WRATH

Family and early life

Salavdor was born on May 16th, 2004 in Fargo, North Dakota. Immediately after his birth, Salvador's mother returned to Uvalde with her two children. The father had inconsistent and minimal involvement in his children's lives from that point on. Salvador's mother was involved in Salvador's early life, but her relationship with her children became strained over time. Salvador's mother had a history of drug use and other personal issues. She did have a criminal record: a 2005 misdemeanor theft that ended in probation and a dismissed 2007 charge for misdemeanor family violence assault. The FBI interviewed Salvador's former girlfriend, and she said she believed that one of Salvador's mom's boyfriends had sexually assaulted Salvador at a young age, but Salvador's mom didn't believe him.

School life

Salvador's preschool teacher described him as "a pleasure to have, a wonderful student, and always ready to learn." Early assessments show that he was academically behind other students and that by 3rd grade he was at risk due to constant bad test results. School records reveal that someone requested speech therapy for Salvador and that Salvador would research dyslexia. He never received any special education services.

4th grade was very significant to Salvador; he had discussed bad memories about 4th grade with an acquaintance weeks before the shooting. The shooting took place in Salvador’s former 4th grade classroom. Salvador had more than 100 absences in 2018 along with failing grades. Salvador's school record showed he had only one violation for mutual combat with a student in a hallway in 2018, resulting in a 3-day suspension. A teacher stated in the past about Salvador that "if any student was going to become a school shooter, it would be him ". A cousin of Salvador said she was in the same 4th grade class as him and said that she saw another student tie Salvador Ramos' shoelaces together, resulting in Salvador falling and injuring his face.

2021

At seventeen, Salvador had only completed ninth grade. On October 28th, 2021, Uvalde High School involuntarily withdrew Salvador for poor academic performance and lack of attendance. Notes in Salvador's phone about not fitting in and fixating on weight and exercise An ex-boyfriend of Salvador’s mother described Salvador as a loner who punched holes in walls after having an argument with his mother. Family members of Salvador told the investigator that his former friends had jumped him. Salvador began trying to teach himself how to box with a punching bag in his room. In mid-2021, his relationship with his girlfriend had ended. The girlfriend was interviewed by investigators, and she described Salvador as lonely and depressed and constantly getting called a school shooter. Salvador had told his girlfriend multiple times that he wouldn't live past the age of 18 because he would commit suicide or simply because he "wouldn't live long ". Salvador responded to the breakup by harassing his ex-girlfriend and her friends. Salvador started wearing black combat boots and black clothing, along with long, unkempt hair. Salvador was active on a lot of social media platforms, including TikTok, Yubo, Instagram, and Yubo. Salvador began to take an interest in gore and violent sex, watching and even sometimes sharing videos and images of suicide, beheadings, and other gore. The people he played video games with said Salvador became enraged when he lost and made a lot of threats to females, especially. He would intimidate them with descriptions of violence and rape. Internet usage shows he may have wondered if he was a sociopath and sought out information; the research resulted in an email about getting psychological treatment for sociopathy. Salvador spoke enviously of the publicity given to a murderer and animal abuser whose story became more known after a Netflix documentary (I'm assuming it's the Luka Magnotta documentary) in 2021. Salvador shared a video of him holding a clear bag with a dead cat inside, and then he discarded it in the street and spat on it. Salvador became focused on notoriety and believed his tik tok was successful; he told people he interacted with he was famous and called them "randoms," and they were lucky to interact with him.

In late 2021, Salvador got a job at Whataburger, where a friend's grandmother saw him and took a picture to show her grandson, warning him, "This is an example of what your life will be if you quit school" . Salvador got fired after a month for threatening a female worker. Salvador began working at Wendy's, and his coworkers described him as "not a good person" and "troubled, "someone who put himself in a box and would not talk or associate with anyone he worked with." One time Salvador had talked to a coworker about guns, and when the employee responded negatively, Salvador challenged him to a fight. Salvador occasionally worked with his grandfather in an air conditioning business and paid him in cash.

