Adriana MartÃnez, the mother of the shooter of the Uvalde school Salvador Ramos, speaks to the press on May 25. (Television)
The mother of the Uvalde school shooter, Salvador Ramos, said she was in a state of shock and apologized after her son shot dead 21 people Tuesday at a Texas elementary school.
“I have no words, I have no words to say, I don’t know what he was thinking. He had his reasons for doing what he did and please don’t judge him. I just want the innocent children who died to forgive me.” Adriana Martinez told Televisa, a CNN affiliate.
Martinez called Ramos “quiet.”
“He was very quiet. He was himself. He didn’t bother anyone, he didn’t do anything to anyone,” he told Televisa.
His grandfather told CNN on Thursday that he knows many of the families affected by the massacre.
“Some of them are friends of mine, and one day I’ll have to face them,” Rolando Reyes said.
Reyes’ wife was the first victim that day, shot in the face at home before Ramos drove to Robb Elementary School and killed 21 people.
A bullet pierced his wife’s jaw and upper cheek, Reyes said, and he will need major reconstructive surgery at a San Antonio hospital.
The shooter’s grandmother “did everything for him,” Reyes said, including cooking and picking him up late at work in a fast food restaurant, and she doesn’t understand why the 18-year-old would attack her.
Reyes is the father of Ramos’ mother, who has been crying so much since the shooting that one of her eyes is almost closed, he said.
CLOCK: The gunman’s mother speaks: “Forgive me, forgive my son”