View source for Behavioral history of Uvalde school shooter Salvador Ramos

{{Infobox Person of Interest
| name = Salvador Ramos
| status = Perpetrator (deceased)
| age = 18 (at time of incident)
| involvement = Perpetrated the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School after shooting his grandmother. His pathway to violence included a documented history of family trauma, social isolation, online threats, and animal cruelty.
| title = Mass murderer and animal abuser
| caption = Salvador Ramos. Pic: Texas Department of Public Safety
| occupation = Worked at a local Wendy’s fast-food restaurant for at least a year, but quit roughly a month before the attack.
| punitive_measure = Killed by law enforcement at the scene.
| image = Salvador_Ramos.jpg
}}
The '''Robb Elementary School shooting''' was a mass shooting that occurred on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas, in which 18-year-old '''Salvador Ramos''' murdered 19 students and two teachers.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/17/uvalde-shooting-report-caretakers-officials-missed-red-flags |title=How Uvalde killer's family and officials missed red flags before... |website=The Guardian |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> The attack was not a sudden act but the culmination of a long, observable trajectory of psychological decline and escalating violent ideation.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/uvalde-school-shooter-left-trail-of-warning-signs-ahead-of-attack |title=Uvalde school shooter left trail of warning signs ahead of attack |website=PBS NewsHour |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> A comprehensive analysis of Ramos's life reveals numerous behavioral red flags—including a traumatic home life, social and academic collapse, online misogyny, and unambiguous acts of animal cruelty—that were missed or insufficiently addressed by those in a position to intervene.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" />

== Early life and social maladjustment ==
Ramos's formative years were characterized by a deeply unstable and traumatic home environment, marked by his mother's long-standing history of drug abuse and frequent, intense arguments that sometimes required police intervention.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" /> This culminated in a severe argument after which Ramos left to live with his grandmother, Celia Gonzales.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" /> According to a former girlfriend, Ramos disclosed that he had been sexually assaulted as a child by one of his mother's boyfriends, but his mother dismissed the allegation and did not believe him.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" />

This trauma at home was compounded by failure and rejection at school.<ref name="TexasTribuneWarnings">{{cite web |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/17/uvalde-shooter-warnings-background/ |title=Uvalde gunman gave multiple hints of school shooting, report says |website=The Texas Tribune |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> Beginning in the fourth grade, he was intensely bullied for a speech impediment and his appearance.<ref name="TexasTribuneWarnings" /> This coincided with a complete academic collapse; starting in 2018, he had over 100 absences from school annually and was failing his classes.<ref name="TexasTribuneWarnings" /> Despite being formally labeled "at-risk," he received no comprehensive special education services and eventually dropped out of high school altogether.<ref name="TexasTribuneWarnings" />

== Online activity and violent ideation ==
Having disengaged from school, Ramos became increasingly isolated and spent most of his time online, where he developed an obsession with school shootings and the notoriety they brought to perpetrators.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" /> A year before his attack, online peers began calling him the "school shooter," a label he eventually stopped resisting and began to embody.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" /> He started actively researching other mass casualty events, including the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York, which occurred just ten days before his own attack.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" />

His online behavior was characterized by a virulent misogyny. He consistently targeted and terrorized women and teenage girls on platforms like Yubo with graphic threats of rape and kidnapping.<ref name="TexasTribuneGirls">{{cite web |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/28/uvalde-shooting-gunmen-teen-girls/ |title=Before massacre, Uvalde gunman frequently threatened teen girls online |website=The Texas Tribune |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> On Yubo, he was recorded stating, "Everyone in this world deserves to get raped."<ref name="TexasTribuneGirls" /> This aggression also manifested offline; he was fired from a job at Whataburger for threatening a female coworker and sent intimidating text messages to others.<ref name="Wikipedia">{{cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvalde_school_shooting |title=Uvalde school shooting - Wikipedia |website=Wikipedia |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref>

Ramos also exhibited signs of profound psychological distress, including suicidal ideations, telling a cousin he "didn't want to live anymore," and acts of self-harm, such as cutting his own face.<ref name="KSATclassmates">{{cite web |url=https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2022/05/25/classmates-of-uvalde-shooter-said-he-was-aggressive-for-no-reason-had-immediate-red-flags/ |title=Uvalde shooter: Bought 2 AR-style rifles week before shooting... |website=KSAT |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> His internet search history included queries about the term "sociopath," suggesting he was aware of his own antisocial and violent impulses.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" />

