Social media app allegedly used by Uvalde gunman to send warning signs is adding new safety features

The social media app Yubo, which the Uvalde gunman used to send chilling messages before the massacre, will add safety features in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

Yubo CEO Sacha Lazimi told ABC News that the shooting “brought to light systemic issues in society that need to be addressed.”

“In the days since, we have been working to accelerate safety developments in our pipeline and further expand the scope of existing safeguards across our platform,” Lazimi said in a statement to ABC News.

Those safety developments included updating the at-risk detection policy and enhancing the protocol for reporting users. Yubo added that it started moderating audio on live streams.

Authorities have previously said that the shooter had warning signs and made threatening messages online and in person, but he had no criminal record, no history of mental illness treatment and no obvious signs that he was a danger to the community.

One of the most chilling messages came moments before he entered the school and fatally shot 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers. Before that, he shot his grandmother in the face, authorities have previously said.

According to messages reviewed by ABC News, he had sent a string of messages to a 15-year-old girl in Germany, who he met on Yubo. In them, he detailed how he shot his grandmother and was heading to the school for his next target.

In the messages, the gunman said he had an argument with his grandmother before texting “I shot my grandmother in the head” and immediately following that message with “ima go shoot up a elementary school rn,” according to ABC News.

A screenshot reviewed by ABC News revealed the teen from Germany had not replied to Ramos’ messages until news broke about the deadly mass shooting.

The 15-year-old girl told the New York Times she asked a friend in the U.S. about contacting authorities after seeing the news.

“Maybe I could’ve changed the outcome... just could never guess that he’d actually do this,” the girl told the New York Times.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News those messages with the German teen are now part of the investigation.

Read also:

• Uvalde native McConaughey calls for gun control action during White House briefing
• Congress to hear from Robb Elementary student who covered self in classmate’s blood, parents of slain student, Uvalde’s only pediatrician