(POTTSTOWN, Pa.) — Five people were killed and two others were hurt in a house explosion in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Thursday night, officials said.
One of the injured is in critical but stable condition, while the second surviving victim is in surgery for unknown injuries, Pottstown Borough Manager Justin Keller said at a Friday press conference.
Two homes are completely destroyed and other homes suffered damage, he said.
It’s not yet clear what caused the explosion, which took place just after 8 p.m. on North Washington Street, Keller said.
It’s believed everyone has been accounted for, Keller said.
Resident Christian Gonzalez told ABC News Philadelphia station WPVI-TV he initially thought the explosion was thunder.
“It shook the area,” he said.
Pottstown schools are closed Friday in the wake of the deadly incident.
Pottstown is located about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
(UVALDE, Texas) — The four children of Irma and Joe Garcia turned to their faith and community as they attended mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, Texas, Thursday night.
Cristian, Jose, Lyliana and Alysandra Garcia were embraced by Rev. Eduardo Morales and parishioners.
Irma was one of two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde on Tuesday. The family’s patriarch, Joe Garcia, suffered a fatal heart attack earlier Thursday, just two days after his wife was shot to death, his family confirmed.
“They were good church-going people, always willing to help, always seeing what they could do to be there for the community, not only their children, and I hope that we remember how giving they were, how loving they were,” Morales told Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV of the Garcias.
The couple were supposed to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary later this year.
Irma Garcia was a fourth grade teacher at Robb Elementary School and had been teaching for the last 23 years. She and her husband had been married for 24 years, according to a biography page on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website.
She died Tuesday, after a gunman entered the school and opened fire, killing Garcia, co-teacher Eva Mireles and at least 19 children, in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
As the Uvalde community continues to reel from the aftermath of the mass shooting, faith leaders have sprung into action, reaching out to support the local community. A Lutheran organization has also sent trained comfort dogs to Uvalde, a city about 84 miles west of San Antonio, after being invited to respond following Tuesday’s tragedy.
(UVALDE, Texas) — There was blood in the hallway and children were covered in it, one of the students who survived the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, told ABC News.
“[The shooter] came in and said, ‘You’re all gonna die,’ and just started shooting,” Samuel Salinas, 10, recalled in an interview airing Friday on “Good Morning America.”
Salinas was a student in Irma Garcia’s fourth-grade class. They were scheduled to graduate Thursday, but the ceremony was canceled because Garcia, another teacher and 19 third- and fourth-grade students were killed in Tuesday’s massacre. Another 17 people were wounded, including three law enforcement officers.
The gunman, Salvador Ramos, allegedly purchased two assault rifles just days after turning 18 and used them to carry out the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history, killing 21 people, according to authorities.
Some of the children and teachers who walked into school that day had no idea it would be their last.
‘It was a normal day until…’
Salinas, whose mother died in a car accident in 2019, said his aunt dropped him off for school on Tuesday morning.
“It was a normal day until my teacher said we’re on severe lockdown,” he told ABC News, “and then there was shooting in the windows.”
Salinas said the gunman came into his classroom, closed the door and told them, “You’re all going to die,” before opening fire.
“He shot the teacher and then he shot the kids,” Salinas said, recalling the cries and yells of students around him.
“I think he was aiming at me,” Salinas said, but a chair was between him and the shooter, and the bullet hit the chair. Shrapnel struck Salinas’ thigh and got lodged in his leg. Then he pretended to be dead, he said.
“I played dead so he wouldn’t shoot me,” he added, noting that a lot of other children did the same.
A cellphone in one of the student’s desks started ringing, and as the girl was trying to silence it, Salinas heard gunshots. Police engaged the gunman and then moved desks out of the way to free the children, he said.
As police rushed him out of the room, Salinas said he saw the bodies of his teacher and other students.
“There was blood on the ground,” he recalled. “And there were kids […] full of blood.”
Nightmares and fear
Now, Salinas said, he has nightmares of the shooter and of being shot.
When asked how it felt to join the growing list of school shooting victims, Salinas said the idea of going to fifth grade is simply overwhelming.
“Whenever there’s a lockdown, then I’ll be really scared,” he told ABC News, fighting back tears.
Even the idea of reuniting with his friends who survived the shooting was too much for the 10-year-old to think about.
