The shooters behind the recent mass tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde had a reported history of abusing animals, new reports show — adding to growing research documenting that cruelty against animals should be taken seriously and also be considered a possible precursor to acts of violence against humans.
The 18-year-old shooters allegedly responsible for the abominable mass shootings, in which dozens of innocent children and adults were killed or injured, may have had histories of killing and abusing cats and possibly other animals, ABC News reported.
Users of the social media platform Yubo told ABC News that Salvador Ramos, the alleged mass killer of children in Uvalde, Texas, who also reportedly shot his grandmother in the face before leaving the house, would live broadcast acts of animal cruelty and boast about them.
Ramos would “put cats in plastic bags, suspend them inside, throw them at the ground and throw them at people’s houses,” one Yubo user told ABC News. The source added that Ramos “would display these videos while laughing and boasting about how him and his friends did it ‘all the time.'”
Video also has surfaced of Ramos holding up a blood-soaked bag containing dead cats, according to the NY Post.
Payton Gendron, who is accused of killing 10 Black people in a grocery store in Buffalo, allegedly posted online a document in which he described killing a cat, according to ABC News. Gendron alleged that his mother gave him a box to bury the cat he said he killed.
We at LFT share the grief felt by so many people around the world that these shooting sprees caused, and our hearts go out to the victims of these tragic crimes and their families.
People must take act every single act of cruelty against animals seriously. Doing so will not only send a strong message to animal abusers and prevent suffering for animals, but could also help prevent terrible crimes like these mass shootings in the future.