Colegio Cervantes shooting

At 8:00 a.m. on January 10, 2020, Betts arrived at the institution with two weapons in his backpack: a semi-automatic .40 caliber and another .25 caliber, both owned by his grandfather. At 8:20 a.m., he asked his teacher for permission to go to the bathroom. Before firing, he said "Hoy va a ser el día" ("Today is going to be the day"). First, he started firing at the physical education teacher and five other classmates, injuring all of them. When they heard the shots, teachers from other classrooms ordered their students to take shelter. After the shooting, the authorities cordoned off the area and initiated investigations. Witnesses stated that the child was a student of academic excellence and no previous problems had been reported with him. ==Reactions==

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador lamented the event and gave his condolences to the families of the victims, urging the strengthening of school safety and the "Mochila segura" ("Safe Backpack") program while insisting that re-enforcing family values are more important. The "Mochila segura" program is an initiative that reviews the students' backpacks at the entrance of schools in order to detect the possible entry of weapons and drugs. López Obrador's wife Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller also lamented the shooting, and stated that the review of backpacks and childhood behavior should start at home. The Governor of Coahuila Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís said that after the shooting, the Safe Backpack program would be mandatory in all private schools in the state. In regards to the shooter's attire, Governor Riquelme Solís stated in a press conference that it was believed to be due to the influence of the video game Natural Selection. After the theory that the shooting could have been committed because of a video game was roundly rejected by experts such as Andrew Przybylsi of Oxford Internet Institute, Feggy Ostrosky Shejet of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Ernesto Piedras of The Competitive Intelligence Unit, Erik Salazar of College of Psychology of UNAM, and several media reports noted that the phrase "Natural selection" was more likely to be a reference to the Columbine High School massacre. After this came to light, the governor retracted his initial statement. The Secretary of the Interior Olga Sánchez Cordero called on the social networks Facebook and Twitter to remove the images of the shooting that circulated online. ==Perpetrator==

Once Governor Miguel Riquelme Solís's theory that the 11-year-old had committed the shooting because of a video game was rejected, investigators looked at the shooter's background and environment. José Ángel Ramos was born on April 8th 2008. His mother died in surgery a few years later. His father, 37-year-old José Ángel Ramos Jiménez, had spent time in prison for trafficking methamphetamine in El Paso, Texas, but had recently been released. At the time of the shooting, the child had been living with his paternal grandparents. His grandfather's bank account was frozen because of "irregular money transfers" involving millions of dollars between the two men. Betts' maternal grandmother had been murdered. It was later revealed that he had been working with Argentine drug lord Mario Roberto Segovia. In October 2021, his charge was later reduced to manslaughter, and he was released while the investigations were ongoing. ==Aftermath==

Since the shooting, Colegio Cervantes has renewed classes with greatly increased security measures. In 2020, a journalist named Javier Garza Ramos published a book called "Nueve Disparos" (Nine Gunshots), which is about the attack, the events leading up to it, and its aftermath. School safety debate Operativo Mochila ("Backpack Operation"), a program to prevent the introduction of weapons, drugs, and other dangerous contraband into schools, dates back at least to 2001; the shooting in Torreon has reactivated the debate. Educational authorities and teachers generally support school screenings (especially by parent groups), Parents at the Colegio Cervantes expressed opposition to the program in October 2019. Critics of the program, such as Laura Bárcenas Pozos of the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, emphasize that school authorities must reinforce the psychosocial area of schools, learn to listen, generate spaces for dialogue, and include parents more in the development of their children. In an interview with El Sol de Puebla, Bárcenas Pozos declared, "Creo que antes de analizar la Operación Mochila, deberían aterrizar en las escuelas la cultura de la paz." ("I think that before analyzing Operation Backpack, a culture of peace should be established in schools"). On January 9, 2020, one day before the shooting in Torreón, the Supreme Court of Mexico announced they would review the 2017 injunction against the Safe Backpack program in Mexico City. At the time, parents argued that children were frightened by the presence of police officers in their schools and that the program violated the right to privacy guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution of Mexico. ==See also==