It was all sadness as the Texas authorities reported that the husband of one of the victims of the recent tragedy, a heroic fourth-grade teacher who was killed protecting her students during the massacre at a Texas elementary school has died of an apparent heart attack.
A GoFundMe page set up by Debra Austin, who said she was the cousin of teacher Irma Garcia, said that Irma’s husband Joe “has tragically passed away this morning (5/26/2022) as a result of a medical emergency.”
“I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life,” she added.
John Martinez, who identified himself as Garcia’s nephew, also tweeted: “EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia (aunt) Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief.”
Ernie Zuniga, a news anchor for local station KABB FOX San Antonio, tweeted that Garcia had died from a heart attack.
The couple, who were married for 24 years, according to the website of the Robb Elementary school, leave behind four children.
Read Also: Gunman Kills 15 School Kids, 1 Teacher At Texas School
Both Irma Garcia and her co-teacher Eva Mireles, who had connected classrooms, died in the mass shooting.
The shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was inside the building for about 40 minutes before police entered and fatally shot him.
In another report, a distraught Texas grandmother of a girl killed in the massacre in Uvalde pleaded Thursday for urgent action by US authorities to prevent future school shootings, as the country plunges again into the roiling debate over guns.
Ten-year-old Amerie Garza — a fourth-grader who loved her classes, drawing, and playing with clay — was one of 19 children murdered by a teen gunman at Robb Elementary School in an act of evil that has forever changed this small Texas town.
“My granddaughter was in there. She was an innocent little girl, loving school and looking forward to summer,” Dora Mendoza told reporters after paying respects at a makeshift memorial outside the school.
But the 63-year-old, who lived with Amerie and saw her at an end-of-year ceremony Tuesday just hours before she was killed, quickly made clear she wanted US officials such as President Joe Biden and Texas Governor Greg Abbott not to shy away from working together on reforms.
Biden, who is due to visit Uvalde on Sunday, and Abbott are polar opposites regarding restrictions on gun sales. Like many in the Democrat versus Republican divide, the two also differ on the path to take to curb the nation’s surging gun violence.
“They shouldn’t just wait for… tragedy to start,” she said.
“They need to do something about it. They need to not forget us, the babies… Don’t forget them, please,” Mendoza, speaking in a mix of English and Spanish, pleaded through her tears.
“Do something about it, I beg you. I beg you!” she wailed. “All the cries and all these little innocent babies… we don’t know what they went through.”