UVALDE, Texas (AP) – It should have been the first day of a happy week for Robb Elementary School students: the start of summer vacation. Instead, on Monday, the first two of the 19 children killed inside a classroom were being remembered at funeral visits.
The reunion of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza was at Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home in Uvalde, Texas, right in front of the elementary school where the children, along with two teachers, were shot dead Tuesday before the same gunman was killed. The visit of another 10-year-old girl, Maite Rodríguez, was to the other funeral home in the village.
Over the next two and a half traumatic weeks, people in the city of Southwest Texas will say goodbye to the children and their teachers, one visit, one funeral, and one heartbreaking burial after another. As family and friends develop their grief, investigators will press for answers on how police responded to the shooting, and lawmakers have said they will consider what can be done to curb the country’s armed violence.
Only this week the funerals of 11 children and teacher Irma Garcia are planned.
On Monday, some bad guys on Amerie’s visit wore shades of purple or lavender purple, Amerie’s favorites, at the request of her father, Angel Garza. Many carried flowers, including purple ones.
The girl who liked to draw had just received a cell phone for her 10th birthday. One of her friends told Angel Garza that Amerie tried to use the phone to call police during the assault on her fourth grade class.
Among the bad guys on Amerie’s visit were some of Maite’s relatives. Like many people, they both attended.
Maite’s family wore green T-shirts with an illustration showing Maite with angel wings. Before entering the funeral home, they stopped in the ditch to see how the metal door gunman Salvador Ramos crashed a van before crossing a field and entering the school.
“How did you walk for so long?” asked Juana Magaña, Maite’s aunt.
Hillcrest Memorial itself and filming will be linked forever. After Ramos wrecked the truck, two men from the funeral home heard the accident and ran to the scene of the accident. Ramos shot them. He failed and the two men reached a safe place.
Eliahna “Ellie” Garcia’s funeral will be on June 6, the day after she was supposed to be 10 years old. Her family had been preparing for a big birthday party at her grandmother’s house next weekend. She was looking forward to receiving gifts related to the Disney movie “Charm.”
“He loved that movie and talked about it a lot,” said his aunt, Syria Arizmendi.
Ellie was quiet even with her family, but she loved making videos and had already been choreographing with her older sister for her quinceañera party, the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, all and that there were still five years to go, Arizmendi said.
Ellie’s older sister is fine, Arizmendi said, understanding that her family and others are facing a long road to recovery.
“It’s sad for all the kids,” he said.
Funeral directors, embalmers, and others from all over Texas came to help. Jimmy Lucas, president of the Texas Funeral Home Directors Association, drove a hearse and volunteered to work as a driver, show up for services, or do whatever he could, he told NBC News. Other funeral homes that arrived were there to help with facial reconstruction services given the damage caused by the shooter’s military-style rifle.
Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a Memorial Day event in Longview, urged the Texans to keep Uvalde in their prayers.
“What happened to Uvalde was a horrible act of evil,” Abbott said. “And as jeans, we need to unite and lift Uvalde and support them in every way possible. It will take time to heal the devastation that families there have gone through and are going through, but rest assured that we will give in until Uvalde recovers. “
The U.S. Department of Justice on Sunday announced a review of law enforcement response. Police have been heavily criticized for taking more than an hour to kill Ramos in adjoining classrooms where he unleashed carnage.
Officials revealed Friday that students and faculty repeatedly begged for help from 911 operators while a police commander told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. Officials said the commander believed the suspect was barricaded inside an adjoining classroom and that there was no longer any active attack.
The revelation raised new questions about whether lives were lost because officers failed to act more quickly to stop the gunman, who was eventually killed by Border Patrol tactical officers.
Authorities say Ramos legally bought two weapons shortly before the school attack: an AR-style rifle on May 17 and a second rifle on May 20. He had just turned 18, and was allowed to buy weapons under federal law.
A day after visiting Uvalde and promising, “We’ll do it,” in response to people saying “Do something,” President Joe Biden expressed some optimism Monday that there may be some bipartisan support for tightening restrictions on the type of ‘powerful weapons. used by the gunman.
“I think things have gone so badly that everyone is becoming more rational, at least that’s my hope,” Biden told reporters before honoring the nation’s downfall in Memorial Day statements at the National Cemetery. ‘Arlington.
“The second amendment was never absolute,” Biden said. “You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed. You couldn’t go out and buy a lot of weapons.”
A bipartisan group of senators spoke over the weekend to see if they could reach even a modest compromise on arms security legislation. Encouraging state “red flag” laws to keep guns away from people with mental health issues and addressing school safety and mental health resources were on the table, said Sen. Chris Murphy, who leads the effort .
The group will meet again this week with a 10-day deadline to reach an agreement.
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Nathan Ellgren in Uvalde and Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.
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