The gunman who murdered 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school was killed by members of an elite Border Patrol tactical team, officials say.
The suspect barricaded himself into a two-room classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde where he killed his victims and fired at law enforcement through windows.
Members of the Border Patrol’s Bortac team responded to the school, located in the town 80 miles west of San Antonio, but were unable to get into the classroom because of a steel door and the building’s concrete block construction, law enforcement sources told The Wall Street Journal.
The team also took fire from the gunman who shot at them through the door and the classroom’s walls.
After Bortac got a master key from the school principal, they were able to force their way into the classroom.
One Bortac agent took rounds to his shield as the team entered the classroom, another agent received shrapnel wounds, and a third agent shot and killed 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.
Officials told the newspaper that once inside, the agents found dead children in multiple piles.
Bortac agents are among the most highly trained federal agents, and are used to raid stash houses where smugglers keep migrants, track smugglers and serve high-risk warrants.
Police say that Ramos had bought two AR-15 style assault weapons for his 18th birthday from a local store.
Gun dealers in border states such as Texas are required to report anyone buying two or more semiautomatic rifles within five days to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is part of an attempt by authorities to track gun smuggling into Mexico across the southern border.
The ATF says Ramos legally bought two riles on 17 May and 20 May. One of the rifles was left in the suspect’s crashed truck, while the other, a Daniel Defense, was found with him I the school.
He bought 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition on 18 May.
The shooting is the deadliest since the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, where 20 children and six staff were killed.
It also took place less than two weeks after 10 people, all of whom were Black, were shot and killed at a Buffalo supermarket in a racially-motivated attack.
The FBI released a report on Monday that showed a 50 per cent increase in active shooter incidents from 2020 to 2021.
The agency says that 103 people were killed and 140 wounded in 61 active shooter incidents in 2021, not counting the gunmen.
According to US Customs and Border Protection BORTAC was established in 1984 and is based out of El Paso, Texas.
“The unit was created in 1984 to serve a civil disturbance function in response to rioting at legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service detention facilities.
“It quickly evolved and acquired additional skill sets in high-risk warrant service; intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance; foreign law enforcement / Border Patrol capacity building; airmobile operations; maritime operations; and precision marks- man/observer. “
CBP says that Bortac’s slection process was “designed to mirror” those of US Special Operations Forces.
“The grueling BSTC, which may last over a month, begins with physical testing involving push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, a 1.5 mile run and a pistol qualification. Candidates who pass the initial testing must then complete a timed, sixmile ruck march with a weighted pack. Additional testing is performed for swimming, treading water, and drown-proofing.”
