Texas gunman was arrested four year ago after telling people he planned to ‘shoot up a school once he’s a senior in 2022’ – Republican Tony Gonzalez claims

Republican, Tony Gonzalez disclosed on Friday, May 27, that Salvador Ramos, the gunman behind the Uvalde shooting, was one of two teenagers arrested four years ago after planning to shoot up a school in the town.

Gonzalez made the claims on FOX News on Friday morning, saying: ‘This wasn’t hearsay. I got this late last night: the shooter was arrested years ago, four years ago, for having this plan for basically saying, for saying, you know, when I’m a senior in 2022, I am going to shoot up a school.’

‘Something fell between the cracks between then and now to allow this to happen. We need to shake out all the facts.’

According to Mail Online, two ‘Columbine-infatuated’ teenage boys were arrested for threatening to shoot up a school but because they were juveniles, their identities were not confirmed at the time.

While Gonzales says it was Ramos, FOX reporter Bill Melugin reports that Uvalde police have denied it he was involved.

He tweeted: ‘Texas DPS & Texas Rangers tell me this is incorrect. There were two juveniles arrested on conspiracy charges for a shooting plot several years back, but the Uvalde shooter was not involved in that incident and was not arrested.’

Law enforcement and Texas Governor Greg Abbott are yet to comment on the arrest but a press briefing has been scheduled for noon EST.

At the time of the 2018 incident, the school spokesperson said in a press release: ‘One of our Morales Junior High students was experiencing a crisis. Upon rendering aid and support, the student revealed a future plan to conduct a school shooting in the year of 2022.’

Uvalde Police Chief Daniel Rodriguez said in a press release at the time that a Morales Junior High School student age 14 and a former Morales student, 13, were ‘infatuated with the Columbine High School shootings’ and had a list of fellow students they planned to kill in a ‘mass casualty event’.

The investigation revealed that the students were infatuated with the Columbine High School shootings and identified themselves to the shooters,’ Rodriguez said in the 2014 press release. ‘The investigation uncovered that the students even referred to themselves using the Columbine shooter’s names.

‘One of the students had numerous writings and drawings which depicted weapons capable of causing mass destruction. He wrote about being “God-like” and killing police and other persons. He had an academic analysis of one of the Columbine shooter’s journals.’

‘The investigation revealed that the students were infatuated with the Columbine High School shootings and identified themselves to the shooters,’ Rodriguez said in the 2014 press release. ‘The investigation uncovered that the students even referred to themselves using the Columbine shooter’s names.

‘One of the students had numerous writings and drawings which depicted weapons capable of causing mass destruction. He wrote about being “God-like” and killing police and other persons. He had an academic analysis of one of the Columbine shooter’s journals.’

The two boys planned on detonating homemade bombs before killing their fellow students ‘ranked by priority’.

According to reports at the time, one of the boys confessed their plan to school staff, who had them evaluated by mental health professionals on April 19 2018 and contacted cops. A week later they were arrested for Conspiracy to Commit Murder and taken to a juvenile detention center in Del Rio.

Ramos, who turned 18 on May 16, would have been 13 years old at the time of his alleged arrest. As juvenile criminal records are sealed, it is unclear whether the boys were convicted of the murder conspiracy charges.

It is also unclear how Ramos as a freshly-turned 18-year-old was able to legally buy two AR-15s and hundreds of rounds of ammunition just days from the date authorities knew he had planned to shoot up a school.

A KHOU11 report from the 2018 incident said the older of the pair was ‘released on April 23 [2018] to his mother’s care’. Ramos had a fractious relationship with his mother who reportedly was a drug addict he and was living with his grandparents when he committed the shooting.

An unnamed student told KHOU11 at the time: ‘Any kids that had talked bad about them or said anything they did not like, basically, they said they were going to go and kill them. ‘You just felt unsafe. And teachers have been bringing it to our attention that you can’t be saying those things anymore. We can’t do that. It is wrong,’ the student added.

‘It was scary. We hear it everywhere else, but you don’t expect for it to happen in your town,” one parent said. “I am glad they were able to control the situation before anything does happen. And that they actually did something about it. Sometimes you think they’re just going to hear it, and say it won’t happen and dust it under the rug, and they actually did something.’

The Uvalde Leader-News reported that Texas Ranger Ryan Kindell was ‘collecting and analyzing additional evidence’ after the 2018 arrests.