ESO fourth-year teacher Irma Garcia was one of two teachers killed Tuesday during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. On Thursday morning, her husband and her high school sweetheart Joe died from what family members said was a “medical emergency.”
“I really think Joe died with a broken heart,” Irma Garcia’s cousin Debra Austin wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Losing the love of his life for more than 25 years was too much to bear.”
Courtesy of GoFundMe
One of the couple’s nephews tweeted that Joe Garcia died after suffering a heart attack at home.
“These two will make anyone feel loved no matter what happens,” he tweeted. “They have the purest heart that I love you for [so much] aunt and uncle, please be with me every step of the way. ”
Joe Garcia was 50 and had just arrived home after leaving flowers at his wife’s memorial when he “almost just fell,” his nephew, John Martinez, told The New York Times.
CBS News has contacted members of Garcia’s family for more information.
Martinez wrote on Twitter that his uncle had “died of pain.”
“I’m really speechless about how we all feel,” he said. “… God have mercy on us, this is not easy.”
EXTREMELY heartbreaking and I come with deep sorrow to say that my Aunt Irma’s husband, Joe Garcia, has died of grief, I’m really speechless about how we all feel, PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY, God have mercy on us, this is not easy pic.twitter.com/GlUSOutRVV
– john martinez ❤️🔥 (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
Pain death, known as a broken heart syndrome, is caused by an increase in stress hormones, according to the American Heart Association, which is usually caused by an emotionally stressful event. The death of a loved one is a common cause of stress-induced cardiomyopathy.
According to the association, it is often misdiagnosed as a heart attack due to similar symptoms. Both attacks show a dramatic change in rhythm, but there are no blocked arteries in broken heart syndrome.
Martinez said the couple were beloved in high school and have four children, ages 23, 19, 15 and 13.
“No child should go through this,” Martinez tweeted. “It breaks my heart for them.”
A fourth-grader who survived Tuesday’s shooting told CBS affiliate KENS-TV that Irma Garcia and another teacher who was killed, Eva Mireles, 44, saved her life and the lives of others. children.
“They were in front of my teammates to help,” he said. “To save them.”
After Tuesday’s shooting, Martinez said his aunt “sacrificed herself to protect the children in her classroom.”
“Irma Garcia is her name,” he said, “and she died a hero.”
School shooting in Uvalde, Texas
More More Li Cohen
Li Cohen is a social media producer and trend reporter for CBS News, focusing on social justice issues.