‘Time to die’: 9yo boy relives horror school shooting at Robb Elementary, Texas

A fourth grader who survived a mass shooting at a Texas school by hiding under a table with his friends has shared horrifying details about what he witnessed.

A fourth grader who survived a mass shooting at a Texas school has revealed the haunting four words the teenage gunman uttered after storming his classroom.

The young boy and his friends hid under a table with a tablecloth as 18-year-old shooter Salvador Ramos began his shooting rampage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday morning.

“He shot the next person’s door. We have a door in the middle. He opened it. He came in and he crouched a little bit and he said, he said, ‘It’s time to die,’” the boy recalled to local news outlet Kens5.

“When I heard the shooting through the door, I told my friend to hide under something so he won‘t find us,” he said. “I was hiding hard. And I was telling my friend to not talk because he is going to hear us.”

He then witnessed the police in a shootout with the attacker.

According to reports, Ramos spent more than 40 minutes inside as witnesses desperately urged police to charge into the building.

“When the cops came, the cop said: ‘Yell if you need help!’ And one of the persons in my class said ’help.’ The guy overheard and he came in and shot her,“ the boy said.

“The cop barged into that classroom. The guy shot at the cop. And the cops started shooting.”

The boy, who could not be identified, talked through the massacre at Robb Elementary School.

He said that once the shooting stopped, he came out from under the table.

“I just opened the curtain. And I just put my hand out,” he said. “I got out with my friend. I knew it was police. I saw the armor and the shield.”

Border Patrol agents finally breached the door about 40 minutes to an hour later when a staff member gave them a key.

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Jacinto Cazares's daughter Jacklyn Cazares died on Tuesday’s attack. Picture: Facebook.

Furious victim’s father blames authorities

Now a father of one of the dead children is blaming officers at the scene for not acting sooner to stop the gunman.

Grieving father Jacinto Cazares lost his 10-year-old daughter, Jackie Cazares when 18-year-old Ramos opened fire in the classroom.

It took police 90 minutes from when the first 911 call was placed, to the moment Ramos was shot and killed.

Mr Cazares said had authorities followed the direction of witnesses and acted sooner, more lives could have been saved.

“There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing [until] it was far too late,” Jacinto Cazares, the father of 10-year-old victim Jackie Cazares, told ABC News.

“The situation could’ve been over quick if they had better tactical training, and we as a community witnessed it first-hand.”

A witness who lived across the street from Robb Elementary, said onlookers begged officers outside the school to do something as bullets rang inside the building.

“Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers who did not go inside, 24-year-old Juan Carranza, 24, said.

Local police, state police and 80 Border Patrol officers swarmed to the scene. Four of the 80 Border Patrol officers entered the school building and killed Ramos, according to a Customs and Border Protection official.

Jacinto Cazares photographed sharing a photo of his daughter to reporters. Picture: Jordan Vonderhaar/ Getty Images.

Carranza said he first watched Ramos crash his truck in a ditch outside the school, grab a AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shoot at, and miss, two people outside a nearby funeral home.

The mass shooter then fired at a school district security officer, ran inside the elementary school and shot at two arriving Uvalde police officers outside the building, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson, who added that all three officers were injured.

Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said it was “within 40 minutes or so” from when the 18-year-old opened fire on the school security officer to when the Border Patrol team shot him.

The specialized, SWAT-like team known as the Border Patrol Tactical Unit struggled to breach the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open it with a key, a law enforcement official who requested anonymity told the Associated Press.

Mr Cazares said the officers needed better tactical training.

“I’m a gun owner and I do not blame the weapons used in this tragedy,” he said.

“I’m angry how easy it is to get one and young you can be to purchase one.”

‘My son wasn’t a violent person’

Meanwhile, the mother of the 18-year-old has claimed he “wasn’t a violent person” before he shot and killed 19 young children and two teachers.

Adriana Reyes said she was taken by surprise when she heard her son had opened fire in a horrific killing spree at Robb Elementary School in Texas yesterday.

Speaking to DailyMail.com she said: “My son wasn’t a violent person. I’m surprised by what he did.

“I pray for those families. I’m praying for all of those innocent children, yes I am. They [the children] had no part in this.”

She also slapped down reports she had a toxic relationship with her son, but added he “kept to himself” and “didn’t have many friends.”

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Adriana Reyes said she was ‘surprised’ by Salvador Ramos opening fire at Robb Elementary School.

It comes as new details have emerged about the moments before Ramos descended on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde armed with automatic weapons.

Before carrying out the horrific massacre, Salvador Ramos was involved in a mundane fight with his grandmother, Celia Martinez Gonzales, about his failure to graduate from his Texas secondary school and unwillingness to buy his own phone.

