Uvalde school shooter Salvador Ramos’ body was stored in a morgue far from the city for almost a month as funeral homes refused to take him.
Ramos, 18, entered an elementary school and massacred 19 children and two teachers before he was eventually shot dead by police on May 24.
After first shooting his grandmother at her house, he went to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and carried out the killings -the second worst US school shooting after Sandy Hook almost a decade ago.
Since then Uvalde has been in mourning for those killed amid growing anger about why the police took so long to tackle the shooter.
While the two funeral homes in Uvalde have been busy with arrangements for the families of the dead from the school shooting, they didn’t want Ramos’ body.
Neither Rushing-Estes-Knowles or Hillcrest Memorial funeral homes wanted the notoriety of taking care of Ramos’ remains.
“Once they got to him, the funeral homes in town said, ‘We don’t want to deal with him,’” said Uvalde County Justice of the Peace Eulalio Diaz Jr, who also serves as Uvalde County’s de facto coroner, reported San Antonio Express-News.
“I had to store him for three weeks. As the funerals for the victims were going on, I was still dealing with what to do with him. It was a stressful time.”
The Bexar County medical examiner carried out an autopsy on Ramos’ body May 27, three days after he was shot and killed by law enforcement officers.
Taylor Michelle Massey, of Rushing-Estes-Knowles, said the mortuary turned down Ramos' body out of respect to his victims.
“All of our staff grew up in Uvalde County and attended school in Uvalde County and believe that everyone deserves a dignified and respectful funeral service,” Ms Massey said.
“However, in the weeks following the shootings of May 24, we were caring for 17 families ... through what is probably the most difficult time in their lives.
“Under the circumstance, we did not feel it would be appropriate or in the best interest of the families for which we were caring to take custody of the remains of the individual that caused their pain.”
His body was stored at a morgue in Lockhart, a two-and-half hour drive from Uvalde before finally a funeral home away from Uvalde agreed to handle his remains - and he could be released to his family.
“It took three, three and a half weeks to get him released to the family,” Diaz said. “They were fighting with each other.”
Ramos was then cremated at a building at South Frio in the west of San Antonio, reads his death report.