Salvador told acquaintances he was saving money for "something big" and that they would all see him on the news one day. Still seventeen, he asked two people to buy guns for him, which they both refused to do.

Last days

Early 2022 after a falling-out with his mother. A blowout argument between them was livestreamed on Instagram, and several members of their family viewed it. Although sheriff’s deputies responded to a call, they made no arrests. Soon afterwards, Salvador left home and moved in with his grandmother, just blocks away from Robb Elementary School. His relationship with his mother never improved. He retained similar feelings toward his father, who last saw him about a month before the shooting.

His Father said Salvador had no love left for him. He noticed that the attacker had cuts on his own face that appeared to be self-inflicted. Salvador had moved into his grandmother’s small home, where he had no room of his own and slept on the living-room floor. A few days before the shooting, he confided in an older cousin who was also staying there, telling her that he did not want to live anymore. On March 23, 2022, a suspicious person dressed in all black with a backpack was seen canvassing Robb Elementary, but no one ever identified the person. As soon as Salvador turned eighteen on May 16, 2022, he was finally able to purchase guns and ammunition. An online retailer shipped 1,740 rounds of 5.56mm 75-grain boat tail hollow point to his doorstep at a cost of $1,761.50. He ordered a Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 (an AR-15-style rifle) for shipment to a gun store in Uvalde at a cost of $2,054.28 (including tax and transfer fee). On May 17, 2022, he bought a Smith and Wesson M&P15 (also an AR-15-style rifle) at the same store in Uvalde at a cost of $1,081.42. He returned the next day for 375 rounds of M193, a 5.56 mm, 55-grain round with a full metal jacket that has a soft core surrounded by a harder metal. He returned again to pick up his other rifle when it arrived on May 20, 2022, and he had store staff install the holographic sight on it after The owner of the gun store described Salvador as an "average customer with no ‘red flags’ or suspicious conditions," "just that he was always alone and quiet. The owner of the store remembered asking how an 18-year-old could afford such purchases (the rifles alone were over $3,000), and Salvador said he had saved up. Other customers described Salvador differently, describing him as "very nervous-looking" and saying that he "appeared odd and looked like one of those school shooters." Another described his all-black clothing as simply giving off "bad vibes." Salvador's uncle drove him to the gun store twice. He said he did not know they were going to pick up a rifle the first time; the store is connected to a popular restaurant, and Salvador said he was hungry. When he returned with a long box and no food, it was obvious he had purchased a rifle. It is now known that the package contained the second, more expensive rifle used in the shooting. Salvador's grandmother and cousin both told him he could not have a gun in the house, so the uncle agreed to store the first rifle at his house. He believes Salvador snuck it out after staying the night a few days later. Salvador apparently hid the second rifle outside his grandmother’s house until he brought it in the night before the shooting. had no experience with firearms, and based on other investigators’ interviews with friends and family, the shooting was likely the first time he fired one. The uncle recalled Salvador attempting to seat a magazine in the rifle and the magazine repeatedly falling out onto the floor. Internet search history shows Salvador sought out ranges but was unable to get to one that allowed long guns before the shooting. He also searched the internet for basic information such as what kind of ammunition an AR-15 fires and whether a magazine can be reused after being emptied, and he looked for information on how to buy "juggernaut armor," a fictional armor system depicted in video games. In March 2022, in an Instagram group conversation, a student told him that "people at school talk about you and call you a school shooter." Later, Salvador began referencing a timeline

On April 2nd, he asked in a direct message on Instagram, "Are you still going to remember me in 50 something days?" After the answer, "probably not," he replied, "Hmm, alright, we’ll see in May." Salvador also began sharing photos of his rifles, including with total strangers. Those in his Snapchat group claimed they believed the guns were fake (despite Salvador posting the receipt) because he had tried to pass off a BB gun as real the year before

In late April a friend texted Salvador about meeting up :