Who is Ruben Ruiz? 'Punisher' cop looking at phone during shootout is slain Uvalde teacher's husband
Update: The Uvalde police department has now released bodycam footage from the day of the horrific school shooting. The footage shows Uvalde cop, Ruben Ruiz, armed and being held back by his colleagues as he tried to get to the classroom where his schoolteacher wife Eva Mireles lay wounded and dying. The distressing footage showed the school police officer, 43, on his way to save his wife, a special education teacher who was killed in the mass shooting. Ruiz was disarmed and escorted off the scene.
Police released the footage after he faced backlash over footage that showed him checking his phone with a 'Punisher' wallpaper during the shooting while Salvador Ramos was in the school corridors shooting up students and teachers. The Uvalde police which is already being blasted for their inaction and late response on the day of the shooting released the bodycam footage to clamp down on the heat Ruiz was facing despite the distress he was in at the moment.
Watch from 24:30 mark on the video. The incident can be seen at the 11.48 time stamp
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The Uvalde cop who faced backlash after footage revealed he checked his phone with a 'Punisher' wallpaper during the Robb Elementary School massacre has been identified as slain teacher Eva Mireles' husband, Ruben Ruiz. A shocking video that was recently released showed clippings of police officers delaying their response to the shooting as Salvador Ramos brutally slaughtered 19 children and two teachers, including Ruiz's wife. The 77-minute video revealed how cops waited for more than an hour before finally stopping Ramos.
In a series of tweets, Texas Rep Joe Moody clarified that Ruiz is Mireles' husband, condemning the fact that a man "who’s lost everything" is being "maligned". Ruiz was mocked online for checking his phone while a shooting was going on in front of him. "This is the husband of teacher Eva Mireles, who contacted him on his phone from her classroom while he was on-scene to say that she’d been shot and was dying," Moody wrote. The series of videos also revealed how Felix Rubio, a sheriff's deputy officer was crying and had to be detained by officers as his daughter got shot mere feet away from him.
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"I’d not planned to speak publicly until the report was released, but I couldn’t say nothing seeing this man, who’s lost everything, maligned as if he was indifferent or actively malicious. Context matters," he added. "To those who haven’t bothered to read even the news that’s been reported in your rush to judgment, he attempted to engage but was removed from the building and disarmed. We’ll have much to say about the police response, but no criticism of this officer."
This is the husband of teacher Eva Mireles, who contacted him on his phone from her classroom while he was on-scene to say that she’d been shot and was dying. 1/2#txlege #Uvalde pic.twitter.com/C7m64uBmaQ
— Joe Moody (@moodyforelpaso) July 13, 2022
I’d not planned to speak publicly until the report was released, but I couldn’t say nothing seeing this man, who’s lost everything, maligned as if he was indifferent or actively malicious. Context matters. 2/2
— Joe Moody (@moodyforelpaso) July 13, 2022
To those who haven’t bothered to read even the news that’s been reported in your rush to judgment, he attempted to engage but was removed from the building and disarmed. We’ll have much to say about the police response, but no criticism of this officer.
— Joe Moody (@moodyforelpaso) July 13, 2022
The video in question showed Ruiz checking his phone down the hallway before gunfire is heard, making other officers retreat. Looking frightened, Ruiz checked his phone again before putting it back in his pocket. His 'Punisher' wallpaper is visible on his phone.
they didn’t want us to see this guy using his service weapon as a stylus to flick past his punisher lock screen so he could check his texts to distract himself from the screams of dying children https://t.co/qFDsPb8JSU pic.twitter.com/G1n3vJ80Jm
— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) July 13, 2022
The Punisher is a Marvel vigilante character who took revenge on everyone involved in the murder of his family. A skull icon representing the Punisher has now become a symbol used by the police and various extremist groups. A number of police officers used the logo during the Black Lives Matter protests, coming under sharp criticism.
Who is Ruben Ruiz?
Ruben Ruiz is a police officer who held an active shooter drill at the Uvalde high school just two months before the massacre took place. Ironically, both Ruiz and Salvador Ramos were once students at the school. Ruiz's wife Eva Mireles, who was gunned down by Ramos, was a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary School. Mireles, 44, worked for the Uvalde school district for 17 years.
At a hearing last month, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw said that Ruiz tried to rescue his dying wife but “was detained, and they took his gun away from him and escorted him off the scene.” However, he did not mention which department on the scene detained him. According to Ruiz's Facebook profile, he is a former sergeant at Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Meanwhile, new revelations in the case have suggested that two police officers missed their chance at possibly saving the lives of the 19 children and two teachers who were brutally slaughtered by Ramos. Ramos, 18, was reportedly spotted with a rifle by an officer before he entered Elementary School. The officer radioed for permission to shoot, but reportedly never got an answer. When the officer asked the supervisor for permission to open fire, the supervisor "either did not hear or responded too late." The officer turned around to see that Ramos had already gone inside "unabated". A report released by Texas State University said another responding officer failed to stop Ramos as he was walking in the parking lot, towards the school. The officer reportedly sped past the shooter at a "high rate of speed" and missed him armed with a rifle.
According to their findings, it appeared as though no officer waiting in the hallway during the massacre tested to check if the door to the classroom was locked. It also found that when officers finally entered the classroom, over an hour after the shooting began, they were not equipped well enough to confront the gunman. It appeared as though "effective incident command" was never established among the various law enforcement agencies that responded to the shooting.
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Police have faced sharp criticism for allegedly failing to stop the shooting quickly enough and come to the victims' rescue on time. In fact, a victim bled to death as she waited for police to come to the rescue, a first-responder allegedly told her mother. The child reportedly waited for nearly an hour for cops to arrive, but eventually succumbed to her injuries possibly because of the delay. The first-responder reportedly claimed her child may have lived if the police had been quicker. It was reported that they did not breach the school for more than 90 minutes after arriving on the campus where Ramos was ruthlessly killing the children. Ramos was shot dead by an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent from an elite tactical unit. The agent killed Ramos before his evil rampage could claim more lives.