Haunting way body of Texas shooting victim, 10, was identified after family wrongly told he was ALIVE
A FOURTH grader who was killed during a school shooting in Texas was identified from the shirt he was wearing and a scar on his foot. Cops found Jose Flores, 10, dead – hours after his family claimed that officers mistakenly told them that he was alive. Flores was one of 19 students and two […]
A FOURTH grader who was killed during a school shooting in Texas was identified from the shirt he was wearing and a scar on his foot.
Cops found Jose Flores, 10, dead – hours after his family claimed that officers mistakenly told them that he was alive.
Flores was one of 19 students and two teachers killed in Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Hours before being shot dead, he had been pictured proudly holding a certificate that he had received at an awards ceremony.
The t-shirt he was wearing was used to identify the boy’s body after family members frantically searched for him.
Crews also noticed a scar on his left foot.
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Flores’ uncle Christopher Salazar said cops warned them not to see the body after he was found.
He told the Daily Beast: “We couldn’t hold him or hug him or nothing.
“They said it was too ugly. His body was supposedly torn to pieces. The only way they identified him was because of his clothes and a scar on his left foot.”
Salazar posted a series of snaps of Flores online and said: “I love you and I miss you.”
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In an interview with CNN, Flores’ dad Jose Sr said Rangers told him his son was “unrecognizable”.
Family members claimed authorities had initially told them that Flores was alive.
Salazar told the Daily Beast: “They finally told him (Flores’ dad). Look are you OK to hear what I have to tell you? No he did not make it.”
He alleged: “They lied to him. They wanted some family members to comfort him while they told him his son was gone already.”
Shooter Salvador Ramos, 18, was in the school for more than an hour before he was gunned down, police have said.
He entered the school through a door that was unlocked before going through a sliding door that connected an empty room to another classroom.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott revealed that 30 minutes before the school shooting unfolded, Ramos, posted: “I’m going to shoot my grandmother.”
In a follow-up post, he wrote: “I shot my grandmother,” according to Abbott.
Harrowing pictures have since emerged showing inside the blood-soaked home where Ramos shot his grandmother in the face.
Ramos then reportedly posted: “I’m going to shoot an elementary school.”
Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told NBC’s Today on Wednesday that all the victims were in the same fourth-grade classroom.
‘SHOOTING ANYONE IN HIS WAY’
Olivarez said the Ramos barricaded himself inside the classroom, “shooting anyone that was in his way.”
As the suspect shot at responding police officers, authorities were going around the campus, breaking windows and trying to evacuate children and staff.
They were then able to force entry into the classroom where the shooter was.
Ramos’ father Salvador told The Daily Beast: “I just want the people to know I’m sorry [for] what my son did.
“He should’ve just killed me, you know, instead of doing something like that to someone.”
Furious parents have claimed that cops took 90 minutes to stop the massacre as they considered storming the school themselves.
Jacinto Cazares, the dad to ten-year-old victim Jackie Cazares, rushed to the school after hearing about the shooting – but says when he arrived, officers had not entered the premises, reports ABC.
He said he told other witnesses: “Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to.”
Cazares believes “more could have been done” to save the innocent youngsters and their teachers.
He told the outlet: “There were at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing [until] it was far too late.”
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Another onlooker who lives across the street from the school said people were begging cops to storm the building as gunfire rang out.
Juan Carranza, 24, said women at the scene were shouting “go in there, go in there”, reports the New York Post.
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