The husband of one of the teachers killed in the Texas school shooting has died suddenly after visiting her memorial.
The Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary confirmed the death of Joe Garcia, husband to Irma Garcia, one of the 21 people gunned down at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on Tuesday.
The pair were married for 24 years and were high school sweethearts. It’s reported Garcia died of a heart attack.
Garcia went to visit his wife’s memorial to drop off flowers on Thursday.
He collapsed minutes after returning home, one of his nephews said.
“Extremely heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief,” John Martinez wrote on Twitter.
“I truly am at a loss for words for how we are all feeling, please pray for our family.
“God have mercy on us, this isn’t easy.”
The couple shared four children together.
Irma Garcia, 48, had been teaching for 23 years, her obituary said.
She co-taught with Eva Mireles, 44.
Both were killed by gunman Salvador Ramos who massacred 19 children after he barricaded himself inside a fourth-grade classroom.
The 18-year-old was inside the elementary school for more than an hour before he was killed in a shootout, law enforcement authorities said today.
It is believed Garcia sacrificed herself to protect her students.
A friend in law enforcement told her son Garcia was seen shielding students at the time of the rampage, NBC reports.
A media briefing called by Texas public safety officials to clarify the timeline of the attack provided bits of previously unknown information.
Local police officers entered the building four minutes later but were driven back after exchanging fire with the gunman, he said.
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz did not give a timeline but said repeatedly that the tactical officers from his agency who arrived at the school did not hesitate.
He said they moved rapidly to enter the building, lining up in a “stack” behind an agent holding up a shield.
“What we wanted to make sure is to act quickly, act swiftly, and that’s exactly what those agents did,” Ortiz told Fox News.
But a law enforcement official, on condition of anonymity, said that once in the building, the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key.
