The footage shows officers in the school hallway for almost 80 minutes
Fresh details have emerged about the police officer seen on CCTV footage checking his phone during the Uvalde school shooting that claimed 21 lives.
The officer appeared to be transfixed with his phone as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos went on a shooting spree at Robb Elementary on May 24. After the footage – which included shots of another officer sanitising his hands in the school hallway – circulated Wednesday, many people pointed out how the cop had the Punisher logo on his lock screen.
Some pointed out the irony of a police officer supporting the defiant Marvel vigilante even though he was seemingly doing nothing to stop Ramos from gunning down children and teachers.
Podcast host Albert Jaragua Corado wrote on social media: “That cop in Uvalde having his lock screen be the punisher logo and him being scared to take on an active shooter is truly the perfect encapsulation of how cops see themselves vs who they really are.”
It has since transpired that the officer, named as Ruben Ruiz, was not simply checking his phone to pass the time, his wife, Eva Mireles, was one of the two adult victims.
KBTX reports Mireles called Ruiz to reveal she had been shot by and was slowly bleeding out in one of the classrooms.
One of the men involved in the investigation into the police response made the revelation in an attempt to stop the social media pile on of Ruiz.
Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat and member of the Texas House of Representatives committee, said “context matters” when viewing the survillance video.
I’d not planned to speak publicly until the report was released, but I couldn’t say nothing seeing this man, who’s lost everything, maligned as if he was indifferent or actively malicious. Context matters. 2/2
— Joe Moody (@moodyforelpaso) July 13, 2022
“I couldn’t say nothing seeing this man, who’s lost everything, maligned as if he was indifferent or actively malicious,” he said on Twitter.
“To those who haven’t bothered to read even the news that’s been reported in your rush to judgment, he attempted to engage but was removed from the building and disarmed.
“We’ll have much to say about the police response, but no criticism of this officer.”
Mireles was still alive by the time the school shooting was over, however she later died on the way to the hospital, according to KBTX.
The leaked video showing what happened inside the school before law enforcement officers entered the classroom.
Police have conceded they made the “wrong decision” by not storming into the classrooms where Ramos was much sooner.
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
