Texas school shooting: Suspect's grandmother upgraded to good condition

Twenty-one were killed and 17 were injured in last week's mass shooting.

Last Updated: January 19, 2023, 4:57 PM EST

A small town in rural Texas was left reeling after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school, killing 19 children.

Two teachers were also killed in the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, according to authorities.

The alleged gunman -- identified by authorities as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School -- was killed by law enforcement at the scene.

The suspect allegedly shot and injured his grandmother before opening fire at the school, officials said.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed. All times Eastern.
May 28, 2022, 5:55 PM EDT

Investigators still determining what led shooter to attack: Sources

Investigators have yet to find a specific triggering event that led the gunman to attack on Tuesday, or why he selected Robb Elementary School as the target, according to law enforcement sources.

Texas Department of Public Safety director Col. Steven McCraw also said Friday that a motive has not yet been determined.

A particular focus for the FBI is assisting Texas detectives in analyzing Ramos’ online communications and anything they could find that was left on his devices, the sources said.

McCraw said investigators plan to track down people with whom Ramos communicated online.

The FBI has deployed some 200 hundred personnel to Uvalde, including computer and cell phone analysts and digital forensic experts, in addition to providing remote support.

-ABC News' Pierre Thomas, Josh Margolin and Aaron Katersky

May 28, 2022, 3:05 PM EDT

Shooter fired on at least 6 occasions after police arrived

Alleged school shooter Salvador Ramos was in the classroom for 77 minutes before officers entered and killed him. During that time, he discharged 315 rounds of ammunition, with hundreds of those rounds fired within the first four minutes of his arrival, authorities said.

After the initial barrage, the police commander on the scene mistakenly believed the shooter was barricaded and it was no longer an active shooter incident, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters in an update Friday. But as officers gathered outside the classroom, the gunman kept shooting on at least six occasions, the new details show.

At 11:35 a.m., as the first three officers entered the building and approached classrooms 111 and 112, the suspect fired into the hallway through a closed door, where two officers sustained "grazing wounds," McCraw said.

He fired an additional 16 rounds two minutes later -- at 11:37 a.m. -- and again at 11:38 a.m., 11:40 a.m. and 11:44 a.m., according to McCraw, who did not specify whether the additional discharges were directed at officers in the hallway or at those inside the classrooms.

At 12:21 p.m., with as many as 19 officers then gathered outside the classroom, the suspect again fired at the closed door, forcing officers to "move down the hallway," McCraw said.

Despite those additional spurts of gunfire – and a 911 call from inside one of the classrooms alerting a dispatcher that eight or nine people remained alive -- officers did not enter the classroom and kill Ramos until 12:50 p.m., according to McCraw.

The police response to the shooting is now being investigated, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday.

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman

May 28, 2022, 1:14 PM EDT

Texas active shooter training instructs 'move in, confront attacker,' manual shows

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in Texas hosted active shooter training for its six-member police force two months prior to the massacre at Robb Elementary, based on the "Active Shooter Response for School-Based Law Enforcement" course from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which explicitly states: "First responders to the active shooter scene will usually be required to place themselves in harm's way and display uncommon acts of courage to save the innocent."

The course manual also includes this sobering instruction: "A first responder unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field."

The training makes clear the "first priority is to move in and confront the attacker."
It is "safer" and "preferable" to have a team of at least four officers move on a subject but, since "time is the number one enemy during active shooter response," even a single officer is expected to act, according to the training document.

In Uvalde, 19 officers entered the school but remained in the hallway, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said at a press conference Friday.

Only when an attacker is isolated and "can do no more harm to students, staff, or visitors" is the officer not obligated to enter the room, which is what McCraw said the incident commander, Uvalde ISD Chief Pete Arredondo, believed.

"It was the wrong decision," McCraw said.

-ABC News' Mike Levine and Aaron Katersky

May 27, 2022, 6:40 PM EDT

Uvalde County DA to make any charging decisions following investigation into police conduct

The district attorney in Uvalde County told ABC News Friday she would make charging decisions once an investigation into the law enforcement conduct in connection with the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School is complete.

The district attorney, Christina Mitchell Busbee, declined to answer questions about specific individuals or conduct.

The comments come after the Texas Department of Public Safety provided more details about the delayed response to Tuesday's active shooter incident.

During a press briefing Friday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would like to know why the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police chief did "not choose the strategy that would have been best to go in there." He said he does not know if the chief is still on active duty.

The superintendent of the Uvalde school district declined to answer questions about the police chief during the briefing.

-ABC News' Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin