Uvalde gunman’s father Salvador Ramos expresses regret at school shooting

The father of the 18-year-old gunman who killed 21 people at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas this week wants the world to know he’s sorry.

In an interview with The Daily Beast on Thursday, Salvador Ramos said: “I just want people to know I’m sorry man. [for] what my son did.”

“I never expected my son to do something like that,” added Ramos, 42. “He should have just killed me, you know, instead of doing that to someone.”

His son, also named Salvador, shot his grandmother in the face on Tuesday and drove away in her car before driving the truck into a ditch outside Robb Elementary School and opening fire on a fourth grade classroom. The teenager was shot dead at the scene.

It was the deadliest school shooting in the United States in nearly a decade.

The younger Ramos reportedly had a bad relationship with his mother and dropped out of high school before graduating that year. His father admitted he hasn’t spent much time with him lately because he’s been busy outside of Uvalde – digging holes around electricity poles for inspection – and because of the pandemic.

His own mother had cancer, Ramos said, and he couldn’t risk being exposed to the coronavirus. He added that about a month ago his son became frustrated with the COVID precautions and refused to speak to him.

Ramos hasn’t seen him since.

“I will never see my son again,” he said.

The Daily Beast spoke to Ramos on the porch of his girlfriend’s house east of Uvalde, where he has lived for several years. The house and bushes outside were decorated with blue and white streamers for a graduate.

Despite the horrific carnage he caused on Tuesday, Ramos insisted his son was “a good person”. Former colleagues and neighbors have told a different story, describing Ramos as aggressive and worse.

“He dropped out because he said they bullied him at school because of his clothes,” he said. “He was a quiet person who kept to himself. He didn’t bother anyone. People always bothered him.”

– with reports by Emily Shugerman and William Bredderman