2022 Uvalde, Texas School Shooting

Overview

The Uvalde, Texas School Shooting refers to a U.S. mass shooting that took place at a Texas elementary school on May 24th, 2022. The 18-year-old shooter named Salvador Ramos killed 22 people at Robb Elementary School and was later killed by law enforcement in a shootout. The event sparked discussion, controversy and political debate over gun control. Additionally, the shooting happened soon after the Buffalo, New York Supermarket Shooting and resembled the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting.

As more details emerged in the days following, the Uvalde Police Department's response time and behavior garnered criticism as it was reported one hour had passed before the gunman was confronted and parents were prevented from entering despite police inaction. President Joe Biden also avoided answering if an investigation into the department was to take place. In mid-July 2022, surveillance video footage from the school hallway was released and revealed that the police officer's waited 57 minutes in the hallway before addressing the shooter. The footage also showed one officer checking his phone that had a Punisher skull logo on it and another officer using hand sanitizer.

Background

On May 24th, 2022, Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old resident of Uvalde, Texas, entered the premises of Robb Elementary School, following the crash of his own vehicle in a ditch nearby. Prior to this, he shot his grandmother at home, who survived after being airlifted to a hospital where she was listed in critical condition. He entered the school premises wearing body armor and holding a long rifle. He was able to get past officers outside the school who called for backup when he started opening fire. Ramos reportedly barricaded himself inside a classroom while more law enforcement agents arrived on the scene, including many border patrol agents who were nearby. Ramos was eventually killed by police in a gunfight.^[1]

Developments

Death Toll / Victims

Ramos' motive for the attack remains unclear. Going into the day after, a death toll of 22 accumulated, with 19 children and two adults total.^[1] On May 24th, Twitter^[5] user loeytaro shared a thread of all the missing children involved in the attack, earning roughly 38,000 likes in one day. This prompted Twitter^[6] user DesheaMj to make a compilation image of all the children who lost their lives, earning roughly 1,800 likes in one day (shown below).

News Coverage

Shortly after the arrival of the police on the scene, the news of the tragedy quickly took over the media through round-the-clock coverage on TV and radio stations across the country, as well as real-time updates from major news sites, including CNN,^[1] Fox News, ^[2] CBS^[3] and NBC,^[4] among others. The same day, U.S. President Joe Biden addressed the nation, uploaded to YouTube on May 24th where it received roughly 14,800 views in one day (shown below)

Additionally, other politicians and celebrities released statements about the shooting. For instance, actor Matthew McConaughey, whose hometown is Uvalde, Texas, posted a statement to Instagram ^[7] that earned roughly 268,600 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was asked about the shooting following an NBA game. When posted to Twitter^[8] it received roughly 22.7 million views and 763,500 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Steve Kerr on today's tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas. pic.twitter.com/lsJ8RzPcmC

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) May 24, 2022

Salvador Ramos' Instagram Posts and Messages

On May 24th, 2022, the Twitter^[9] page IntelDoge posted a mirror selfie of the shooter, Salvador Ramos, screenshotted from his Instagram account before it was deleted. The tweet received roughly 1,700 likes in less than a day (shown below). IntelDoge claimed that Ramos' Instagram contained only three posts, being, "this, another selfie, and a picture of a gun magazine."

The Twitter^[10] page IntelDoge then tweeted a screenshot of two DD M4V7s taken from Ramos' Story Highlights. In the Instagram Story, Ramos tagged another Instagram user with the handle epnupues.^[11] The Twitter^[12] page IntelDoge also tweeted screenshots of messages sent between Instagram user epnupues and Ramos leading up to the school shooting (shown below). They show epnupues being confused at the tagging of himself in the Story, as well as Ramos confiding in him leading up to the May 24th attack.

Rep. Paul Gosar False Trans Girl Shooter Claims

On May 24th, 2022, Twitter users and 4chaners started to falsely identify the shooter as Redditor^[13] Apprehensive_Ad_995. Many of the tweets and threads have since been deleted, however, on May 24th, Twitter^[14] user MattBinder posted screenshots of the misinformation spreading, subsequently calling it out as fake news. His tweet received 26,300 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Additionally, Redditor Apprehensive_Ad_995 had to make a post^[15] on May 24th claiming, "it's not me, I don't even live in texas," as she was receiving threats (shown below, right).

Also on May 24th, Republican House Representative of Arizona Paul Gosar quote retweeted a tweet spreading the trans girl shooter misinformation. Gosar has since deleted the tweet, however, a screenshot was taken and reported on by Business Insider^[16] (shown below, left). People like Twitter^[17] user molly0xFFF called out Gosar for spreading the baseless claim, receiving roughly 14,000 likes for a tweet in less than a day (shown below, right).

Police Response Controversy

In the days that followed the mass shooting on May 24th, 2022, news outlets like the New York Times^[18] and Reuters^[19] reported on a developing controversy and criticism regarding the local police department's response — particularly its handling of the situation and response time. According to these news outlets, it took the police roughly one hour to respond to the sounds of gunshots coming from inside Robb Elementary. The New York Times highlighted in their article that most mass shootings are "over within minutes" according to policing experts.

