The dad of the Texas school shooter who massacred 19 children has broken his silence and said “he should’ve just killed me” instead.
Evil Salvador Ramos began his horrifying murder spree by shooting his grandmother before driving to Robb Elementary school in Texas where he barricaded himself inside one of the classrooms and brutally murdered 19 children and two teachers.
Now, his dad, also called Salvador Ramos, has spoken out for the first time about his son’s horrific crimes and apologised for Tuesday's horror, insisting his son was a "good person".
Speaking to The Daily Beast from the porch of his girlfriend’s property, the 42-year-old said: “I just want the people to know I’m sorry man, [for] what my son did.
“I never expected my son to do something like that. He should’ve just killed me, you know, instead of doing something like that to someone.”
Mr Ramos is seen in photos breaking down in tears and hugging a reporter on the porch.
The dad said he only learned of the shooting when his own mother called him in a panic. He then called the local jail, asking if his son was there.
Mr Ramos told The Daily Beast he had not seen his son for about a month.
Due to his work, and the pandemic, the dad said he had not been able to see his son often. As his own mum suffered from cancer, they had to take steps to avoid her catching covid, meanwhile his son grew frustrated with the Covid precautions.
Mr Ramos insisted his son was a “good person” and said he had no idea why he massacred the children or why he targeted the school.
One change he said he did notice in his son was that he bought a pair of boxing gloves and would test them out at a local park.
The younger Ramos also reportedly had a poor relationship with his mum and blamed her for not buying him more school supplies and clothes, something his son was reportedly bullied for.
However, one classmate disputed claims he was bullied and told the Washington Post he “would take things too far” then get defensive about it.
Classmate Nadia Reyes said: “I don’t think he was necessarily bullied. He would take things too far, say something that shouldn’t be said, and then he would go into defence mode about it.”
Similarly, a co-worker told The Daily Beast he would sometimes harass women he worked with.
The older Ramos himself has his own lengthy criminal record including a conviction for assault, The Daily Beast reported, and is estranged with his daughter, the gunman’s sister, who joined the navy.
The dad added that his son frequently complained about his maternal grandmother, who he would go on to shoot.
Mr Ramos said he offered his son to move in with his own parents but the teenager declined because of the lack of WiFi.
The shooter was known to be active online and had made a number of friends that way, including one he warned of the attack before it happened. He is also said his son had a girlfriend in San Antonio who the family had visited.
Mr Ramos claimed his son wasn’t a monster, and that people had no clue what he really went through.
It comes as the local police force have come under fire after it emerged the killer was inside the classroom for an hour before he was finally shot.
Whilst the gunman was inside the school, “numerous” armed policemen were outside of it, with videos emerging showing them stopping parents going inside after their children.
They waited outside and evacuated children from other parts of the school as the gunman shot children dead.
Authorities admitted that they assembled just outside of the room that the younger Ramos slaughtered 19 children in, but they did not make any attempt to break in.
Instead, despite arriving four minutes after the shooter entered the school, they then waited an entire hour for a special tactical unit, who would kill the gunman.
Victor Escalon, south Texas regional director of the state’s department of public safety admitted there’s a chance officers could have gone in sooner and said: “There are a lot of possibilities. There were numerous officers at that classroom. Once we interview all those officers we’ll have a better idea.
“Could anyone have gone [into the classroom] sooner? You have to understand, this is a small town.”
Local law enforcement and authorities are coming increasingly under pressure to explain how America’s deadliest school shooting in years was allowed to unfold over such a long period of time.
Videos emerged of some of the students' parents begging officers to do more as the carnage was unfolding.
On top of that, law enforcement have come further under fire as previous comments claiming that the shooter was confronted by police before he entered the school, have been disputed by officials.
Previously, it was claimed that police confronted him as he approached the elementary school but now Escalon said he approached the school "unobstructed" and "was not confronted by anybody".
