It should have been the first day of a happy week for the students at Robb Primary School: the start of summer vacation. Instead, the first two of the 19 children killed in one of their classrooms they were remembered on Monday at wakes.
the of Amerie Jo Garzaage 10, was held at Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home in Uvalde, Texas, right in front of the school school where the children, along with two teachers, were shot dead on Tuesday before the shooter himself was killed. The wake of another 10-year-old girl, Maite Rodriguez, took place at the other funeral home in the city.
During the next two and a half weeks, the inhabitants of this city in southwest Texas will say goodbye to the children and their teachers in successive and heartbreaking funeral ceremonies and burials.
Amerie Jo Garza, 10 years old. Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP
As family and friends vent their grief, those in charge of the investigation will demand answers about how police responded to the shooting, and lawmakers have said they will weigh what can be done to curb the gun violence spreading across the United States.
Twelve funerals in one week
just this week The funerals of 11 children and the teacher Irma Garcia are planned.
On Monday, some of the mourners who attended Amerie’s wake were dressed in shades of lilac or lavender — Amerie’s favorite — at the request of her father, Angel Garza. A lots of they carried flowersincluding some purple.
The little one, who loved to drawhad received a cell phone for his 10th birthday. One of her friends told Angel Garza that Amerie tried to use the phone to call the police during the attack on his fourth grade class.
Among those attending the act of mourning for Amerie were some relatives of Maite. Like many people, they attended both wakes.
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10 years old. Photo: Chandan Khana/AFP
Maite’s family wore green shirts with an illustration showing her with angel wings. Before entering the funeral home, they stopped at the ditch to see the metal fence that attacker Salvador Ramos had crashed a pickup truck into before crossing a field and entering the school.
“How did he walk for so long?” asked Juana Magaña, Maite’s aunt.
Hillcrest Funeral Home itself and the shooting will be linked forever. After Ramos crashed the vehicle, two men who were at the funeral home they heard the crash and ran towards the place of the accident. Ramos fired at them, but missed, and both men escaped to safety.
Elijah’s funeral”Ellie Garcia It will be June 6, one day after what was to be his tenth birthday. His family I had prepared a big party for the occasion at her grandmother’s next weekend. She expected to receive related gifts with Disney’s “Charming” movie.
“He loved that movie and talked about it a lot,” said his aunt, Siria Arizmendi.
She was quiet even with the family, but she liked to make videos and had already been practicing with her older sister. a choreography for your party Quinceañera, although there were still five years to go, Arizmendi added.
By Adriana Gomez Licon, Associated Press
ap