“I’m not looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m just going to stay home and rest.”
His father, Chris Salinas, sat quietly beside him as he recounted the experience. It was the first time he had heard the details of his son’s encounter and it nearly brought him to tears.
The one message the fourth-grader said he has for his fellow surviving classmates at Robb Elementary School: “I’m glad you’re alive.”
ABC News’ Lisa Sivertsen in Los Angeles and Izzy Alvarez in Uvalde contributed to this report.
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(UVALDE, Texas) — In the days and weeks before one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, the accused Robb Elementary gunman appears to have sent disturbing messages — including claims about intentions of violence at school — to numerous young people he met online, leaving a trail of digital red flags that appears to have gone unnoticed.
Over a dozen people tell ABC News that the accused gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, sent them concerning messages, across multiple social media platforms, in the days leading up to the massacre.
Hours before the massacre, Ramos allegedly messaged a young girl on Instagram saying that he had a secret he wanted to tell her, according to messages reviewed by ABC News, the contents of which law enforcement sources say are part of the ongoing investigation into the shooting. Ramos had allegedly tagged the girl in a photo of two guns days earlier.
In another message allegedly sent the morning of the shooting, Ramos sent a photo of a gun lying on a bed, according to a user who shared direct messages from the suspect’s alleged account with ABC News. She replied, asking, “Why’d u send me a pic of a gun.”
And moments before the attack, the accused gunman allegedly sent a string of messages to a young girl in Germany who he had met on the social media app Yubo, detailing that he had shot his grandmother and was heading to the school for his next target, according to messages reviewed by ABC News.
In an interview with ABC News, the young girl, who asked to be referred to as “Cece,” said that since the shooting she has been asking herself, “What if I could change the outcome, what if I could change his mind to not do this?” Cece said she regretted not putting together why Ramos had “bought two rifles on his birthday, May 16, and ordered a package full with ammunitions.”
Cece said that, in hindsight, there were also other warning signs — including the fact that Ramos asked others on Yubo if they wanted to be famous.
Another user on Instagram showed ABC News alleged messages from Ramos saying his preferred weapon is the AR-15, which was the assault weapon used in the Texas shooting.
A week before the shooting, Ramos sent another Yubo user a message telling her he would make her famous if she followed him back on Instagram, according to messages reviewed by ABC News.
And another young user told ABC News that the Ramos was on Yubo the day before the massacre and that he implied that something would occur the next day.
That user, who lives in Greece and asked to remain anonymous, told ABC News she tried to report Ramos to Yubo — but that “regardless of how many times he was reported … he would still come back.”
A spokesperson for Yubo, when asked by ABC News if Ramos’ account had been flagged, said that “at this stage, we are not legally able to release any specific user information outside of direct requests from law enforcement.”
The company “can confirm that we are investigating an account that has since been banned from the platform” the Yubo spokesperson said. “We are deeply saddened by this unspeakable loss and are fully cooperating with law enforcement on their investigation.”
The majority of the users who Ramos allegedly messaged in the days leading up to the shooting told ABC News that they were first contacted by him on Yubo, which has been described as a dating app for teens. The users he communicated with are predominantly high-school age. Most said they did not report the messages and didn’t take them seriously.
In the weeks leading up to the deadly attack, Ramos also appeared to have made efforts to meet some of the users he had met on Yubo in person, according to messages shown to ABC News.
“He was supposed to meet up with me,” a young girl told ABC News before expressing relief. “I just never really texted him back.”
The user showed ABC News messages allegedly showing that Ramos had planned to meet up with her in late April.
“He would mostly follow girls who he thought were attractive,” another Yubo user told ABC News. “And asked to meet up with them.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — The mothers of Rojelio Torres and Tess Mata, two 10-year-olds killed in the Texas elementary school shooting, spoke with ABC News about their heartbreak.
“Two of my sons go to that school, but I only got one back,” said Evadulia Orta, the mother of Rojelio and three other children.
At least 19 children and two teachers were killed after a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Rojelio was described by his mother as a “very smart and loving child.”
“I’m going to miss him because he was my life,” said Orta. “All my kids are my life, but losing that little piece of my heart, I lost my son.”
