'He would still come back': Online users say they reported Uvalde gunman's behavior, but to little effect

Users say he was banned from one app but was able to re-access his same account.

In the weeks leading up to last month's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the 18-year-old gunman made a number of disturbing comments to users on various social media platforms, leading the head of Texas' top law enforcement agency to say last week that those comments "should have been reported."

But at least some of the online users who communicated with the gunman previously told ABC News they did try to report him -- yet their efforts largely went nowhere.

"Regardless of how many times he was reported ... he would still come back," a user who lives in Greece and asked to remain anonymous, told ABC News regarding her multiple attempts to report the gunman, identified by authorities as Salvador Ramos.

Among Ramos' online comments were possible signs that troubling behavior was ahead: He referenced school shootings, alluded to a possible upcoming incident, and shared pictures and videos of guns, users who communicated with him told ABC News.

One user told ABC News that leaders of panels and live chats on the social media app Yubo would ban Ramos after he would come into the live groups, where the user said Ramos would "threaten other people that he would shoot up their schools."

Another user told ABC News that he would kick Ramos out of live panels he was hosting after Ramos would enter and make concerning comments. The reporting function on the platform, he added, "barely works."

Many social media apps have a function to report other users based on various conduct issues, such as inappropriate conduct or harassing behavior.