Gunman Sent Message: 'Going to Shoot Elementary School'

The 18-year-old gunman who murdered 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday did so with guns purchased just days prior. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said a semiautomatic rifle was purchased May 17 at a local sporting goods store, with 375 rounds of ammunition for it purchased the following day. On May 20, just four days before the shooting, the gunman purchased another semiautomatic rifle at the same local store.

In a Wednesday news conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also revealed that the gunman posted a series of Facebook messages about 30 minutes before arriving at the school, though they were apparently sent via Facebook Messenger and not seen until after the shooting occurred, per a tweet from BuzzFeed reporter Ellie Hall. Facebook's Andy Stone backed that up in a tweet, writing: "The messages Gov. Abbott described were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred. We are closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation." CNN reports Abbott quoted the messages as reading:

• "I'm going to shoot my grandmother."
• "I shot my grandmother."
• "I'm going to shoot an elementary school."

(Beto O'Rourke dramatically interrupted the press conference to confront Abbott on gun control.)