The gran of Texas shooter Salvador Ramos might never be able to talk again after the devastating school massacre, according to a relative.
Celia Martinez Gonzales was shot in the face by her grandson Ramos who went on to kill 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
The 66-year-old, known to friends as Sally, lost her voice and is only able to communicate by writing, according to her cousin Jason Ybarra.
“The bullet went into Sally’s jaw just next to her mouth and shattered all her teeth,” he told the New York Post.
“If the bullet was an inch in another direction, it would have blown her head off.
“She’s doing fairly well, considering what happened, but she may never be able to talk again.
Ybarra, 45, explained that Ms Gonzales has already undergone multiple surgeries for her injuries and will have several more, according to the New York Post.
Speaking nearer the time, her husband Rolando Reyes said the grandmother was “awake and all but she’s in pain.”
He told how she has been using a notebook to write what she wants to say but can get frustrated when she is not understood.
Ramos, 18, shot Ms Gonzales at her home where he had been living for two to three months.
He then drove to the school and played "sad music" as he gunned down his victims at the school, a young survivor recalled.
Police took more than an hour to burst into the school and kill Ramos in an achingly slow response that has been widely condemned.
Miah Cerrillo, 11, was inside one of the classrooms Ramos targeted and survived by smearing herself in her friend's blood and playing dead.
One teacher ran to close the door but was intercepted by Ramos who fired his way into the classroom.
Miah told CNN she watched Ramos lock eyes with the brave woman, saying "goodnight" and shooting her dead, before killing the other teacher in the room.
The schoolgirl desperately called 911 using their dead teacher's mobile phone and begged for police to help them.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he had been "misled" about the emergency response and was left "livid."
Department of Safety Lieutenant Chris Olivarez said his unit failed to storm the classroom where they knew Ramos was killing schoolchildren because they "could've been shot".
The force did not admit they had "made the wrong decision" until Friday after videos emerged from the scene.
Clips showed desperate parents being handcuffed as they begged officers to save their children.
