:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/grupoclarin/6QRRE7GX2VCB7KVYFDNZHOCKJQ.jpg "They arrest a cousin of the author of the massacre in the Uvalde school")
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A cousin of the man responsible for the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has been arrested after his family told police he was trying to buy a gun and “do the same,” according to court documents. .
San Antonio police arrested the 17-year-old cousin Monday on charges of threatening a public place and a family member. He was being held at the Bexar County Jail on Tuesday on $160,000 bond, according to jail records.
According to police and court documents, the teen is the cousin of Salvador Ramos, the 18-year-old Uvalde resident who authorities say fatally shot 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in May 2022. Police he waited over an hour to confront and kill Ramos.
The charges against the cousin stem from his mother calling the police to say she was also threatening to open fire at a school and had said she would shoot her sister. The San Antonio Express-News reports that her mother also told officers that she heard him on the phone trying to get a rifle.
When interviewed by detectives, the cousin denied making any threats, according to court records. The Bexar County Public Defender’s Office, which represents him, declined to comment.
Following the Uvalde massacre, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rejected calls to toughen gun laws, just as he did after the mass shootings at a Sutherland Springs church in 2017 and an El Paso Walmart in 2018. .
More than a year after the murders, the state criminal investigation into the faltering police response to the deadliest shooting at a Texas school remains ongoing.