(NewsNation) — Billboards in California are invoking the deadly Uvalde school shooting to warn Golden State residents not to move to Texas.
The billboard, as seen in photos posted online, contains a hooded figure next to the words “The Texas Miracle died in Uvalde. Don’t move to Texas.” The slogan “Don’t mess with Texas” is also crossed out on the billboard.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed during the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24. The shooter was killed after police breached a classroom more than an hour after Salvador Ramos entered the building and began shooting.
It’s unknown who purchased the billboards, but they have been spotted in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Calfornia for the first time ever lost a congressional seat following the 2020 Census that found the state’s population declined by more than 180,000 residents. One in every 10 Texas transplants is from California, the Dallas Morning News reported last year.
The pandemic accelerated the exodus, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Researchers found that Californians migrated to Texas, Washington and Florida the most.
On social media, some wondered if the billboards might have been a ploy by someone in Texas.
“Who’s paying for that advertisement? Is Texas buying billboards to deter Californian expatriates from turning their state blue?” one user on Reddit commented.
Others questioned the mention of the school shooting.
“What a weird reference to make in a billboard — why would (w)e want to be reminded of the terrible massacre like this?” one commenter wrote.