Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales Walks Back Claims Texas Mass Shooter Had Previous Mass Shooting Plans

Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales walks back his claims that the Robb Elementary school mass shooter was previously arrested.

On Friday, Gonzales claimed mass shooter Salvador Ramos previously told people that he was going to orchestrate a school shooting once he turned 18, The New York Post reports. 

“The shooter was arrested years ago, four years ago, for having this plan for basically saying, you know, when I’m a senior in 2022, I am going to shoot up a school,” said Gonzales during a Fox News segment. “Something fell between the cracks between then and now to allow this to happen. We need to shake out all the facts. We need to figure out what happened,” he went on.

However, he’s now taking his words back after a law enforcement official denied the claim, saying it was “unclear” if the teen actually did try to plan a murder. In a tweet, Gonzales said there were actually two teens who were planning a mass shooting in 2018 but Ramos was not one of them. The teens were arrested on conspiracy charges, reports The New York Post.

During a press conference this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos might have had a record. “He may have had a juvenile record, but that is yet to be determined,” said Abbott.