Several families were left waiting at a local civic center to hear whether or not their children had survived the attack. Among them were Orta as well as Veronica Mata, the mother of 10-year-old Tess, who was killed.
Tess’ father, Jerry Mata, was originally at the school, desperate to go inside and find his daughter, but was held back by law enforcement. At the civic center, law enforcement corralled all the families that still had missing children and had them wait.
The family says dozens of people were waiting in one big room, pacing and crying for hours before being called up by law enforcement and notified.
Orta said she was waiting for her child to be bussed to the civic center until the last bus came: “They said, ‘There’s a bus coming, there’s a last bus coming.’ It never came.”
She checked hospitals near Uvalde and in San Antonio, but there was no word of her son.
The Mata family says they are angry nothing has been done by politicians to prevent such shootings, and they say they haven’t gotten any information from police about the investigation into the attack.
Their daughter Tess is described by the family as a bubbly little girl who loved to dance and had dreams of being TikTok famous.
“She deserves to be remembered,” Veronica Mata said. “She put a smile on everybody’s face every time she was always dancing. She always had the biggest smile ever. So I want her to be remembered, for the awesome little girl that she was.”
ABC News’ James Scholz and Nery Ynclan contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — The nation’s largest pro-gun lobby is poised to gather in Texas days after one of the worst mass shootings in recent U.S. history unfolded in the state.
Despite demands to cancel the annual meeting in light of the tragedy, the National Rifle Association’s Annual Leadership Forum is scheduled to take place in Houston from Friday through Sunday.
The pro-gun gathering comes days after authorities said an 18-year-old armed with an AR-15-style rifle opened fire in an elementary school classroom in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers and wounding 17 people.
Groups including the Harris County Democratic Party, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and March For Our Lives plan to rally outside the convention hall Friday, calling for gun reform in the wake of the massacre.
“Every single speaker at the NRA event this weekend bears responsibility for the innocent lives lost to gun violence,” the Harris County Democratic Party said on Facebook. “It is past time for thoughts and prayers.”
The NRA had the option of delaying the convention, particularly as families prepare to bury those killed in the shooting, but “did not choose to do so,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a press briefing Thursday. He noted that the city does not have the “legal right” to cancel a convention.
The city will be providing security for those attending the meeting, he said, as officials urged peace from protestors and attendees. Protest barricades will also be set up, according to Houston Police Chief Troy Finner.
“We will respect everybody’s right to protest and speak their concerns and their voice,” Finner said during the briefing. “We will not tolerate destruction of property, nor will we tolerate people assaulting individuals.”
The annual NRA meeting typically draws up to 80,000 members, according to the association. Ahead of the convention, the NRA said in a statement that the organization will “reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members, and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.”
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the forum on Friday. Firearms, ammunition, knives, toy guns and other items will be prohibited from that event, per a U.S. Secret Service notice.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday he was unsure if he would attend the meeting.
“I’m living moment-to-moment right now,” he said when asked about his plans during a briefing. “My heart, my head and my body are in Uvalde right now, and I’m here to help the people who are hurting.”
Singer Don McLean backed out of performing at the event in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting tragedy.
“In light of the recent events in Texas, I have decided it would be disrespectful and hurtful for me to perform for the NRA at their convention in Houston this week,” he said in a statement. “I’m sure all the folks planning to attend this event are shocked and sickened by these events, as well. After all, we are all Americans.”
ABC News’ Aliyah Thomas contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Days after at least 19 elementary school students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, students at schools around the country staged walkouts to protest gun violence.
In Michigan, students at Oxford High School, where a school shooting occurred in November, staged a walkout at 12 p.m. on Thursday. Four students were killed in the shooting.
Students at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, also walked out of class, in support of the national gun safety movement. The school was the site of a shooting in November 2019, in which two students were killed.
Students also staged walkouts at schools in Port Washington, New York, and Falls Church, Virginia.
Student organizers say at least 600 students walked out of Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School in Port Washington earlier this afternoon.
Emma Janoff, an 11th grader at Schreiber and a member of ‘Students Demand Action’, a national organization against gun violence, says she got active on gun control policy and school safety following the 2018 Parkland High School shooting.
