Shooter warning signs get lost in sea of social media posts

The photo of Makenna Lee Elrod, a little girl victim of the shooting, is seen by flowers placed on a makeshift memorial in front of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022. — AFP

WASHINGTON: The warning signs were there for anyone to stumble upon, days before the 18-year-old gunman entered a Texas elementary school on May 24, slaughtering 19 children and two teachers.

There was the Instagram photo of a hand holding a gun magazine, a TikTok profile that warned, “Kids be scared”, and the image of two AR-style semi-automatic rifles displayed on a rug, pinned to the top of the killer’s Instagram profile.