== Animal cruelty as a precursor ==
Among the myriad of warning signs, Ramos's history of animal cruelty was the most direct behavioral predictor of his violence against humans.<ref name="AWAundeniable">{{cite web |url=https://animalwellnessaction.org/animal-cruelty-school-shooters-link-undeniable |title=Animal Cruelty and School Shooters: The Link is Undeniable |website=Animal Wellness Action |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> These acts were not isolated incidents but a consistent pattern of sadistic violence that served as a functional rehearsal for mass murder, both as a private practice in desensitization and as a public performance to project a terrifying identity.<ref name="PETAcommonTrait">{{cite web |url=https://www.peta.org/news/uvalde-shooter-salvador-ramos-bag-dead-cats-video/ |title=Uvalde Shooter and Others Share a Common Trait: Cruelty to Animals |website=PETA |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref>
[[File:Salvador Ramos holding a bag of dead cats.jpg|none|thumb|Salvador Ramos holding a bag of dead cats ([https://x.com/nypost/status/1531348553637019649 NY Post])]]
The evidence of his zoosadism is extensive and corroborated by multiple sources:
* '''Performative Violence:''' A video circulated showing Ramos in a car holding a plastic bag containing dead cats he had allegedly tortured.<ref name="IndependentUK">{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/texas-salvador-ramos-guns-hunting-animals-b2090227.html |title=Texas shooter Salvador Ramos ‘bought guns instead of learning to drive and had no interest in hunting animals’ |website=The Independent |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref><ref name="ABCNews">{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/buffalo-uvalde-suspected-shooters-allegedly-abused-animals/story?id=84970582 |title=Buffalo, Uvalde suspected shooters allegedly abused animals prior to massacres |website=ABC News |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> The Texas House of Representatives' report noted that in the footage, he casually tossed the animals' carcasses onto the street and spat on them.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" /> A former friend, Stephen Garcia, confirmed that Ramos would post videos of himself holding dead cats on social media.<ref name="ABCNews" />
* '''Witness Accounts of Torture:''' A former high school classmate, Jamie Arellano, stated plainly, "He loved hurting animals."<ref name="Newsweek">{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/texas-school-shooter-ramos-loved-hurting-animals-uvalde-classmate-1711242 |title=Texas School Shooter Ramos 'Loved Hurting Animals': Uvalde Classmate |website=Newsweek |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> Arellano specified that Ramos would "go to the park and try to shoot animals" with a BB gun.<ref name="Newsweek" /> Another user on the platform Yubo described how Ramos would put cats into plastic bags and violently throw them against the ground and at people's houses.<ref name="TexasTribuneGirls" /> His cruelty was not limited to cats; a former classmate recounted an incident in which Ramos beat a small dog "senseless."<ref name="PETAcommonTrait" />

From a criminological perspective, this history was the single most important behavioral harbinger of the Uvalde massacre.<ref name="AWAundeniable" /> The well-established connection between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence, known as "The Link," is a reliable predictor of future dangerousness, and is a tragically consistent feature in the history of mass shooters.<ref name="PETAcommonTrait" /> These acts served several critical psychological functions for Ramos: they desensitized him to violence, allowed him to rehearse feelings of dominance and control, and let him practice the objectification required to murder human beings.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" />

== Final pathway to the attack ==
Upon turning 18 on May 16, 2022, Ramos immediately began to legally purchase an arsenal.<ref name="KTVUwarnings">{{cite web |url=https://www.ktvu.com/news/mass-shooter-warning-signs-call-for-more-awareness |title=There were warning signs on social media before the Texas mass shooting |website=KTVU FOX 2 |access-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> Between May 17 and May 23, he spent over $6,000 on two AR-style rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition, including hollow-point bullets.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" /><ref name="KENS5whoWas">{{cite web | url = https://www.kens5.com/article/news/nation-world/who-is-texas-school-shooting-suspect-robb-elementary-shooting-uvalde/273-fb74e830-8096-4672-b64a-2fae1fab2a2d | title = Who was the suspected gunman in the Uvalde school shooting? | website = KENS 5 | access-date = 2025-08-11 }}</ref><ref name="KTVUwarnings" /> Because he had no criminal record or formal mental health diagnosis, he passed all required background checks.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" />

In the weeks prior, he had questioned his young cousin, a student at Robb Elementary, about the school's schedule.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" /> In April, he sent an Instagram message to an online acquaintance hinting at his plans for May.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" /> On the morning of May 24, 2022, following an argument, Ramos shot his grandmother in the face.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" /> He then immediately sent a series of private messages to a girl in Germany, announcing what he had done and his final intention: "ima go shoot up a elementary school rn".<ref name="TexasTribuneGirls" />

== Chronology of missed opportunities ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Date/Timeframe
! Observable Behavior/Indicator
! Observing Entity/System
! Missed Opportunity for Intervention
|-
| Fourth Grade
| Severe bullying over speech impediment, appearance; social isolation.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" />
| School System / Peers
| Failure to implement effective anti-bullying interventions.
|-
| 2018-2021
| Chronic absenteeism (>100 days/year); academic failure; labeled "at-risk".<ref name="TexasTribuneWarnings" />
| School System
| Failure to provide comprehensive special education or mental health services despite "at-risk" designation.
|-
| Mid-2021
| Harassment of ex-girlfriend and her friends following breakup.<ref name="TexasTribuneWarnings" />
| Peers / Online Community
| Lack of reporting to authorities or platforms.
|-
| Late 2021
| Filmed video holding a dead cat, throwing the carcass on the street, and spitting on it.<ref name="GuardianRedFlags" />
| Online Community / Peers
| No report made to law enforcement; companion failed to intervene.
|-
| Late 2021-2022
| Terrorized women online with graphic threats of rape and violence on Yubo.<ref name="TexasTribuneGirls" />
| Online Community / Social Media Platform
| Failure of platform to act on user reports; threats not reported to law enforcement.
|-
| April 2, 2022
| Sent cryptic message to online user hinting at an event in May.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" />
| Peers / Online Community
| Recipient did not recognize or report the timed nature of the threat.
|-
| May 16-23, 2022
| Legally purchased two AR-15 style rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition immediately upon turning 18.<ref name="PBSWarningSigns" />
| Legal / Commercial System
| Background check system failed to account for behavioral red flags, focusing only on the absence of a criminal record.
|}

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* [https://archive.org/details/texas-school-shooter-salvador-ramos-holding-bag-of-dead-cats Texas school shooter Salvador Ramos holding a bag of dead cats]
[[Category:May 2022]]
[[Category:Long-term_Incidents]]
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Cats]]
[[Category:Dogs]]
[[Category:Yubo]]
[[Category:HumanVictims]]