“You see news every day about kids getting shot and people your age dying and it’s just incredibly sad and unbelievable, especially to see like kids younger and kids my age,” Janoff told ABC News. “I cant imagine that being me; but it is imaginable because it happens so often.”
The 17 year-old says her school’s administration was in support of the walkout and she hopes the over 200 planned demonstrations across the country send a clear message that students are a “united front.”
A walkout may not necessarily change legislation, Janoff said, but these actions show “students are still united in this.”
She said that although most students aren’t old enough to vote, they still want to see change and are willing to take measures to have their voices heard in politics.
“Students don’t have to be quiet about it just because they’re a kid,” Janoff said.
(UVALDE, Texas) — A small town in rural Texas is reeling after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school on Tuesday, killing 19 children.
Two teachers were also among those killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, according to authorities.
Prior to opening fire at the school, the suspect also allegedly shot his grandmother, officials said.
The alleged gunman — identified by authorities as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School — is dead.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 26, 6:49 pm
Law enforcement examining if lockdown was audible to students, staff: Sources
The response by school officials and law enforcement is becoming a key focus in the ongoing investigation into the Uvalde school shooting, law enforcement sources told ABC News Thursday.
It is unclear whether any students and teachers heard an official call for a lockdown once the gunman entered the building, the sources said.
Additionally, investigators are looking into whether officers on site could have made other attempts to enter the school to end the gunman’s rampage faster, the sources said. Responding police were met with gunfire and called for tactical teams with proper equipment to enter the classroom and neutralize the gunman, according to the sources.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman, Josh Margolin, Aaron Katersky and Luke Barr
May 26, 6:19 pm
10-year-old survivor recalls moments after hearing shots fired
A student who was in the classroom next door to the one the gunman entered recounted to ABC News what she did next.
Gemma Lopez, 10, said she heard five to six gunshots and commotion outside her classroom at Robb Elementary School before a bullet whizzed by her arm and into the wall. She recalled seeing a puff of smoke, which is when she knew they were all in danger.
She said she turned off the lights and then ducked under the tables — what she learned to do in the active shooter training she has undergone since kindergarten. There were no locks inside and they did not have a key in the classroom to lock the door from the inside, she said.
Authorities yelled at the gunman to put down his weapon, to which he reportedly shouted in response, “Leave me alone please,” in Spanish, Gemma recalled.
Gemma said her best friend, Amerie Jo Garza, was one of the 19 children killed in the massacre.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Olivia Osteen
May 26, 6:15 pm
Accused gunman sent concerning messages to more than a dozen people before school massacre
The accused Robb Elementary School shooter appears to have sent disturbing messages — including claims about intentions of violence at schools — to numerous young people online in the days and weeks before the shooting, ABC News has found.
Over a dozen people told ABC News that the accused gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, sent them concerning messages across multiple social media platforms in the days leading up to the massacre.
Hours before the massacre, the gunman allegedly messaged a young girl on Instagram warning that he had a secret he wanted to tell her, according to messages reviewed by ABC News, which law enforcement sources say are part of the ongoing investigation into the shooter. He had tagged her in a photo of two guns days earlier.
In another alleged message the morning of the shooting, Ramos sent a photo of a gun laying on a bed, according to a user who shared direct messages from the suspect’s alleged account with ABC News. She replied asking, “Why’d u send me a pic of a gun.”
And moments before the attack, the accused gunman allegedly sent a string of messages to a young girl he met online, detailing that he had shot his grandmother and was heading to the school for his next target, according to messages reviewed by ABC News.
Another young user told ABC News the shooter was on Yubo the day before the massacre and implied something would occur the next day, the day of the shooting.
-ABC News’ Will Steakin and Olivia Rubin
May 26, 4:19 pm
Shooter carried 7 30-round magazines, 15 more found in backpack
The Robb Elementary School gunman had a total of seven 30-round magazines with him in the classroom where the shooting took place, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.
One 30-round magazine was in the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting and six magazines were carried on a tactical vest worn by the shooter, with the potential to hold 210 rounds.
It is unclear how many rounds were expended.
Fifteen additional loaded magazines, potentially holding 450 rounds, were found in a backpack that police said the shooter had when he exited a pickup truck that he crashed near the school.
It is unclear where this backpack was found by police or whether he had it in the classroom.
