not right in the head. He's not all there. The video raises all sorts of red flags."
The shooter had been expelled from school, which some experts suggest could have led to increased feelings of isolation and may have been a contributing factor.
"He would go to the park and try to pick on people and he loved hurting animals," a former high school classmate told The Daily Beast.
"He would try and call people names and start fights," the source continued.
"I remember there was one time we saw him beating a little dog senseless."
Online, his behavior was also concerning. Three different users on the Yubo app attested to his threats of violence, particularly against female users, having reported him to the platform. Sadly, his account was never limited as a result of those reports, which detailed the shooter threatening violence like that he carried out, as well as sexual violence against women.
Locals note that even if the shooter had still been in school, they wouldn't have necessarily had the resources to help him.
"Sure, we have some therapists here locally but they aren't really qualified to handle something like this guy," Uvalde local Ariel Silva told The Daily Beast.
"This school never has enough money to really do all of the things they need to do. This is not a wealthy community."
"I am sure they do what they can. But we just don't get the funding that other schools seem to get," she continued.
"The state ties our hands," agreed resident Lydia Martinez.
"They just look at us like 'those poor Hispanic people' who live out near the border."
Many are hoping the shooter's grandmother will be able to provide more insight into his mindset in the moments leading up to him shooting her and fleeing for Robb Elementary. She continues to recover from her injuries in an area hospital.
The shooter's mother, Adriana Reyes, has spoken on her son's actions.
"Forgive me, forgive my son. I have no words to say, I don't know what he was thinking," she shared.
"He had his reasons for doing what he did. Please don’t judge him. I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me."
