German teenager prosecuted over Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde

A 15-year-old girl who video-chatted with gunman Salvador Ramos minutes before he massacred 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School has been prosecuted for not warning authorities. 

The girl recently faced trial in Frankfurt, Germany, and was found guilty of "failing to report planned crimes," a court representative confirmed Wednesday. The teen, who was in her native Germany at the time of the shooting, was issued a warning and required to undergo "educational measures," the person said, declining further comment.

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U.S. sources told the Express-News last year that the FBI and federal prosecutors had subpoenaed the owners of social-media platforms that Ramos used, and that they were investigating leads related to teens Ramos contacted before the mass shooting a year ago. 

The sources also said U.S. investigators were working with German authorities, who had told them that the teenager had been charged. The German courts, however, would not confirm that the girl had been charged until this week.

In Germany, as in the United States, juvenile proceedings are not open to the public.

Last year, the New York Times interviewed the German girl, who asked that she be referred only by her nickname, "Cece." The teen shared screenshots and other information with the newspaper at the time.

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She said she met Ramos on Yubo, an app that lets users livestream themselves, about two weeks before the May 24 shooting. The girl said Ramos video-chatted with her from a gun store, where he told her he was purchasing an AR-15 rifle, on his 18th birthday — May 16 — or soon after.

She said Ramos later vaguely referred to plans to do something with the gun.

The night before the shooting, she said, he told her that a package had arrived — an order he'd placed online — and sent her a picture of a large cardboard box that he later said contained bullets that would expand on impact.

In one livestream, Cece said, Ramos also showed her a black bag that appeared to hold many magazines of ammunition and at least one gun.

The morning of May 24, the two spoke on a video call just before 10 a.m. She said Ramos showed her the outfit he was wearing, which was all black. He said he could not tell her his secret until his grandfather had left the house.

At 11:06 a.m., he text-messaged her that he was “waiting for” his grandmother, who he said was “on the phone with AT&T” about his cell phone. He referred to the grandmother with a vulgar expletive.

“Ima do something to her rn,” he wrote. The screenshots do not show that Cece replied. But at 11:21 a.m., Ramos sent another text message.

“I just shot my grandma in her head,” he wrote.

He followed up another message: “Ima go shoot up a elementary school rn.”

Cece said she read the messages as soon as he sent them but was “curious” about whether he was serious.

It was only after the shooting appeared on the news that she asked a friend in the United States whom she'd also met through Yubo. The teen asked her acquaintance to contact U.S. authorities, a delay she said she regrets.

“Maybe I could’ve changed the outcome,” she told the Times. “I just could never guess that he’d actually do this.”

Ramos shot his grandmother in the face before driving off in her pickup truck. She survived and was hospitalized in San Antonio for several weeks. 

Ramos then drove to Robb Elementary School, less than a mile away, and shot fourth-grade students and teachers inside a pair of adjoining classrooms.

Guillermo.Contreras@express-news.net