-ABC News’ Jack Date, Luke Barr, Josh Margolin and Pierre Thomas
May 26, 4:07 pm
Biden, first lady to visit Uvalde on Sunday
The White House announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday.
They will travel to Uvalde “to grieve with the community,” the White House said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Jon Garcia
May 26, 3:32 pm
Texas official gives updated timeline of shooting
Even though the school doors were supposed to be locked during the day, it appears the door the gunman entered through was unlocked, Victor Escalon, the Texas Department of Public Safety’s regional director for south Texas, said at a press conference Thursday.
Escalon gave an updated timeline of the shooting:
After crashing his car, the gunman got out through the passenger side with a rifle and bag containing ammunition.
The suspect walked around then saw two witnesses at the funeral home across the street from where he crashed his car and opened fire on them. Neither person was struck.
While in the parking lot, the gunman fired shots at the school multiple times. The suspect then walked into the west side of the building, Escalon said.
The Uvalde Police Department and the Independent School District Police Department attempted to enter the school building four minutes later, but they heard gunfire and took rounds so they moved back, took cover and called for additional resources, Escalon said.
Escalon said the officers “don’t make entry initially because of the gunfire they’re receiving. But we have officers calling for additional resources.”
While they made calls to bring in backup, officers evacuated students and teachers.
Approximately an hour later, U.S. Border Patrol tactical teams arrived, made entry and shot and killed the suspect, Escalon said.
Escalon said it then became a rescue operation.
May 26, 2:56 pm
Texas official says gunman not confronted by officer before entering through unlocked door
Texas officials said Thursday that police did not confront the gunman before he entered the school, despite earlier reporting that a school district police officer had confronted the gunman.
Police believe the gunman was able to get into the building through an unlocked door at the back of the school, said Victor Escalon, the Texas Department of Public Safety’s regional director for south Texas.
The gunman was shot and killed by Border Patrol tactical team nearly an hour after the shooting began, Escalon said.
May 26, 2:37 pm
Uvalde police says ‘officers responded within minutes,’ amid criticism of response to shooting
Uvalde police officers responded to the shooting “within minutes,” Uvalde police said in a statement Thursday.
“Our personnel have displayed the upmost commitment to our community during this difficult time as we all are suffering as members of the community, that is the family of Uvalde. It is important for our community to know that our Officers responded within minutes alongside Uvalde CISD Officers,” Daniel Rodriguez, Uvalde chief of police, said in a statement.
“I understand questions are surfacing regarding the details of what occurred. I know answers will not come fast enough during this trying time, but rest assured that with the completion of the full investigation, I will be able to answer all the questions that we can.”
Rodriguez added, “I know words will never ease the pain that we are all suffering, but I hope you will join me in taking some solace in knowing that the pain comes from the fact that we all have such deep love for all the victims who have been taken from us, those who are recovering, and those who only time and love will continue to heal.”
May 26, 2:11 pm
Husband of teacher killed in shooting dies of heart attack
Joe Garcia, the husband of teacher Irma Garcia who was killed in the shooting, died of a heart attack on Thursday, according their nephew and a close family friend.
The two were set to celebrate their 25th anniversary this year. The couple had four children.
-ABC News’ Alondra Valle
May 26, 1:55 pm
Mother of victim fatally shot says she ‘lost a piece of my heart’
Eva Dulia Orta, the mother of 10-year-old Rojelio Torres, a fourth grader who died in the Tuesday shooting at Robb Elementary, told ABC News that she is trying to stay strong for the rest of her children, but “I lost a piece of my heart,” she said.
The mother of four told ABC News she went to pick up two of her children at the school, but only came home with one.
This has not only devastated her entire family, but the community, she said, speaking with her twin sister.
“We are praying for everyone, all the children and all the families,” she said.
-ABC News’ Maria Elena Salinas
May 26, 1:49 pm
Witness recounts police response to Uvalde shooting: ‘Why aren’t they going in?’
Bob Estrada, who lives across the street from Robb Elementary School, recounted to ABC News the moments he went out on his porch after hearing gunshots, saying he witnessed the police response to the shooting unfold.
Estrada, whose grandson is a second grader at the school who survived the shooting, said he saw “quite a few” officers outside the school immediately, and then police cars started driving up — but “some of them just stood there.”
