The 19 school children — and two teachers — were killed in a massacre two days before they were supposed to go on break.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed on Tuesday Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in what is the deadliest school shooting in Texas history and the most significant school shooting in US history since Sandy Hook in 2012.
Parents waited late into the night at a nearby civic center to check if their children made survived the attack, or if they were among those killed, CNN reported. Some parents also said that they had to give DNA samples to assist police in identifying the children.
Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez said “we see people coming out just terrorized. They’re crying one by one. They’re being told that their child has passed on,” and that there are still those who “have not had their children identified,” in a statement to CNN.
Here is a list of the victims identified so far:
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Eva Mireles was one of the teachers who taught fourth-grade children. In a short biography posted on the school district’s website, Mireles had written she had “a supportive, fun, and loving family” comprised of her husband, her college-graduate daughter, and “three furry friends.”
“I love running, hiking, and now you just might see me riding a bike!!” Mireles wrote on the website. Her husband, Ruben Ruiz, is a police officer at the school district’s police force, the agency investigating the massacre. A mother of one of Mireles’s former students she was the best teacher her child had, according to a KSAT report.
The child has Down Syndrome, the report said, and Mireles “was constantly going the extra mile” for her student.
Mireles’s aunt said in response to her niece’s death that she is “furious that these shootings continue, these children are innocent, rifles should not be easily available to all. This is my hometown — a small community of less than 20,000. I never imagined this would happen – especially to loved ones.”
The second teacher killed was Irma Garcia, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth citing Garcia’s son. her son also said that a friend who was at the scene of the incident said that he saw Irma “positioned with her body to protect her students.”
The first student to be identified was Xavier Lopez, a fourth-grade student.
Lopez’s cousin mourned his death, saying that “he was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today.”
The second student identified was 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, another fourth-grade student. Her father waited hours for news if she survived, only to discover she was among the victims, KSAT, an ABC affiliate in San Antonio,Texas, reported.
Uziyah Garcia was another victim of the attack. His grandfather received word of his death, saying that he was “the sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known. I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid,” KSAT reported.
A few children and one woman, 66, have been taken to the University Hospital in San Antonio to have their injuries treated.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report. This is a developing story.