New details emerge on Texas school shooter

A school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has again left the nation reeling again after 19 children and two adults were killed by a 18-year-old gunman on Tuesday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Tuesday the gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, was reportedly killed by officers responding to the scene after he entered Robb Elementary School with a handgun and a rifle.

In the hours since the shooting has occurred, officials have been learning new details about the gunman, what happened in the lead-up to the shooting and other pieces of information. 

Here are some of the latest details to emerge in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting:

Gunman bought the gun used in the shooting just after his 18th birthday

Following his 18th birthday, Ramos bought rounds of ammunition and two assault rifles, according to officials who said the items were legally purchased, CNN reported.

A Texas state senator said Ramos had bought two AR-platform rifles in addition to 375 ammunition rounds. 

The teenager shot his grandmother prior to the shooting

Prior to the school shooting, Ramos shot his grandmother, authorities say, according to The Washington Post.

A former neighbor told the newspaper that the teenager had moved several months prior to the incident to live with his grandmother. Ramos had previously lived with his mother, who reportedly abused drugs.

Health care officials say the grandmother was in critical condition after she was shot and was transported to a hospital, AFP reported.

Abbott said on Wednesday she called police after she was shot, according to the Post. 

Facebook says shooter used ‘private one-to-one text messages’ to discuss incident

A Facebook spokesperson said Wednesday that the school shooter used “private one-to-one text messages” to discuss the Tuesday attack, pushing back against Abbott’s assertion that the teenager posted publicly about the shooting. 

“As of this time, the only information that was known in advance was posted by the gunman on Facebook approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school,” Abbott said, speaking at a press conference Wednesday. “The first post was to the point of he said ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother.’ The second post was ‘I shot my grandmother.’ The third post, maybe less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school, was ‘I’m going to shoot an elementary school.’”

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Facebook, however, disputed that characterization in a tweet later in the day.

“The messages Gov. Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred. We are closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation,” Stone tweeted. 

The shooter communicated with a teenager he met online

Before and after he shot his grandmother, the Ramos communicated with a teenager in Germany that he met online, at one point saying in a text, “Ima go shoot up a elementary school rn [right now],” according to CNN, which interviewed the girl and also obtained screenshots of their messages.

Speaking to the German teenager before noon local time, he reportedly complained about his grandmother talking with AT&T regarding his phone, saying “It’s annoying,” before minutes later adding, “I just shot my grandma in her head,” according to the network.