Eduardo Trinidad, a neighbour of Ramos, told local news channel Newsy that the teen was upset he was not going to graduate from Uvalde High School.

“He got into an argument with the grandmother and she was screaming, ‘He shot me! He shot me!’ and then he got in the car, zoomed down the street, there was some kind of crash, according to Mr Trinidad,” Newsy journalist John Mone reported.

“The suspect got out, he had two weapons, and then started engaging gunfire,” he said.

After hearing the chaos unfolding, Mr Trinidad headed over to Ms Gonzales’ home, where other neighbours discussed what was happening. Ms Gonzales was listed in critical condition overnight.

Celia Martinez Gonzales was listed in critical condition after her grandson, Salvador Ramos, shot her.

As his wife lies in hospital, Ramos’ grandfather Rolando Reyes said he is in shock.

He said he did not know that his grandson had recently purchased two AR-15-style assault rifles.

“I don’t like weapons. I cannot be around weapons,” the 72-year-old told US ABC News. “I hate when I see all the news, all those people that get shot.”

Mr Reyes told the station he has a criminal background and cannot have a weapon in the house, and that he would have reported the weapons to authorities had he known about them.

Later speaking to the New York Post he confirmed there was a dispute between Ms Gonzales and her grandson – but that the antagonism was coming from the 18-year-old.

“She didn’t have no altercation with him, she kept to herself,” Mr Reyes told The Post. “She wanted him to get his own phone.”

Asked whether he believed his grandson had plotted out the school massacre in advance, Mr Reyes said he was unsure.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t say whether he was planning to do this or not. That’s a question that’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Authorities have confirmed Ramos bought the weapons used in the sickening attack just days after turning 18 last week.

Salvador Ramos headed to the school after shooting his grandma. Picture: Elsa G Ruiz/Facebook

He then bragged about them on social media, posting images of two AR-style rifles along with chilling hints at his plans for violence.

Shooter’s was ‘creepy’on social media

An active user on Yubo, people who interacted with Ramos have spoken about his creepy behaviour.

The social media platform was launched in 2015 and allows users to live-stream, instant message and play games. The app also appears to cater towards a younger demographic, with a separate community for people aged 13 to 17.

Speaking to The Sun, a female Yubo user said he exhibited harassment-like girls on the app.

“He would be active every day and join our lives, repeating girls’ names until they paid attention to him,” she said.

Ramos also had a fascination with the murderer Luka Magnotta (real name Eric Clinton Kirk Newman), who was portrayed in the true-crime docuseries Don’t F*** With Cats.

The female user said Ramos wanted to achieve a similar level of infamy and “wanted his name out there like that”.

Ramos was a frequent Yubo user. Picture: Yubo/ The Sun.

The 18-year-old would also make comparisons to convicted murderer Luka Magnotta. Picture: Yubo/ The Sun.

Anger as questions mount over US gun control

Grief at the massacre of 19 small children – America’s worst school shooting since the horrific Sandy Hook massacre in which 20 children and six adults were killed almost a decade ago – spilled into confrontation on Wednesday, as angry questions mounted over gun control, and whether this latest tragedy could have been prevented.

Briefing reporters, Governor Greg Abbott revealed Ramos went on social media to share his plan to attack his grandmother – who, though gravely injured, was able to alert the police.

He then messaged again to say his next target was a school, where he headed clad in body armour and wielding an AR-15 rifle.

Pressed on how the teen was able to obtain the weapon, the Texas governor repeatedly brushed aside suggestions tougher gun laws were needed in his state, where attachment to the right to bear arms runs deep.

“I consider this person to have been pure evil,” Mr Abbott said, articulating a position commonly held among US Republicans that unfettered access to weapons is not to blame for the country’s gun violence epidemic.

A law enforcement officer stands outside the Robb Elementary School where 19 children aged between seven and 10 were killed alongside two teachers. Picture: Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP

Abbott’s stance was echoed by the powerful NRA gun lobby, which issued a statement labelling the shooter as “a lone, deranged criminal”.

But the Governor was called out by a rival Democrat, who loudly interrupted the briefing to accuse him of deadly inaction.

“This is on you,” said Beto O’Rourke, a gun control advocate who is challenging Mr Abbott for his job come November.

“You are doing nothing!” he continued. “This is totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”

Mr O’Rourke’s interruption came a day after US President Joe Biden, in an emotional address to the nation, called on politicians to take on America’s powerful gun lobby and enact tougher laws.

“When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?” Mr Biden said. The President plans to soon visit the Texas scene of the shooting.

– with AFP