Families are mourning, worried after the shooting at the primary school – Daily Local

Jim VERTUN and HISER HOLIGSWORTH

WALDE, Texas (AP) – Embarrassed families gathered at a local community center and turned to social media to mourn and desperately ask for help in finding missing children as the death toll from a school shooting at a Texas elementary school rose at least to 19 students. Authorities said a gunman also killed two adults.

By evening, the names of those killed in Tuesday’s attack on Robb Elementary School in Uwalde began to appear. One man in the community center left, sobbing into the phone, “She’s gone.” At the back of the building stood a woman, one by one, crying and shouting into the phone, shaking her fist and stamping her feet.

Manny Renfrew said he was told Tuesday that his grandson, 8-year-old Uzia Garcia, was among those killed.

“The cutest boy I’ve ever known,” Renfrew said. “I say this not just because he was my grandson.”

Renfra said Uzziah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break.

“We started throwing football together, and I taught him the pattern of passes. “Such a fast little boy, and he could catch the ball so well,” Renfre said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he remembers, and he will do it just the way we practiced.”

4th grade teacher Eva Mireles, 44, is remembered as a loving mother and wife.

“She was adventurous. I would definitely say such wonderful things about her. She will definitely be very bored, ”said 34-year-old relative Amber Ibara of San Antonio.

Ibara was preparing to donate blood for the wounded and pondered how no one noticed the trouble with the shooter to stop him in time.

“For me, it’s more about raising awareness about mental health,” said Ibara, a rehabilitation coach who attended the elementary school where the shooting took place. “Perhaps someone could have noticed the drastic changes before something like this happened.”

Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her cousin Xavier Javier Lopez, who was looking forward to a summer swim.

“He was just a loving 10-year-old boy who just enjoyed life without knowing that this tragedy would happen today,” she said. “He was very lively, he loved to dance with his brothers, his mother. It has just affected us all. “

She also complained about what she called a weak gun law.

“We need to have more restrictions, especially if these children are not in their state of mind, and all they want to do is just harm people, especially innocent children who go to school,” Garza said.

Photos of smiling children have been posted on social networks, and their families are asking for information. During the year, classes ended, and each school day had its own theme. Tuesday was Footloose and Fancy. Students had to wear a beautiful outfit with fun or chic shoes.

Adolf Cruz, a 69-year-old air conditioning repairman, stayed near the school Tuesday night, awaiting information about his 10-year-old great-granddaughter Eliahu Cruz Torres, whose family’s whereabouts remained unknown.

Cruz arrived at the scene after shortly after the first reports that an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at a school, received a tearful and terrifying call from his daughter. While he waited near the school on Tuesday night, his family was in the hospital and community center waiting for any potential word about her condition.

Charuz called the wait the hardest moment of his life.

“I hope she’s alive,” Cruz said. “They’re waiting for an update.”

Federico Torres was waiting for news of his 10-year-old son Rachel. He told KHOU-TV that he was at work when he learned of the shooting and rushed to the school.

“They sent us to the hospital, to the community center, to the hospital and here’s nothing again, even to San Antonio,” Torres said. “We are not told anything, just a photo, wait, I hope all is well.”

Torres said he was praying that “my son would be found safe … If you know anything, let us know.”

The Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, located across the street from Rob Elementary School, said on Tuesday night that it would be assisting the families of the victims of the shooting without the cost of the funeral.

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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Jamie Stangle contributed from Dallas.