What we know about Salvador Ramos, the Uvalde Elementary School shooting suspect

Shooting in Texas: they reveal that the attacker locked himself in a room and shot 5:15

(CNN Spanish) --

Salvador Ramos, the suspect who killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was a local high school student with few or no friends who authorities say legally bought two rifles assault rifle and dozens of ammunition last week for his 18th birthday.

Salvador Ramos was identified as the gunman who stormed into Robb Elementary School Tuesday with an assault rifle and tactical vest, barricaded himself in a boys' classroom and opened fire.

Responding officers eventually forced their way into the room and fatally shot him.

• Suspect in Uvalde attack sent chilling messages to teen he met online

The heinous attack came just two days before the students were to be released for the summer and left a community and a nation wondering once again: Who would do this and why?

An examination of Ramos' personal background reveals a bullied teenage loner with no criminal record and, like so many other mass shooting attackers in the United States, was interested in and had access to high-powered firearms and ammunition.

See the messages the Texas shooter sent before the massacre 1:39

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Here's what we know about the shooting suspect.

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He bought guns and ammunition for his birthday

The profile image of an Instagram account linked to the alleged Uvalde shooter, identified as Salvador Ramos.

The suspect's actions leading up to the shooting offer clues to his mindset and plan.

Ramos legally purchased two AR-type rifles from a local federal firearms licensee on May 17 and 20, according to Texas State Sen. John Whitmire, who received a police report Tuesday night.

He also bought 375 rounds of ammunition on May 18, Whitmire said, citing police.

State Sen. Ronald Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said the purchases were made for the suspect's 18th birthday.

"It's the first thing he did when he turned 18," he told CNN's Erin Burnett Tuesday night, citing a report he received from the Texas Rangers.

Gutierrez said the weapons were purchased legally from a federally authorized dealer in the Uvalde area.

“(He) had no problem accessing those weapons,” he said.

“On March 17, Ramos purchased a semi-automatic rifle at a local sporting goods store.

On March 18, he purchased 375 rounds of ammunition for that rifle.

On March 20, he bought another semi-automatic rifle at this same local store,” said Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

A photo of two AR15-style rifles surfaced on an Instagram account linked to the alleged Uvalde shooter just three days before Tuesday's massacre at Robb Elementary School.

CNN redacted part of the image to remove the name of a third party.

(From Instagram)

A photo of two AR15 rifles surfaced on an Instagram account linked to the suspect just three days before the massacre.

The photo was posted as a story with the username “salv8dor_”.

Several classmates confirmed that the account belonged to the alleged attacker.

He shot his grandmother and crashed the vehicle before entering the school

The shooting began Tuesday before reaching Robb Elementary School.

Ramos first shot his grandmother at his home and then fled the scene, authorities said.

The grandmother was airlifted to a hospital and as of Wednesday morning she was still alive, said Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

From there, the suspect drove his vehicle into a ditch near the elementary school and got out with a rifle and backpack while wearing a tactical vest containing extra ammunition, DPS Sgt. Eric Estrada said.

A police vehicle is seen parked near the truck believed to belong to the shooting suspect.

(Marco Bello/Reuters)

As Ramos headed to the school, he and law enforcement officers exchanged gunfire, authorities said.

Two police officers received non-life-threatening injuries and are out of the hospital, according to Olivarez.

“There were multiple law enforcement officers who engaged the suspect, but he was able to enter the school,” he said.

He then barricaded himself in a classroom and opened fire on those inside.

The 19 children and two teachers killed were in that room, Olivarez said.

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“The initial group of officers that were on the scene, at the time, were at a disadvantage because the shooter was able to barricade himself inside that classroom.

There were not enough human resources at the time and their main objective was to preserve any further loss of life,” Olivarez said.

"Then they started breaking windows around the school and trying to rescue, evacuate children and teachers while that was going on."

A specialized tactical team forced their way into the classroom and fatally shot the suspect, Olivarez said.

An officer was shot and had a non-life-threatening injury, he added.

Uvalde Firefighter Chip King told CNN's Jim Sciutto that it took about 30 minutes after he arrived on scene for the gunman to be neutralized by police.

Investigators found one of the suspect's rifles, made by Daniel Defense, at the school with the suspect, Whitmire said, citing ATF.

The other rifle was left in the truck that crashed.

In addition, it appears the suspect dropped a backpack containing multiple ammunition clips near the school's entrance, authorities told the state senator.

Inside the school, authorities found what appear to be seven 30-round magazines.

Abbott: 18-year-old man entered elementary school to shoot 1:05

Salvador Ramos was at the school for an hour

The shooter was on school grounds for up to an hour before police forced their way into a classroom and was able to kill him, authorities said Wednesday.

