Distressed families gathered at a local civic center and turned to social media to mourn and desperately seek help to find missing children, as the death toll in a horrific school shooting at a Texas elementary school rose to at least 19 students.
Authorities said the gunman also killed two adults.
At night, the names of the dead began to appear during Tuesday’s attack on Robb Primary School in the town of Uvalde.
Images of children killed in Texas shooting. (new)
A man from the civic center was crying on his phone “she’s gone”.
In the back of the building, a woman was left alone, crying and shouting alternately on her phone, shaking her fist and slapping her feet.
Manny Renfro said he learned Tuesday that his eight-year-old grandson, Uziyah Garcia, was among the dead.
“The sweetest kid I’ve ever met,” Renfro said.
“I don’t say that just because he was my grandson.”
Uziyah Garcia, 8, was among those killed in a shooting Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP)
Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during the spring break.
“We started throwing football together and I was teaching him passing patterns. A kid so fast and he could catch a ball so well,” Renfro said.
“There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and that he would do exactly as we practiced.”
A state agent walks past the Robb Elementary School sign in Uvalde, Texas after a deadly shooting at the school. (AP)
Fourth-grader Eva Mireles, 44, was remembered as a loving mother and wife.
“She was an adventurer. I would definitely say these wonderful things about her. I would definitely miss her,” said Amber Ybarra, a 34-year-old relative from San Antonio.
Ybarra prepared to give blood to the wounded and reflected on how no one noticed problems with the shooter in time to stop him.
People react outside the Civic Center after a deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. (AP)
“For me, it’s more about raising awareness about mental health,” said Ybarra, a wellness coach who attended elementary school where the shooting took place.
“Someone might have seen a dramatic change before something like this happened.”
Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her cousin, Xavier Javier López, who was looking forward to a summer of swimming.
“He was just a loving 10-year-old boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy would happen today,” he said.
Seattle Mariners players are on the field before a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics at T-Mobile Park during a moment of silence for the victims of a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP)
“He was very bubbly, he loved to dance with his siblings, his mother. That just took its toll on us all.”
He also lamented what he described as lax gun laws.
“We should have more restrictions, especially if these children are not in the right mood and all they want to do is hurt people, especially innocent children who go to school,” Garza said.
Images of smiling children were posted on social media, with their families asking for information.
Archbishop of San Antonio Gustavo Garcia-Siller, right, consoles families outside the Civic Center after a deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP) Archbishop of San Antonio Gustavo Garcia-Siller, right, is consoling families outside the Civic Center after a deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP)
During the school year the classes were coming to an end and each school day had a theme. Tuesday was Footloose and Fancy.
Students had to wear a nice dress with fun or stylish shoes.
Adolfo Cruz, a 69-year-old air-conditioning repairman, was left out of school on Tuesday night, awaiting news of his 10-year-old granddaughter Elijah Cruz Torres, whose whereabouts remained unknown to the family.
Cruz drove to the scene after receiving a tearful and terrifying call from his daughter shortly after initial reports that an 18-year-old gunman had opened fire on the school.
Police walk near Robb Elementary School after a shooting. (AP)
While waiting outside school on Tuesday night, his family was in the hospital and civic center waiting for any word on his condition.
Çruz called waiting the hardest moment of his life.
“I hope she’s alive,” Cruz said. “Waiting for an update”.
Federico Torres was waiting for news about his 10-year-old son Rogelio.
He told KHOU-TV he was at work when he learned of the shooting and rushed to school.
The San Antonio Fire Department team is stationed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. (AP)
“They sent us to the hospital, to the civic center, to the hospital and here again, nothing, not even to Sant Antoni,” Torres said.
“They don’t tell us anything, just a picture, wait, we hope everything goes well.”
Torres said he was praying for “my son to be safe … If you know anything, let us know.”
Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, located in front of Robb Elementary School, said in a Facebook post Tuesday evening that it would help the families of the victims of the shooting at no cost to the funeral.