One of the students was an avid runner who swept the field day races. Another thing he learned from his grandfather was how to play football. Something was bothering one of the girls, so she decided to skip school.
On Wednesday, details about the 19 children — “beautiful kids,” according to the school district director — and their two teachers who were gunned down behind a barricaded door at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, started to emerge.
Layla, Vincent Salazar’s 10-year-old daughter, loves to swim and dance to TikTok videos, according to her father. Salazar excitedly uploaded a photo of Layla showing off two of her ribbons on Facebook after she won six races at her school’s field day.
Uziyah last visited Renfro in San Angelo during spring break, according to Renfro. “We began throwing the football together, and I taught him to pass patterns.” Renfro described him as “such a speedy little guy who could catch a ball so well.” “There were some plays that I’d call that he’d recall and perform just as we had practiced.”
Veronica Luevanos, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jailah Nicole Silguero, was one among the victims, told Univision with tears in her eyes that her daughter refused to go to school on Tuesday because she sensed something horrible was about to happen. The shooting also claimed the life of Jailah’s cousin.
According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, all of the fatalities were in the same fourth-grade classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself Tuesday and opened fire on the students and instructors. He claimed the attacker used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the attack and had posted on Facebook soon before the massacre, “I’m going to shoot an elementary school,” he added.
As he spoke of the youngsters and their teachers, Superintendent Hal Harrell fought back tears.
According to Harrell, the two teachers “poured their heart and soul” into their job.
Eva Mireles, a 44-year-old teacher, was remembered as a caring mother and wife. “She was a risk-taker….” Amber Ybarra, 34, a relative from San Antonio, said, “She will surely be missed.”
In a letter introducing herself to the class, the second dead teacher, Irma Garcia, wrote of her four children, one of whom was a Marine. Garcia’s 21-year-old nephew, John Martinez, told the Detroit Free Press that the family was having trouble comprehending that while Garcia’s kid was training for combat, his mother was killed.
Eliana Garcia’s relatives remember her devotion to her family when she was ten years old.
Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same district, described Eliahna as “very happy and gregarious.” “She enjoyed dancing and athletics. She was devoted to her family and delighted in spending time with them.”
Even for the survivors, there was a great deal of sadness.
Lorena Auguste was working as a substitute teacher at Uvalde High School when the incident occurred. Auguste began messaging her niece, a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary, frantically until her sister informed her that the youngster was fine.
“Tia, why did they do this to us?” Auguste says her niece asked her that night. We’re excellent students who haven’t broken any rules.”
In a Facebook post, Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, which is across the street from Robb Elementary School, stated it will be aiding families of the shooting victims with funerals at no cost.
