Uvalde Shooter's Parents Speak Out About Their Son's Heinous Crimes: "He Should've Just Killed Me"

Since then, the nation has been shaken to its core and forced to have conversations about gun violence, mental health, and school security. There are more reports coming out about the 18-year-old shooter, Salvador Ramos. Locals say he was a lonely teenager who refused to spend time with his co-workers and was hyper-focused on video games.

Sadly, Ramos also had a dysfunctional family life. His parents split up a long time ago, and he lived with his mother, with whom he routinely argued and fought. People who played video games with him online could hear him yelling back and forth with his mother through his microphone. Sometimes things got so bad at home that he went to go live with his grandmother, and that's where he was staying when he left for Robb Elementary School. Each of Ramos' parents have recently spoken out about their son's heinous actions.

Salvador Ramos' Mother Asks for Forgiveness

Adriana Martinez, 39, is the mother of Ramos and she recently granted CNN an interview in which she responded to her son's horrific actions. She spoke in Spanish and CNN translated her words into English.

"I have no words. I don't know what he was thinking," she said through tears. "He had his reasons for doing what he did and please don't judge him."

"I only want the innocent children who died to forgive me. Forgive me, forgive my son. I know he had his reasons," she continued. When the interviewer asked what those reasons were, she responded, "To get closer to those children instead of paying attention to the other bad things. I have no words. I don't know."

Martinez's boyfriend, Manuel Alvarez, spoke to the Daily Mail and said he "never expected him to do what he did." Ramos was always "quiet and kept to himself most of the time," but he only had "a handful of conversations with him" so he didn't know him that well. He said that the 18-year-old would often stay isolated in his bedroom and continuously punch a punching bag all by himself.

"Salvador was a loner," Alvarez said. "He didn't have many friends."

Just two months ago, Ramos and his mother got into a fight about some sort of issue involving wi-fi, and that's when Ramos packed his things and moved in with his grandmother, Celia Gonzalez. Right before he went on a shooting spree, Ramos shot his Gonzalez in the face; she is in currently in the hospital preparing to undergo surgery and Martinez says she will likely live.

Ramos was known to argue with his grandmother as well, and the most recent issue was about a cellphone bill. A neighbor also told a local news channel that Ramos would argue with his grandmother about being angry that he didn't graduate from high school.

Salvador Ramos' Father "Never Expected" Him To Commit Such a Crime

Salvador Ramos' father, who shares the same name, expressed shock that his son would commit such a crime. He told the Daily Beast that his son was "a good person" who kept to himself, and he had no idea why he would choose to be this violent. However, he did admit that he noticed his son using a pair of boxing gloves much more often.

“I said, ‘Mijo, one day somebody’s going to kick your ass,’” Ramos, 42, recalled. “I started seeing different changes in him like that.” But still, he couldn't imagine that he would take up a gun and kill so many innocent people.

“I never expected my son to do something like that,” Ramos said. “He should’ve just killed me, you know, instead of doing something like that to someone... I just want the people to know I’m sorry, man, [for] what my son did.”

As much as he feels sorry for the horrific acts his son committed, Ramos is still grieving the loss of his son. "They killed my baby, man," he lamented. "I’m never gonna see my son again, just like they’re not gonna see their kids. And that hurts me."

Ramos Sr. claims that his son had a difficult relationship with his mother, and sadly he hadn't seen much of his son either lately because of the pandemic, his unemployment status, and the fact that he lived outside of Uvalde. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, he says Ramos Jr. grew very frustrated with the lockdowns, especially the fact that Ramos Sr. was trying to isolate himself from others in order to protect his mother who is battling cancer. The father and son haven't seen each other in over a month; additionally, Ramos Jr.'s sister refused to speak to their father due to his absence from the family.

“My daughter, I guess, changed her life, she went to the Navy,” Ramos said. “I wish my son would have gone and changed his life."

Ramos Sr. puts some blame on the boy's mother, Martinez, because she didn't provide for him well enough. He was already bullied at school for his speech impediment and the bullying only increased because he wore the same jeans to school every day.

Unfortunately, Ramos Sr. has a criminal record of his own, including being convicted of assaulting and causing bodily harm to a family member.

“I don’t want them calling him a monster... they don’t know nothing, man,” he added. “They don’t know anything he was going through.”

Ramos wants his son's story to be known and that's why he decided to be interviewed by the press.