Texas Gunman Bullied In School, Had 'Pretty Rough Life' With Mother: Salvador Rolando Ramos' Friends

As authorities try to piece together Tuesday's shooting at a school in Texas, a report details the shooter's mental state and the conditions he grew up in. The lonely 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos attacked the Robb Elementary School near his home in Uvalde killing at least 21 people.

Friends and relatives of Ramos have spoken to the media saying the teenager was bullied as a child over his speech impediment. He also suffered from fraught home life and lashed out violently at peers over the years, the Washington Post reported.

Before going on a shooting rampage, Ramos shot and critically wounded his grandmother using weapons he purchased this month. The shooter, who was fatally shot by police, was wearing body armor and carried a rifle, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Santos Valdez jr, 18, who knew Ramos since elementary school, detailed the troubles his "friend" faced growing up. Valdez jr also said that Ramos, who was known to be "the most shyest kid," was targeted by his peers – something that changed him. Recalling a terrifying incident, Valdez jr said that he had once seen Ramos with cuts all over his face. When asked how it happened, he first said a cat scratched his face.

“Then he told me the truth, that he’d cut up his face with knives over and over and over,” Valdez said. “I was like, ‘You’re crazy, bro, why would you do that?’”

During Ramos' time in middle school and junior high, he was bullied for having a stutter and a strong lisp.

“He would get bullied hard, like bullied by a lot of people,” Garcia said. “Over social media, over gaming, over everything," Stephen Garcia, who considered himself Ramos’s best friend in eighth grade, said. “He was the nicest kid, the most shyest kid. He just needed to break out of his shell.”

Last year, he posted a picture of automatic rifles on social media that “he would have on his wish list,” Valdez said. Four days ago, he posted images of two rifles he referred to as “my gun pics.”

Just two months back, Ramos posted an Instagram story in which he screamed at his mother, who he said was trying to kick him out of their home, said Nadia Reyes, a high school classmate.

“He posted videos on his Instagram where the cops were there and he’d call his mom a b---- and say she wanted to kick him out,” Reyes said. “He’d be screaming and talking to his mom really aggressively.” Meanwhile, a neighbor identified as Ruben Flores, 41, said Ramos, had “a pretty rough life with his mom”.

Reyes also said that she could recall about five times when he had fistfights with peers in middle school and junior high. “He would take things too far, say something that wouldn’t be said, and then he would go into defense mode about it,” Reyes said.

According to some reports, Ramos had messaged an Instagram user right before the brutal massacre. The girl, who has not been identified, shared the screenshots of the messages she believes were from Ramos.

Ramos randomly messaged the girl, tagging her in a photo of guns on May 12. She wrote back to him, "What your guns gotta do with me?"

"Just wanted to tag you," Ramos replied. He continues to tell her to be "grateful that I tagged you." However, another message appeared on the girl's DM Tuesday hours before the shooting, where he wrote: "I'm about to." She replied "about to what" to which he answered: 'I'll tell you before 11." Reports suggest Ramos stormed the school around 11.32 am.

"I got lil secret. I wanna tell you," he wrote Tuesday morning, leading to more messages between the duo.