The mother of the 18-year-old gunman who carried out a mass shooting last week at a Texas elementary school has spoken out.
“I have no words. I have no words to say,” said Adriana Martinez to CNN affiliate Televisa. “I don’t know what he was thinking. He had his reasons for doing what he did.”
Her son, Salvador Ramos, opened fire on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, killing 19 children and two teachers. Several more others were injured, including his grandmother.
Ramos was eventually shot and killed at the school by law enforcement.
A tearful Martinez said she did not want people to judge her son for his actions and for the victims to forgive her.
“Please don’t judge him,” she said. “I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me.”
As more details unfold, the authorities are trying to piece together the motive for the shooting, but Martinez insists her son had his reasons.
“Forgive me, forgive my son,” she said. “I know he had his reasons.”
Martinez added that she believed Ramos wanted “To get closer to those children, instead of paying attention to the bad things. I have no words. I don’t know.”
According to Ramos’ maternal grandfather, the 18-year-old lived with his grandparents because he “had problems” with his mother.
In a separate interview with The Daily Beast, Ramos’ father spoke out regarding his son’s actions.
“I just want the people to know I’m sorry, man, [for] what my son did,” said the elder Salvador Ramos, 42.
“I want my son’s story out there,” he added. “I don’t want them calling him a monster… they don’t know nothing, man. They don’t know anything he was going through.”
The father explained he was not as present in the teenager’s life due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused him to lose contact with the younger Ramos.
He also said that his son was bullied because of the old clothes he was wearing, prompting the boy to drop out of high school and that the teen had issues with his grandmother.
