residents of uvalde, texas, are holding vigils for the 19 children and two teachers gunned down inside robb elementary school by an 18-year-old high school dropout. and people are leaving flowers and balloons at a makeshift memorial outside the school in the largely latino community not far from the border with mexico. and we are learning the names of some of the victims, mostly 9 and 10-year-old children. the justice of the peace in uvalde says some of the bodies are being released to funeral homes as families make their arrangements. more now on the investigation from cnn s jason carol. reporter: 11:21 a.m., the time stamp from a text message the gunman sent saying he s just shot his grandmother. the gunman was 18 years old and reportedly a high school dropout. reportedly there has been no criminal history identified yet. there was no known mental health history of the gunman. reporter: soon after that text message to a girl ramos met online, another one saying he w
overnight, the cross. one for each of the 19 children and two teachers who died here. this was the digital community last night. everyone came together. you can see the pain and the tears, which really does feel like a small town, 15,000 people. it s hard to find anyone that does not have a direct connection to one of the victims. she was 10-years-old. she want wanted go to disney world. maria bravo is remembered for a young girl who put a smile on everyone s face. we are telling their stories this morning. a 4th grade teacher who sacrificed herself trying to protect the children. a grieving father who find out his daughter died trying to save her classmates. we told yesterday then of the bodies were turned over to the families of the funeral homs. the rest will be turned over this morning so that the families can make arrangements. we do have if you details about how the mass shooting up f unfolded. the 18-year-old was on school grounds for up to an hour. moments before
the department of public safety that he drives into a ditch. this is after the shooting where the grandmother is shot. sometime after that he s in this incident where the car ends up in a ditch, and then somehow manages to get past the shootout with law enforcement there to get into the school and kills these 19 kids. so that s what we know at this point. we don t know very much about the motivation. we know from law enforcement that that is focus right now, talking to people who are in touch with him on some of the social media. we heard now from some people who were in touch with him who talked about him being a quiet person, a loner, so to speak, and he was able to purchase these firearms legally. that s now the focus of federal law enforcement to try to support the work there of the local authorities that are doing this investigation. we re learning about the shooter. according to a classmate, he had been bullied, that he worked at a local fast food place. what else are
latino. a texas lawmaker says ramos legally purchased the two rifles used in the shooting from a federally authorized dealer on his 18th birthday. just three days earlier a photo of two ar-15-style rifles was posted on an instagram account linked to the gunman. the massacre is the deadliest at a u.s. elementary school since 20 children and six adults were killed in the 2012 sandy hook shooting in newtown, connecticut. u.s. president joe biden says it is time for americans and lawmakers to stand up to the gun lobby and pass common sense regulations. why are we willing to live with this carnage? why do we keep letting this happen? where in god s name is our backbone? the president is just back from a trip to asia. he ordered flags at the white house and other public buildings lowered to half staff. well, parents waited late into the night at a civic center on tuesday hoping to be reunited with their children. cnn s ed lavandera in texas with more. reporter: late into the
uvalde is about 50 miles from the southern u.s. border. police believe the 18-year-old gunman salvador romas acted alone. he was shot dead by officers and that is the last time that you will hear his name this hour. officials say he had attended the high school there, uvalde high school. we know the fourth grade teacher eva morale less, her death confirmed by her aunt. and the suspect s grandmother, police believe he shot her before headed to the school. she is now hospitalized in critical condition. and the suspect crashed his truck in a ditch near the school before trying to enter the building. law enforcement confronted the suspect but he was able to get inside anywhere where officials say he entered several classrooms and started shooting. border patrol agents were among those who responded. at least one was wounded by gunfire from the shooter. just three days before the shooting, a photo of who ar-15 style rifles appeared on his instagram account, or at least an accoun