The self-proclaimed girlfriend of the Robb Elementary School shooter is in federal custody after years of threats made against the Uvalde community, court records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
Victoria Gabriela Rodriguez-Morales was arrested last week and is facing a charge of making threats using interstate communications.
Rodriguez-Morales, 19, is currently in federal custody at the Puerto Rico Metropolitan Detention Center.
KSAT Investigates obtained court documents that detail years of threats dating back to 2018.
Threats against Uvalde schools, people, and officials
According to an arrest affidavit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service have been investigating threats against public institutions, public officials, and private citizens of Uvalde from “operator(s) in Puerto Rico.”
The affidavit goes on to state the investigation identified the suspect as Rodriguez-Morales, who had been “previously investigated, since at least 2018, in Texas, for the same type of threats directed at Uvalde officials, citizens, and facilities.”
In 2018, Rodriguez-Morales, who previously lived in Uvalde, was held in a juvenile detention center where she continued to send emails threatening to kill public officials, shoot schools, and kill teachers and students.
When she was released in May 2020, Rodriguez-Morales and her family moved to Puerto Rico, according to court records.
The documents allege the threats continued over the next three years and referenced the shooting that happened at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
The arrest affidavit contains exact quotes from comments and posts allegedly made by Rodriguez-Morales on various social media platforms and through emails. In those comments, she identifies the Uvalde shooter by name. KSAT 12 News will not be using his name to prevent any notoriety he may have been seeking by committing the heinous act.
In a comment allegedly made by Rodriguez-Morales on Instagram on May 22, 2023, she claims to have told former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo about the planned Robb Elementary shooting before it happened.
“Pete Arredondo thought he had it but look how he ended, being hated by everyone. That how i wanted to destroy him. Pete didnt listen to me and i told him i was going to send domeone to shoot theirs school only at uvalde but he said ‘yeah come and proove it,’” Rodriguez-Morales wrote.
The teen also repeatedly made threats to the students and staff at Uvalde High School and “the new elementary that they are building.”
On Oct. 2, and Oct. 3, the game streaming website Kick had multiple comments allegedly made by Rodriguez-Morales that said, “We will shoot Uvalde Texas high school and Texas A&M college,” and “those are the guns imma use there.”
Days later, on Oct. 25, an email allegedly from Rodriguez-Morales was sent to an Uvalde CISD email that stated, “If Mata Rubio wins the elections I will kill her.”
The arrest affidavit alleges multiple emails from Rodriguez-Morales under the handle “schoolshooter893@gmail.com” were sent to the Uvalde CISD and Uvalde City Hall with the subject line “Kill you all” and more threatening content.
The documents also contain several photos of Rodriguez-Morales that she allegedly sent via direct message on Instagram.
Request for pretrial detention
A request for Rodriguez-Morales to be held in custody prior to her court appearance was also filed stating she is a danger to the community.
That court document states, “At least one of her threats resulted in the temporary closing of a school in Texas, disrupting the lives of teachers, students and parents. Nothing good can come of Defendant’s threats.”
Again, it was stated there were multiple attempts by government officials to get Rodriguez-Morales to stop the threats she was making and inform her family about resources that were available to help her.
“At some point, however, Defendant’s relentless campaign of terror against the residents of Uvalde must stop; and no conditions of release will keep Defendant from accessing ubiquitous electronic devices that provide her access to social media. When she was a minor and living with her relatives, they could not prevent her from making threats. This is even more true now that Defendant is an adult,” the court document states.
It was revealed in court paperwork that, during local proceedings in Texas, Rodriguez-Morales was found to have above-average intelligence with a lack of remorse or guilt and was diagnosed with “opposition Defiant Disorder and Intermittent Explosive Disorder.”
In 2019, an expert found she was a danger to the community until she was able to understand “that violence and killing people is not the way to settle problems when angry. Nothing seems to have changed in her thoughts and behavior since then.”
The court record also states that Rodriguez-Morales is a flight risk who has a history of non-compliance with supervision and aggression toward public officials and government employees.
“For example, back in 2020, when federal authorities in Puerto Rico began investigating her threats and visited her home, she began including threats to injure law enforcement officers that came to her house: ‘yall better shut the f*** up before i leave yalls a** neckless next time they come they will receive a bullet’ and if the FBI keeps coming she will kill them all,” court documents state.
According to the court records, the judge will have until Dec. 12 to make a decision on Rodriguez-Morales’ pretrial detention status.
KSAT Investigates has left messages for Rodriguez-Morales’ attorney.
The FBI’s San Juan Bureau is handling this investigation, an official with that department sent over a statement about the recent arrest.
Robb family calls for harsh punishment
Brett Cross, the guardian of Uziyah Garcia, one of the Robb Elementary School victims, said he’s glad Rodriguez-Morales was arrested.
“I’ve had threats against my other kids and nothing happens to these people. So I’m glad that something is finally happening,” Cross said.
Though, Cross did clarify he hopes this is followed with harsh punishment for the gruesome threats the teen was making.
“It’s another sick individual that has never had to, you know, face repercussions for anything really,” Cross said.
KSAT reached out to Uvalde CISD about allegations detailed in the arrest affidavit that Rodriguez-Morales told Arredondo about the shooting days before it happened. However, we have not gotten a response back.
“If these things that she is saying is true about, you know, Pete Arradondo knowing beforehand, I mean, that is truly a game changer,” Cross said.
Prosecutors are asking for Rodriguez-Morales to be held until her trial. They said that her threats against the Uvalde community won’t stop if she’s free and “the community is still living with the trauma of the Robb Elementary massacre that she continues to reference in her threats.”
Cross reiterated that notion and added “You don’t move on from this. I will be stuck on May 24th for the rest of my life.”
Uvalde CISD Superintendent Ashley Chohlis send the following statement to KSAT regarding Rodriguez-Morales’ alleged threats:
Regarding your request for a statement, Uvalde CISD has been the subject of threats from Victoria Gabriela Rodriguez-Morales for several years. We take all threats seriously and have investigated them thoroughly. While we will not comment on claims made by other individuals, we can speak on behalf of the district. Chief Gutierrez has worked diligently on reporting and documenting the threats over the past several months. At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, UCISD received threats almost weekly, causing fear and panic in our district and community. The district’s protocol is to inform our community about the threats we received and the credibility behind them. Every time the district received a threat of this nature, UCISD Police Lieutenant Investigator Huizar worked in conjunction with the FBI, DPS, and the Southwest Texas Fusion Center to verify the legitimacy of the threats and determine where they originated from. Every threat originated from Puerto Rico, including phone numbers and IP addresses. On 09/26/2023, UCISD received email correspondence from schoolshooter7878@gmail.com that stated the following: “We will shoot Uvalde Texas high school and Texas A&M will be blowed up Try to stop us and we will proceed to kill each and every citizen that lives in Uvalde Texas. Bite me, See y’all really soon. Have fun breathing while y’all can. We’ll be waiting for responses.” The individual who wrote the email had similar grammar and verbiage that had been used in the past by Victoria Rodriguez. It was at this point our current UCISD Police Chief Gutierrez began to investigate the individual who identified herself as Victoria. We are hopeful that the recent arrest of Rodriguez-Morales will alleviate the threats made to our district. Thank you for allowing us to provide a statement, Leigh. As always, our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and community.