Facebook rejects Abbott allegation about Texas shooter’s posts

Facebook is denying Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) allegation that the gunman who killed 21 people, including 19 children, at a Texas elementary school on Tuesday posted publicly about the attack on its platform.

Abbott said during a press conference Wednesday that the gunman, Salvador Ramos, posted three times before the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

“There was no meaningful forewarning of this crime other than what I’m about to tell you,” Abbott said. 

“As of this time, the only information that was known in advance was posted by the gunman on Facebook approximately 30 minutes before reaching the school,” he continued. “The first post was to the point of he said ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother.’ The second post was ‘I shot my grandmother.’ The third post, maybe less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school, was ‘I’m going to shoot an elementary school.’”

Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone said shortly after those comments that the messages described by the governor were “private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred.”

”We are closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation,” he added.

A spokesperson for Abbott’s office directed inquires to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which did not immediately respond to request to clarify the allegation.

A Facebook account associated with Ramos has not been publicly identified by the platform or online researchers, although one on Instagram has.

Stone did not immediately respond to questions about what was publicly posted on the profile that sent the posts or messages identified by Abbott.

Updated at 2:55 p.m.