No local funeral home would take his body
The body of Uvalde shooter Salvador Ramos was left in the morgue for almost a month after local funeral homes refused to accept him.
The 18-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24th in what sparked another wider conversation surrounding gun control. Following the horrific attack, both the Rushing-Estes-Knowles and Hillcrest Memorial funeral homes were backed up with the bodies of the victims.
Also, they didn’t want people to know they had accepted Ramos’ body.
He was ultimately cremated 83 miles away in San Antonio, almost a month after he died.
“All of our staff grew up in Uvalde County and attended school in Uvalde County and believe that everyone deserves a dignified and respectful funeral service,” said Taylor Michelle Massey, managing funeral director at Rushing-Estes-Knowles, told the Houston Chronicle. “However, in the weeks following the shootings of May 24th, we were caring for 17 families through what is probably the most difficult time in their lives.”
She added: “Under the circumstance, we did not feel it would be appropriate or in the best interest of the families for which we were caring to take custody of the remains of the individual that caused their pain.”
Uvalde County justice of the peace and de factor coroner Eulalio ‘Lalo’ Diaz Jr told the paper that an autopsy was performed on May 27th.
“Once they got to him, the funeral homes in town said, ‘We don’t want to deal with him,” he explained.
Diaz scrambled to find a morgue that would take Ramos’ body and eventually reached an agreement with a facility in Lockhart, some 165 miles away.
“I had to store him for three weeks,” Diaz added. “As the funerals for the victims were going on, I was still dealing with what to do with him. It was a stressful time.”
Diaz has now confirmed that it could take up to a year for a full autopsy report on Ramos and the 21 victims.
Related links:
- Video of Texas school shooting shows cop sanitising his hands as gunman killed 21
- More than 700 people shot dead in the US since the Texas school shooting
- The school children killed in Texas shooting will be buried in unique caskets free of charge
- Anonymous donor gives $175k to pay for Texas school shooting funerals
- Heartbreaking reason cop at school shooting was looking at phone while gunman killed 21
