Uvalde shooter’s grandmother released from hospital over a month after attack
Grandmother was gunman Salvador Ramos’s first victim on 24 May
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Texas gunman Salvador Ramos’s grandmother, who was shot in the face before the 18-year-old went on a killing spree at an elementary school in Uvalde, has been released from hospital after more than a month.
Ramos first shot his grandmother Celia “Sally” Martinez Gonzales before stealing the family truck and driving to Robb Elementary School, where he went on to kill 19 children and two teachers on 24 May. He was subsequently shot dead by law enforcement officers.
On Tuesday, University Health in San Antonio said a 66-year-old injured woman had been released, without naming the patient.
Officials added that the condition of a 10-year-old girl, the only remaining patient from the shooting, has been upgraded to “good”.
Last month, on the day of the shooting, Ms Gonzales called the police herself and was airlifted by a helicopter to San Antonio’s University Hospital.
The woman’s cousin Jason Ybarra had said that the bullet went into her “jaw just next to her mouth and shattered all her teeth”.
“If the bullet was an inch in another direction, it would have blown her head off,” he told The New York Post last month. Her family feared that she might never be able to talk again due to her injury.
Ramos had been staying with his grandparents for two to three months prior to the shooting.
According to Rolando Reyes, the gunman’s grandfather, Ramos and his grandmother got into a minor argument about a phone bill on the dreadful day. Ramos reportedly waited for his grandfather to leave the house before shooting his grandmother.
“There’s blood all over,” Mr Reyes said, as video footage from inside their house showed visible blood strains on the walls.
Ms Gonzales, who used to work as a teacher’s aide at the elementary school, tried to get rid of Ramos’s gun just days before he went on a shooting spree.
Neighbour Rudy Martinez told The Daily Beast that he heard yelling coming from the home of Ms Gonzales back on the morning of 19 May. Officials previously revealed that Ramos legally bought a semi-automatic weapon on 17 May – just one day after his 18th birthday.