Photos of weapons or dead animals, threats of rape: although unknown to the police, Salvador Ramos, the killer of Uvalde, actively used various social networks before taking action.
The Uvalde attack, which occurred on May 24 in a Texas elementary school, was one of the deadliest killings in the country since the beginning of 2022. Its author, Salvador Ramos, 18, has killed 21 people, including 19 children, as well as many injured. Unknown to the police, the young man, who was shot dead by the police, did not go unnoticed on social networks and dating applications.
According to testimonies collected by the American daily The Washington Postseveral young women claim to have discussed with the perpetrator, in particular on Yubo, a French online dating platform for young people, quite popular in the United States.
« It was recurring »
Four young women who spoke with the American media reported threats of sexual assault or violence, hate speech or even references to weapon attacks during their conversations with Ramos.
The latter first challenged them on Yubo, then exchanged with them on other social networks, such as Instagram or Messenger, via private messaging.
« I saw him harassing girls and threatening them with sexual assault, rape or kidnapping. It was not punctual, it was recurrent », testified a young man of 16 years with the washington post.
In private, the messages took a darker turn: photos of dead animals, assault weapons, threats of rape or even reference to mass killings are among the examples cited by witnesses.
Ten days before the assault on the elementary school, Salvador Ramos posted the following message: « ten more days », indicates the governor of Texas Greg Abbott. According to the politician, a netizen asked Ramos « Are you going to attack a primary school? » Question to which he replied « No, stop asking stupid questions. You’ll see ».
Between disbelief and resignation
« He was threatening everyone. He was talking about killings in primary schools, but no one believed him, no one thought he would really do it, » also says a young girl at the washington post.
Despite the alerts, the young women who reported the Internet user are few. According to the analysis of Danielle K. Citron, professor of law at the University of Virginia quoted by the Washington Post, young women tend not to report threats of sexual assault and violence, due to the fact that they have internalized not being safe online.
« That’s just how it goes on the internet », regretted one of them, questioned by the daily.
A young woman who reported her behavior to Yubo also told the Post that had no consequences.
This phenomenon was documented in early April by the Center Against Online Hate, indicating that 90% of online abusers reported by young women were not worried by the platforms – Instagram, in this particular case.
Far from being just a matter of reports by these young women, this situation once again raises the problem of insufficient moderation on social networks, often leading users to assume that no action will be taken.
A Yubo spokeswoman, interviewed by the washington post, said the company was unable to confirm any reports made on the platform. « Due to the investigation currently underway, and because this information relates to a specific user, we are not legally authorized to reveal this information, » she says.