"It was like, like, 40 minutes or something like that, [close to] an hour," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw told CNN's Ed Lavandera at a news conference.

Congressman Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Uvalde, told CNN's Jake Tapper he was told shooter Salvador Ramos was in a standoff with police for about a half hour after shooting students and teachers.

Shooting suspect shared his plans on Facebook before the shooting

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Wednesday that before the shooting at Robb Elementary School, the gunman shared his plans on Facebook 30 minutes before arriving at the school.

Abbott said in the first message he wrote: "I'm going to shoot my grandmother."

The gunman later said, "I shot my grandmother" and "I'm going to start a shooting at an elementary school," according to Abbott, who described the messages as posts.

After Abbott made these comments about the shooter's social media activity, Meta spokesman Andy Stone tweeted, "The messages Governor Abbott described were one-on-one private text messages that were discovered after it occurred. the terrible tragedy. We are cooperating closely with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation."

CNN is contacting Facebook and Abbott's office for further clarification.

Salvador Ramos had a history of getting into fights

The Uvalde school attacker, Salvador Ramos, had a history of physical fights with others, according to an ex-friend and a video obtained by CNN showing Ramos repeatedly throwing punches.

The former friend and classmate said Ramos sent him a video on Shapchat.

He said the video, which he received more than a year ago, shows Ramos fighting another person, which the former friend said was not unusual.

“He always got into fights at school,” the former classmate said, noting that he received several messages from Ramos showing fights, some in which Ramos was involved.

Two additional former classmates told CNN that the individual shown in the video is Ramos.

The face of the other individual who was fighting with Ramos is not seen in the video.

Nadia Reyes, a high school classmate, told The Washington Post that she could remember about five times Ramos got into a fistfight at school.

CNN has reached out to the Uvalde School District for more information but has not received a response.

I was a student who hardly had any friends

People react outside the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center, where students were transported after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, May 24.

Marco Bello/Reuters

Those who knew the suspect personally largely described him as a loner with little to no social life.

The suspect attended a local high school and lived with his grandparents, Olivarez said.

He had no friends and no criminal record or gang affiliation, he added.

He worked the day shift at a local Wendy's and supported himself mostly by himself, the restaurant's manager confirmed to CNN.

“He felt like the quiet guy, the one who doesn't say much.

He didn't really socialize with the other employees,” said Wendy's night manager, Adrian Mendes.

"He just worked, they paid him and he came to get his check."

A former classmate of the shooter said Ramos "was severely harassed and made fun of a lot" and others made fun of him for the clothes he wore and his family's financial situation.

“People actually called it a

and stuff like that,” he said.

The classmate, who did not want to be identified by name, said he was somewhat "close" to Ramos.

They sat together through high school and played Xbox together, he said.

The suspect had stopped attending school regularly and they communicated less apart from occasional invitations to play Xbox.

Recently, the suspect sent the classmate a photo of an AR-15, a backpack with ammunition cartridges and several gun magazines, he added.

"I was like, 'Brother, why do you have this?'

and he said, 'Don't worry about it,'" the friend said.

“He proceeded to text me, 'I look so different now.

You wouldn't recognize me.'”

Stanley Torres, a high school senior in Uvalde, told CNN that he shared a gym class with Ramos, describing him as a "very quiet person who hung out by himself."

Another Uvalde High senior told CNN that she “knew people didn't like her.

People made fun of him or wanted to fight him,” but she said she wasn't sure why.

Hours before the shooting, the attacker made a series of ominous messages on Instagram, according to a screenshot of the messages posted on the social network.

• "What are we doing?": reactions to the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in which 21 people died

The Instagram account that was linked to Ramos posted a photo of two rifles on a rug and also tagged another Instagram account by name in the photo.

The owner of the tagged Instagram account wrote in a story posted after the shooting that the suspect had tagged her and sent her a message out of the blue.

The woman, who did not include her name on her account and has since made it private, posted screenshots of messages she said she exchanged with the assailant in the days leading up to the massacre.

In one, Ramos wrote "I'm about to" but didn't say what he would do.

"I have a little secret," he wrote in another message.

"I want to tell you".

She replied that she would possibly take a nap, but that she would respond if she was awake.

In messages posted to her story before it was made private, the woman said she didn't live in Texas and didn't know Ramos.

“The only reason I answered him was because I was scared of him.

I wish I had stayed awake to at least try to talk him out of committing his crime,” she wrote.

"I did not know, I did not know it".

With information Virginia Langmaid, Curt Devine, Raja Razek, Paula Reid, Casey Tolan and Jeff Winter

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