Was Salvador Ramos, the Texas school shooter, transgender? No, there's no evidence that's true: A post saying he was offers nothing to substantiate the claim. It's likely related to other claims that falsely identify Ramos in photographs of a person wearing a skirt and holding a transgender pride flag. Lead Stories has previously debunked claims about the photographs.
The transgender claim appeared in a Facebook post on May 24, 2022. It reads:
This is Salvador Ramos. The 18yr old that just shot up the elementary school in Texas. Bet the news stops covering it soon because a Hispanic Transgender taking 18 kids lives from 2-4th grade and 1 teacher doesn't fit their agenda
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed May 25 17:00:37 2022 UTC)
The post provided no sourcing to substantiate the claim and Lead Stories found no evidence that Ramos was transgender.
The Washington Post spoke to Stephen Garcia, who said he was Ramos' best friend in eighth grade. Garcia said Ramos posted a picture of himself wearing black eyeliner once and was bullied using a derogatory term for a gay person. Ramos also grew out his hair. Having long hair and wearing eyeliner does not mean that someone identifies as transgender.
The claim that Ramos was transgender is likely related to other claims that falsely identify him in photographs of a person wearing a skirt and holding a transgender pride flag. Lead Stories has previously debunked claims about the photos, as can be seen here. The photos show a Reddit user, identified as Apprehensive_Ad_995, who has posted since the shooting, writing, clearly: "it's not me."
At least 19 children and two adults were killed in the May 24, 2022, attack in Uvalde, Texas. Ramos, the gunman, also died.
