Uvalde school shooter’s phone collected as evidence
21 crosses stand along the Main Street in Uvalde, Texas, Wednesday, June 1, 2022, to honor the victims killed in last week’s elementary school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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UVALDE, Texas (KXAN) – The phone of Salvador Rolando Ramos, the gunman who opened fire at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, was turned in as evidence after a search warrant was issued for a forensic download.
The search warrant was issued May 24 by the state of Texas and Uvalde County for Ramos’ phone, identified as an iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Law enforcement said it would look at the data of the phone, which includes photographic data, digital images, text messages, video, voice messages and other elements. They are searching for any clues as to why Ramos carried out last week’s fatal shooting of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. A judge granted permission to analyze text messages, photos, videos and other “stored communications” on the phone.
The warrant was ordered to be executed within three days of being issued, but it was executed within the same day. Both the request for the warrant and the warrant itself were written May 24.
On the day of the shooting, a Robb Elementary staff member saw Ramos crash his speeding truck into a ditch in front of the school. According to the search warrant affidavit, two witnesses saw Ramos after the vehicle wreck, dressed “completely in black with long shoulder-length black hair,” holding a long rifle. He then began to load the rifle with a magazine. Ramos “began to fire multiple gunshots in their direction” at a funeral home before he approached the school and started shooting toward the buildings, according to the affidavit. Law enforcement found multiple injured and dead students “throughout the hallways and classrooms.”
The phone was found next to Ramos’ body.
In an affidavit for the search warrant, the Texas Rangers requested Ramos’ iPhone 13 Pro Max be turned in as evidence for a forensic download of the data stored on the SIM card, internal memory and other data.
The cellphone would be put in the charge of and controlled by the Texas Department of Public Safety-Texas Ranger Division and a Federal Bureau of Investigations Forensic Analyst.
The search warrant affidavit listed as a reason for the evidence request that cellphones are often used by individuals who are involved in illegal activity.
