6 P.M. UPDATE
A clearer timeline is emerging of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
A gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities say Salvador Ramos, 18, started the rampage by shooting his 66-year-old grandmother, Cecilia Martinez Gonzalez, in the face at her home in Uvalde before arriving at the school.
A motive in the attack remains unclear, officials said.
Here is what we know:
Timeline
11 a.m. In a series of private Facebook messages, Ramos announces his deadly intentions, officials said. “The first post was to the point of he said, ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother,’ ” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a briefing Wednesday. “The second post was, ‘I shot my grandmother,’ ” Abbott said. Authorities with the Texas Department of Public Safety say Ramos shot Gonzalez in the face at the Diaz Street home where he lived with her before fleeing.
11:15 a.m. He then sends another message on Facebook declaring, “I’m going to shoot an elementary school.”
11:30 a.m. Police receive a report of a man crashing his truck into a concrete ditch near Robb Elementary School. A school resource officer engages with the gunman, who was carrying a rifle.
11:32 a.m. Officers and Ramos exchanges gunfire outside the school. He then enters a backdoor and makes his way down a series of short hallways before entering a classroom. Once inside one classroom, he was connected to other classrooms and eventually enters one full of students. Inside, he opens fire, killing 19 students and two teachers. “He was able to barricade himself inside the classroom,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman, told The Times. “We’re still trying to confirm motive, what triggered him.”
11:43 a.m. Robb Elementary School announces a lockdown. The Uvalde Police Department shares information on Facebook. Border Patrol agents and other officers converge on that classroom, where a Border Patrol officer kills Ramos.
12:17 p.m. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District announces the shooting on social media: “There is an active shooter at Robb Elementary. Law enforcement is on site. Your cooperation is needed at this time by not visiting the campus. As soon as more information is gathered it will be shared. The rest of the district is under a Secure Status.”
12:23 p.m. Robb Elementary School parents are told to pick up children at Sgt. Willie de Leon Civic Center.
1:06 p.m. The Uvalde Police Department reports the suspect is “in police custody.”
Weapons
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Ramos legally purchased two AR-platform rifles on two separate dates this month: May 17 and May 20.
One of the rifles was left in the crashed truck. The other — a Daniel Defense — was found inside the school with the body of the suspect.
On May 18, Ramos purchased 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, authorities said.
It appears Ramos dropped a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition near the entrance of the school. Inside the school, officials found at least seven 30-round magazines.
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ORIGINAL STORY
Uvalde, Texas — The rifle used in the Texas elementary school shooting is known as a “DDM4 Rifle.” It’s modeled after the M4 carbine, the U.S. military’s go-to rifle, according to a blog post by the gun’s maker, Daniel Defense.
The Daniel Defense rifle can be classified as an AR-15 type. A key difference between the Daniel Defense rifle and the M4 carbine is that the military’s version can switch to fully automatic or fire a three-round burst depending on the model.
AR-15-type rifles can be purchased for as little as $400, but the Daniel Defense rifle is on the high-end of around $2,000 or more. These rifles can also be financed, with customers paying less than $100 a month.
The Daniel Defense rifle is not sold with sights. According to pictures of the shooter’s guns posted on Instagram, he appears to have purchased a battery-powered holographic sight that typically sells for around $725.
A sniper’s scope uses magnification to aid in hitting targets from a great distance. Holographic sights are designed to speed up the process of short-range shooting by helping to fix on targets more quickly.
