Texas school shooting: gunman made 3 chilling Facebook posts before shooting
A spokesperson for Meta said the gunman's Facebook posts were not public
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press conference Wednesday that Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old gunman who opened fire in Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, posted on Facebook three times prior to the shooting.
"There was no meaningful forewarning of this crime, other than what I'm about to tell you," said Abbott. "As of this time, the only information known in advance was posted by the gunman on Facebook approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school.
"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.'"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Abbott also explained that Ramos was reportedly a high school dropout with no known mental health history or criminal history identified yet. A possible juvenile criminal record has yet to be confirmed, he said.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a news conference in Uvalde, Texas Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Shortly after Abbott's announcement, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone tweeted that Ramos' Facebook posts were not public.
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"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.
Ramos allegedly also posted disturbing images online before the shooting and apparently messaged a woman about his plans before he carried out the deadly attack.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Image of Salvador Ramos (Uvalde Police Department)
An Instagram account allegedly connected to Ramos featured disturbing photos, including one showing a high-capacity magazine. The Instagram account has since been taken down.
The same account allegedly sent alarming messages to a woman before the deadly attack. The first message, sent May 12, asked, "You gonna repost my gun pics?" The woman was tagged in photos showing guns.
Screenshot taken of an Instagram account allegedly connected to suspected Uvalde, Texas, school shooter Salvador Ramos. (Fox News)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Shortly after Abbott's comments about the Facebook posts, failed Texas candidate Beto O'Rourke attempted to derail Abbott's presser and was escorted out.
Fox News' Ashlyn Messier contributed to this report.