The call was made to the department about the shooting at around 11:30 a.m. An anonymous State Police official told the New York Times^[18] that "two Uvalde officers were shot as they initially tried to enter the classroom at about 11:45 a.m." Then, officials said, "the officers fell back and began calling for help." The decision in question is if the police at the scene should have awaited the arrival of specially trained officers (like they did) or immediately acted. Eventually, specialty officers from the Border Patrol arrived an hour after the shooting began and killed the shooter.

Most notably on May 26th and 27th, buzz started to surface en masse about the police response time in Uvalde. For instance, on May 24th, 2022, Twitter^[20] user NeeNeinNyetNo levied criticism against the Uvalde police department's budget compared to their response to the shooting in a tweet that received roughly 94,800 likes in three days (shown below, left). On May 26th, 2022, Twitter^[21] user pervocracy posted a tweet that ended with, "cops in fear for their lives act in the exact opposite manner from cops 'in fear for their lives,'" earning roughly 21,700 likes in two days (shown below, right).

More comedically nuanced takes on the police response criticism surfaced on Twitter in the days following. For instance, on May 25th, 2022, Twitter^[22] user alan_mustache captioned a photo of a guy pissing his pants with, "the cops when they see a school shooter," earning roughly 76,700 likes in two days (shown below, left). On May 26th, 2022, Twitch streamer Vaush posted a tweet^[23] that contrasted the police response to a response from firefighters to a burning building, earning roughly 12,200 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

President Joe Biden's Response

On May 26th, 2022, it was reported by the Washington Examiner^[24] that the White House refused to call for an investigation into the Uvalde police response. President Biden was quoted saying he, "has the utmost respect for the men and women of law enforcement." A tweet^[25] about the development was posted on May 26th by the Examiner and received roughly 3,800 likes in less than a day.

Multiple Twitter users quote retweeted the aforementioned tweet, such as Twitch streamer HasanAbi on May 26th,^[25] stating, "bro what the fuck are they doing," and earning roughly 48,300 likes in one day (shown below).

School Hallway Surveillance Video Footage Of Police Response

On July 12th, 2022, news outlet Austin American-Stateman published an article^[27] that included exclusive video footage they'd received from a surveillance tape and audio taken within the hallways of Robb Elementary School the day of the shooting. It documented both the shooter's movements and the police's response. The 77-minute clip was edited down to four minutes by the publication (shown below).

Ultimately, the video showed Uvalde police officers arriving "minutes" after the shooter arrived and started firing rounds into two classrooms. The officers approach the area where the shooter was but retreated after more shots were fired. The video outlined how 57 minutes passed before any of the police officers in the hallway approached where the shooter was.

The video was reposted to Twitter on July 12th, 2022, by verified Twitter^[28] user yashar whose tweet received roughly 3,600 likes in less than a day. The Twitter video, meanwhile, gained over 1.2 million views in less than a day due to many retweets, reposts and cross-platform shares.

Reactions surfaced regarding the video that predominantly centered on the cop's perceived negligence and ineffectiveness. For instance, on July 12th, Twitter^[29] user SaintSluggo uploaded a tweet that referenced the police preventing parents from entering the school so they wouldn't see "a huge pile of dudes in body armor with ballistic shields and automatic weapons milling around a hallway doing fuck all while the screams of their dying children echoed." The tweet received roughly 1,300 likes in less than a day.

Cops Using Hand Sanitizer And Checking Phone

On July 12th, 2022, Twitter^[30] user and senior investigative reporter at NBC News Mike Hixenbaugh was the first to highlight in a tweet that an officer in ballistic gear stopped to get some hand sanitizer while the shooting was ongoing. Hixenbaugh attached a screenshot to his tweet (shown below). In less than a day, Hixenbaugh's tweet received roughly 1,300 likes.

Many more Twitter users started to reference the hand sanitizer moment in their tweets, subsequently condemning the police's response. For instance, on July 12th, Twitter^[31] user MaxLewisTV tweeted about the moment, earning roughly 154,000 likes in less than a day. Also on July 12th, Twitter^[31] user cabot_phillips posted a screen-recording of the hand sanitizer moment, earning roughly 657,900 views in less than a day (shown below).

Would love to hear from this Uvalde cop why he was worried about putting on hand sanitizer while a shooter was massacring kids twenty feet down the hall pic.twitter.com/2F3oPqW3gp

— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) July 12, 2022

Another moment during the surveillance footage that internet users perceived as incompetent was when an officer checked his phone amid the shooting. On July 12th, 2022, Twitter^[33] user WalkerBragman tweeted, "God fuck this," and revealed in a zoomed-in screenshot that the officer's lock screen was an American flag skull logo from The Punisher. His tweet received roughly 125,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Twitter^[34] user digitalurn posted a tweet about WalkerBragman's evidence on July 12th, earning roughly 228,800 likes in the same amount of time (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References