Uvalde gunman Salvador Ramos’ grandmother tried to get rid of his gun days before mass shooting, report claims

Under Texas’s lax gun laws, gunman Salvador Ramos was able to legally buy two semi-automatic weapons just days after his 18th birthday

The grandmother of Salvador Ramos tried to get rid of his gun just days before he shot her in the face and murdered 21 innocent people in last week’s mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school, according to a report.

Neighbour Rudy Martinez told The Daily Beast that he heard yelling coming from the home of Celia Gonzales back on the morning of Thursday 19 May.

Mr Martinez said that Ms Gonzalez, who remains in hospital recovering from her 18-year-old grandson’s attack, later told him that she and Ramos were arguing because she discovered he “had brought guns into her house”.

“She didn’t want them there,” said Mr Martinez.

When she demanded Ramos get the gun out of her house, the 18-year-old became outraged with his grandmother, the neighbour revealed.

Officials have previously revealed that Ramos legally bought a semi-automatic weapon on 17 May – just one day after his 18th birthday.

Under Texas’s lax gun laws, he then went on to legally purchase a second semi-automatic weapon from the same store just three days later on 20 May, without raising any alarm bells.

Ramos’s aunt Natalie Salazar told investigators that the family had found an AR-15-style rifle in a duffle bag in their home on 19 May, a law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.

The firearm is believed to be the Smith & Wesson M&P15 that Ramos bought on 17 May.

The law enforcement source said that family members told Ramos to get rid of the gun because his grandfather Rolando Reyes has a criminal record and so is banned from possessing firearms, the source said.

Following the altercation over the weapon, Ramos reportedly left his grandmother’s home – where he had been living for the past couple of months – on 19 May.

He returned to the home three days later on Sunday 22 May and did not appear to have any guns in his possession or inside the home, the law enforcement source said.

But, in reality, by the time he returned to the family home he had bought a second semi-automatic rifle.

It is not clear where the two firearms were being kept at that time.

Salvador Ramos in videos he posted online prior to the mass shooting (Screenshots / CNN)

Two days later, on 24 May, Ramos shot his grandmother in the face before driving towards Robb Elementary School in the family’s truck.

He abandoned the vehicle in a ditch close to the school and entered the building where he opened fire on innocent students and staff members.

Ramos barricaded himself in a classroom where he shot dead 19 students aged between nine and 11 years old and two teachers who were killed trying to protect the children.

The gunman was finally shot dead by Border Patrol agents after officials stormed the classroom.

The Justice Department has launched a probe into the handling of the situation after local officials admitted that critical mistakes were made.

Officers on the scene hung back, waiting a staggering 77 minutes from the time the shooter entered the school before they entered the barricaded classroom and shot him dead.

During that time, gunshots continued to ring out inside the classroom, desperate students trapped inside called 911 begging for help and panicked parents begged law enforcement to let them save their children.

With unanswered questions continuing to mount, it was claimed this week that Chief Pete Arredondo of Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police, who was in charge of the incident and made the decision for officers not to enter the classroom, has stopped cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the shooting.