CUSHING — A Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives is blaming “liberal teachers” for the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers.

“I’ll go a step further and say the teachers that molded this kid into a #killer should be arrested for multiple MURDERS,” Republican Heather Ann Sprague posted on her Facebook page Wednesday.

Salvador Ramos killed the students and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. He was killed by police.

The Associated Press is reporting that Ramos bought two AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles just days before the attack, soon after his 18th birthday, and seemed to hint online that something was about to happen.

In an apparent reference to a rumor on social media that has been debunked, Sprague claimed there were pictures online of the shooter dressed in women’s clothing.

“All I have to say is this is the result of what happens when kids are pushed past their limits. Its obvious he was brainwashed in school by liberal teachers to think he shouldn’t be a male. If this crap doesn’t stop we will have more shootings because there are alot more confused, fed up and now mentally ill kids out there thanks to the #publicschoolsystem THIS is why I have been TRYING to get the truth out about what the schools are doing to our youth because it’s DANGEROUS,” Sprague said in her post.

NBC news reported that a transgender woman’s photo was used to spread the baseless theory about the Texas shooter. The thread began on forum website 4chan and was spread by right-wing Facebook pages and even Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona.

Sprague didn’t respond to a request for an interview Wednesday afternoon.

Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said “we believe it is appropriate for everyone to have time to gather the real facts of this case before drawing any conclusions.”

Savage called the Texas shooting “a true American tragedy” and said “nobody should try to gain political capital from this evil act. Speaking before we fundamentally understand why this murderer did what he did is likely to make our discourse around this issue worse, not better.”

In another post, Sprague said “more and more I cant help but think these shootings are on purpose to push gun control with the lives of babes. If they’re not getting shot they’re getting aborted. It’s disgusting and EVIL. If elected I will push to have armed guards at ALL our schools here in Maine.”

Savage said the Republican Party believes Maine lawmakers need to “engage in a serious conversation” about what to do to prevent school shootings, and that security needs to be part of that discussion.

Sprague is the only Republican running in District 43, which represents Cushing, Thomaston, South Thomaston, St. George and part of Owls Head.

The Knox County Republican Committee did not respond to Facebook and email messages sent Wednesday afternoon asking whether the party supports Sprague’s position.

The seat is held by Rep. Ann Matlack, a St. George Democrat running for a third consecutive two-year term. No other Democrats are seeking the seat, nor have any unenrolled candidates registered to run, so she and Sprague will face each other in November.

“I was horrified to hear of the mass murder of children and teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, yesterday,” Matlack said in a statement after being contacted by the Courier-Gazette. “To attribute this devastating act to anyone other than the gunman is unfathomable.

“We do not yet know why the gunman shot his grandmother and then went to Robb Elementary and killed at least 21 others, including 19 young children, but to imply that those in that school brought it on themselves is irresponsible and callous.”