“Why aren’t they going in?” Estrada told ABC News he wondered at the time.
Estrada said it was not long before parents began to arrive. “They were hysterical,” he said.
“There were parents out there, and they were kinda motioning like they wanted to come in,” Estrada said. “They were motioning like, ‘What are you doing? Go in!'”
Estrada said he did see some officers go in immediately.
Asked if he saw reinforcements heading into the school, Estrada said no. But, he did not know what sort of presence may have already been inside.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman, Olivia Rubin, Jeffrey Cook and Laura Romero
May 26, 1:24 pm
Young girl who gunman allegedly texted before shooting speaks out
The young girl who allegedly received messages from the Texas gunman moments before his rampage told ABC News she has been asking herself “what if I could change the outcome” since seeing the news that her friend killed 19 students and two teachers on Tuesday.
“Ever since May 24th I have been guilt tripping myself, what if I could change the outcome, what if I could change his mind to not do this. I was too dumb to realize why he bought two Rifles on his birthday May 16th and ordered a package full with ammunitions not knowing what he was going to do with it,” the 15-year-old girl, who asked to be referred to as “Cece,” told ABC News.
The messages are part of an ongoing investigation into the shooter, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Cece, who lives in Germany, said she met the accused gunman on the social media app Yubo where they would “join each others live” streams. The pair met on the app on May 9 before exchanging cellphone numbers, Cece said.
The messages reviewed by ABC News and other outlets appear to show that Cece did not respond to the gunman’s threats until after news of the shooting broke and nearly all the texts are solely from the suspect. It is unclear if the messages were at all edited.
-ABC News’ Will Steakin
May 26, 10:01 am
Texas school district cancels school after receiving ‘credible threat of violence’
The Donna, Texas, Independent School District has canceled classes after it received a “credible threat of violence,” school officials said in a letter posted on Facebook. Donna is about 4 1/2 hours from Uvalde.
The threat is currently under investigation and classes will resume on Tuesday, the district said.
“In light of the recent events and in an abundance of caution we will be canceling school district-wide and staff will be working from home,” the letter said. “The safety and security of our students & staff is our first priority.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
May 26, 7:32 am
Bodies of nine victims released to funeral homes, with more expected today
Nine of the deceased victims’ bodies were released to funeral homes in Uvalde on Wednesday evening, Uvalde County Justice of Peace Eulalio Diaz told CNN.
More — possibly all — of the remaining bodies are expected to be released at some point on Thursday, according to Diaz. It will mark the beginning of the funeral arrangement process for many grieving families in the wake of the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. There are two funeral homes in Uvalde, and both are offering free services to families of the victims.
“My job is to try and get them back home as quickly as possible,” Diaz told CNN in an interview early Thursday.
In a county of less than 50,000 people, there is no medical examiner and the justice of the peace in the state of Texas assumes the responsibility of the county coroner, according to Diaz.
Diaz described his job of going in and assessing the bodies of the dead at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting. He said Irma Garcia, one of the teachers who were killed, was a former high school classmate of his.
(UVALDE, Texas) — The widower of a Texas elementary school teacher killed in a shooting has died of a heart attack days just days after his wife was killed.
Joe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, suffered a fatal heart attack on Thursday, two days after his wife died in a mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the couple’s nephew, John Martinez, and a close family friend confirmed.
The couple, who had known each other since the eighth grade, was set to celebrate their 25th anniversary this year, family said.
Irma Garcia was a fourth-grade teacher who had been with the school for 23 years, according to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s website.
“I love to BBQ with my husband, listen to music, and take country cruises to Concan,” Garcia appeared to have written on the school district’s website.
Irma Garcia had also been co-teaching with Eva Mireles, the other teacher killed in the attack, in the same classroom for five years.
The two faculty were among another 19 children, mostly third and fourth graders, who were fatally shot on Tuesday when suspected gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire on the classroom.
Ramos allegedly used an AR-15 style rifle to carry out the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history — just days after he turned 18 and purchased two firearms. Another 17 people, including three law enforcement officers, were wounded.
Ramos was killed after exchanging gunfire with responding law enforcement officers inside the school.
ABC News’ Alondra Valle contributed to this report.
