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US: Gunman made rape threats and attacks on schools weeks before shooting

Salvador Ramos told the girls he would rape them, showed off a rifle he bought and threatened to shoot schools in live streams on the social networking app Yubo, according to several users who have witnessed the threats in recent weeks.

But these users — all teenagers — told the CNN who didn’t take him seriously until they saw the news that Ramos killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas (USA), this week.

Three users said they witnessed Ramos threatening to commit sexual violence or carry out school shootings on Yubo, an app that is used by tens of millions of young people around the world.

All users said they reported Ramos’ account to Yubo about the threats. But it appeared, they said, that the shooter had managed to maintain a presence on the platform.

THE CNN had access to a direct message from Yubo in which Ramos sent a user a receipt for $2,000 for the purchase of a gun from a Georgia-based firearms manufacturer. “Guns are boring,” the user replied. “No,” Ramos replied.

In a statement to CNN , a Yubo spokesperson said that “we are deeply saddened by this unspeakable loss and are fully cooperating with authorities in their investigation.” Yubo takes the safety of its users seriously and is “investigating an account that has already been banned from the platform,” the spokesperson said, but declined to disclose any specific information about Ramos’ account.

Usage of the app soared during the coronavirus pandemic, as teens stuck at home turned to the app for in-person interactions.

The company says it has 60 million users worldwide – 99% of whom are 25 or younger – and has announced security features including “second-by-second” monitoring of live streams using artificial intelligence and human moderators.

Despite these security features, users who spoke to CNN said that Ramos made both personal and graphic threats.

During a live stream, Amanda Robbins, 19, said Ramos verbally threatened to break down her door, rape and kill her after she rejected his sexual advances. She said she witnessed Ramos threatening other girls with similar “acts of sexual assault and violence”.

Robbins, who said he lives in California and has only interacted with Ramos online, told CNN who reported him to Yubo multiple times and blocked his account, but continued to see him on live streams making lewd comments.

“[Yubo] said that if you see any that strange behavior, they said to report it. But they didn’t do anything,” Robbins said. “That kid was allowed to be online and say that.”

Other users said they didn’t take Ramos’ comments seriously because trolling behavior was common on Yubo.

Hannah, an 18-year-old user from Canada, said she reported Ramos to Yubo in early April after he threatened to shoot her school and rape and kill her and her mother during a live stream. She said Ramos was allowed to return to the platform after a temporary ban.

Hannah, who asked CNN to withhold his last name to protect his privacy, said Ramos’ behavior had grown increasingly brazen in the past week. In a live stream, she said, the gunman briefly turned his webcam to show a gun on his bed.

Users said they did not record Ramos’ threats during the live streams.

Yubo’s community guidelines tell users not to “threaten or bully” others and prohibit harassment and bullying. Content that “promotes violence, such as violent acts, firearms, knives or other weapons” is also prohibited.

Just a week before the Uvalde attack, the network announced an expanded age verification process. The platform only allows people aged 13 and over to sign up and does not allow users aged 18 and over to interact with minors.

Paris-based Yubo has drawn controversy since it launched in 2015 under the name Yellow, with some security experts warning of the possibility of abuse. Police arrested men in Kentucky, New Jersey and Florida who allegedly used the network to meet or exchange sexually explicit messages with children.

Last month, Indiana police, investigating the 2017 murder of two teenage girls, said they were seeking information about a Yubo user who had requested nude photos of minors on other social platforms.

Ramos’ disturbing interactions didn’t just take place on Yubo. A girl from Germany who met Ramos on Yubo said she had some troublesome interactions with him via text messages and FaceTime.

The 15-year-old said she received messages from him shortly after he shot her grandmother and before his elementary school attack, such as CNN previously reported. The girl said that she thought any violent or strange comment Ramos made was a joke.

But after the shooting, she said: “I added it all up and now it made sense… I was too dumb to notice all the signs he was giving.”

Source: CNN Brasil

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