The twisted Texas school gunman who massacred 19 children and two adults callously barricaded them in their classroom, leaving them unable to escape.
Salvador Ramos then opened fire with an AR-15 he legally bought on his 18th birthday, systematically killing each one.
As he took the children at the Robb Elementary School in Ulvadle hostage, one heroic 10-year-old bravely tried to save her classmates as she tried calling 911 for help.
Amerie Jo Garza had spent Tuesday morning celebrating her honour roll appointment.
But less than two hours later, Ramos had blocked all escape routes before pointing his gun in her face.
“You’re going to die,” he told Amerie Jo and other children, her grandmother Berlinda Irene Arreola said.
Before the youngster could be connected to police, Ramos killed her.
“Instead of grabbing it (her phone) and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her. She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood,” the heartbroken grandmother added.
“She died a hero trying to get help for her and her fellow classmates,”
Arreola remembered her granddaughter as “super-outgoing” and a “teacher’s pet” who enjoyed excelling in her classes.
She said she’d only been photographed at 10am holding up her honour roll certificate. Then, just 90 minutes later, she was dead.
The children, all under the age of 11, had been excitingly finishing their last days of school before breaking up for the summer when Ramos entered their classroom.
Miraculously a nine-year-old survived despite being shot in the leg.
The unnamed boy’s grandmother said the massacre happened in his classroom.
She said: “He’s scared right now. He said he was scared, but he’s fine.
“It didn’t do any damage, hopefully no nerve damage and stuff, but he was just released and we thank God for that.
“We’re praying for all of the children that were taken by this mass murderer.”
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the slaughter, the worst school shooting in US history since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, which left 26 kids dead.
Hospital officials said another 15 pupils and four adults were wounded in the slaughter.
Ramos was killed by police at the scene.
The other victims have been named as Xavier Lopez, 10, Uziyah Garcia, nine, Eliahana’ Elijah Cruz’ Torres, 10, Makena Lee Elrod, Nevaeh Bravo, and Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez.
Also among the victims are Lexi Rubio, Rojelia Torres, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos and Jailah Nicole Silguero.
Eva Mireles, 44, and Irma Garcia, a mother-of-four, were the two teachers shot dead.
At one point, parents had to attend a specially created family reunification centre for DNA swabs to confirm their relationship to their children.
Michelle Ramirez said her nine-year-old daughter narrowly missed being killed because she was at a dentist appointment when the gunman opened fire.
“I couldn’t imagine if I would’ve sent my daughter. I would’ve gone crazy,” she said.
Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety, revealed how Ramos carried out the killing by barricading the children and teachers inside.
“Just goes to show you the complete evil from this shooter,” Olivarez said As the shooting took place, officers were going around the school, breaking windows and trying to evacuate children and staff.
He said they were then able to force entry into the classroom where the shooter was.
“It’s a small classroom, you can have anywhere from 25 to 30 students in there, plus there were two teachers in there,” Olivarez said.
“So we don’t have exact number of how many students were in that classroom, but it could vary.
“It was a classroom setting, a typical classroom setting where you have mass groups of children inside that classroom altogether, with nowhere to go.”
All the victims have been removed, identified and their families have been notified, the lieutenant said.
When asked if the school was a target, Olivarez said there are still “a lot of unanswered questions.”
He added: “We’re trying to determine that, that’s why we’re working with FBI right now to kind of look back to see if there were any indicators, any red flags, looking at social media.
“What we know about the shooter is that he is a resident here in Uvalde, he did attend one of the local high schools, he lived with his grandparents, was unemployed, no friends, no girlfriend that we can identify at this time, no criminal history, no gang affiliation as well.”
Former Wendy’s restaurant worker Ramos has been described as a self-harming loner bullied because of his clothes.
However, he saved nearly £3,000 to buy two AR-15 guns - one on May 17 and the other three days later - after turning 18 last week.
On May 18, Ramos also purchased hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Texas state Senator John Whitmire revealed.
The suspect dropped a backpack with several magazines full of ammunition near the school entrance, the senator added.
Inside the school, police found what appears to be seven 30-round magazines.
Ramos was eventually stopped by a Border Patrol agent who had been manning a nearby post and rushed into the school on hearing shots.
The two exchanged gunfire, with Ramos shot and killed. The agent was wounded but could walk himself out of the school.
It has now been revealed the teenager was known to police because of his violent arguments with his drug-addict mother.
He no longer lived with her and had gone to live with his grandmother, who was in the hospital, fighting for her life.
Ramos shot her before going to the school after an argument in their home after he failed to graduate high school.
Today, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass gun safety legislation.
“We know common-sense gun laws can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy,” he said.
“But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban - mass shootings went down. When the law expired - mass shootings tripled.”
However, despite the crisis, politicians are expected to leave for a recess tomorrow, not returning until next week to discuss possible gun law reforms.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who made an impassioned plea to fellow politicians for change in the law just hours after the shooting, dismissed blaming the often-cited mental health issues.
“We don’t have more mental illness than any other nation in the world,” he said.
“There’s no evidence that there are more mentally ill people here than in Europe. The difference is when people have homicidal thoughts in the United States of America, they can walk down the street to a Walmart and get an assault weapon easier than they can buy a cat or a dog.
“There’s more red tape involved in pet ownership in this country than there is in assault weapons ownership.”
Leaders worldwide condemned the shooting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country is battling Russia ’s invasion, saying it was “terrible to have victims of shooters in peaceful time.”
Zelensky, speaking remotely during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he was “deeply saddened by the news of the murder of innocent children in Texas.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she was “horrified”.
