A lifeguard who rushed to help the injured children in the Texas Elementary School massacre has shared the devastating moment when he learned that his daughter was among those killed.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed when a gunman barricaded himself in a classroom at Robb d’Uvalde Primary School and opened fire on second, third and fourth graders.
See more of the heartbreaking moment in the video above
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Medical Assistant Angel Garza intervened to help when emergency services began removing distressed survivors from the building.
“When I got to the scene, they still had kids inside. They started taking the kids and I was helping out,” he told CNN.
“This girl was covered in blood from head to toe.
“I thought she was hurt, I asked her what was going on. She was hysterical, saying they killed her best friend.”
In a tragic turn of fate, she was the best friend of her daughter, Amerie Jo Garza, 10 years old.
“I asked her name and she said Amerie,” she said, speaking through tears.
Angel Garza with his 10-year-old daughter Amerie Jo Garza, who died in the shooting. Credit: Angel Garza
Holding a photo of his beloved daughter on his chest, the devastated father cried as he asked, “How do you look at this girl and shoot her, baby?”
Garza said her classmates told her Amerie had been trying to help, using the phone she received as a 10th birthday present two weeks before she called police.
“I was just trying to do the right thing, I was trying to call the police,” he said.
“I was very scared of strangers and things like that. I locked the door when I went out to put gas in the car. That’s their worst fear.”
The devastated father Angel Garza, on the right, takes a picture of his 10-year-old daughter Amerie, who died in the school massacre. Credit: CNN
The adorable sister loved taking care of her little brother, three-year-old Zayne, whom Garza said she asked for every morning before school.
“She was so sweet, the sweetest girl who didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.
“She listened to her mother and father, she always brushed her teeth, she was creative … I just want to know what she did to be a victim.”
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Amerie was among the classmates who received an honorary award on Tuesday morning, just hours before the teenage gunman entered the school.
The 18-year-old shot his grandmother before traveling to school, where she locked herself in a classroom and killed children and teachers.
The young victims were between six and 10 years old.
The shooter has been identified as Salvador Ramos. He was shot dead by police.