UVALDE, Texas (AP) — One student was an avid runner, so fast she swept the races at field day. Another was learning football plays from his grandfather. One girl sensed something was wrong and wanted to skip school.
On Wednesday, stories began to emerge about the lives of the 19 fourth-graders — “precious individuals” according to the school district superintendent — and their two teachers who were gunned down behind a barricaded door at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde.
Vincent Salazar said his 10-year-old daughter, Layla, loved to swim and dance to Tik Tok videos. She was fast — she won six races at the school’s field day, and Salazar proudly posted a photo of Layla showing off two of her ribbons on Facebook.
Each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, Salazar would play “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns ‘n’ Roses and they’d sing along, he said.
“She was just a whole lot of fun,” he said.
Manny Renfro lost his 8-year-old grandson, Uziyah Garcia, in the shooting.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”
Renfro said Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo during spring break. “We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns. Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”
Veronica Luevanos, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jailah Nicole Silguero, was among the victims, tearfully told Univision that her daughter did not want to go to school Tuesday and seemed to sense something bad was going to happen. Jailah’s cousin also died in the shooting.
All of the dead were in the same fourth-grade classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself Tuesday and opened fire on the children and their teachers, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told a news conference Wednesday. He said the gunman used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in the attack and posted on Facebook shortly before the shooting, “I’m going to shoot an elementary school.”
Schools Superintendent Hal Harrell fought back tears as he spoke of the children and their teachers.
“You can just tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved,” Harrell said of the children. “That they loved coming to school, that they were just precious individuals.”
The two teachers “poured their heart and soul” into their work, Harrell said.
Teacher Eva Mireles, 44, was remembered as a loving mother and wife. “She was adventurous. … She is definitely going to be very missed,” said 34-year-old relative Amber Ybarra, of San Antonio.
In a post on the school’s website at the start of the school year, Mireles had introduced herself to her new students.
“Welcome to the 4th grade! We have a wonderful year ahead of us!” she wrote, noting she had been teaching 17 years, loved running and hiking, and had a “supportive, fun, and loving family.” She mentioned that her husband was a school district police officer, and they had a grown daughter and three “furry friends.”
Among those left to grieve were relatives of 10-year-old Eliahna Garcia.
“She was very happy and very outgoing,” said Eliahna’s aunt, Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same school district. “She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.”
Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, Texas, mourned the death of her 10-year-old cousin, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming.
“He was just a loving … little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen,” she said. “He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.”
She lamented what she described as lax gun laws.
“We should have more restrictions, especially if these kids are not in their right state of mind and all they want to do is just hurt people, especially innocent children going to the schools,” Garza said.
Arizmendi also spoke angrily, through tears, about how the shooter managed to get a gun.
“It’s just difficult to understand or to put into words,” she said. “I just don’t know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old. What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?”
As Ybarra prepared to give blood for the wounded, she wondered how no one noticed trouble with the shooter in time to stop him.
“To me, it’s more about raising mental health awareness,” said Ybarra, a wellness coach who attended Robb Elementary herself. “Someone could possibly have seen a dramatic change before something like this happened.”
In the hours after the shooting, pictures of smiling children were posted on social media, their families begging for information. Classes had been winding down for the year and each school day had a theme. Tuesday’s was Footloose and Fancy, and students were supposed to wear a nice outfit with fun or fancy shoes.
At a civic center where desperate relatives had gathered for news late Tuesday, one man walked away sobbing into his phone: “She is gone.” Behind the building, a woman stood alone, alternately crying and yelling into her phone, shaking her fist and stamping her feet.
Even for the survivors, there was grief.
Lorena Auguste was substitute teaching at Uvalde High School when she heard about the shooting. She began frantically texting her niece, a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary, until Auguste heard from her sister that the child was OK.
Auguste said her niece asked her that night, “Tia, why did they do this to us? We’re good kids, we didn’t do anything wrong.”
Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, which is located across the street from Robb Elementary School, said in a Facebook post that it would be assisting families of the shooting victims with no cost for funerals.
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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Uvalde, Texas; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Don Babwin in Chicago; Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kansas; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Jill Zeman Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed.
List of victims in school shooting in Texas
UVALDE, Texas — At least 21 people — including 19 children — were killed by a gunman during Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Among them were a 10-year-old girl who had just made the honor roll and a fourth-grade teacher who had worked for the school district for about 17 years.
Their names and stories were still emerging Wednesday as the shocked and grieving community processed the horrific attack, which will forever change life in the small town about 80 miles west of San Antonio.
Here is what we know about the victims who have been identified so far:
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10
Shortly before midnight, Kimberly Mata-Rubio wrote on Facebook that her daughter, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, had been killed in Tuesday’s shooting, which occurred only hours after an honor roll ceremony.
In her post, Mata-Rubio included a photo of Alexandria smiling with her “All-A’s” certificate.
“My beautiful, smart, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio was recognized today for All-A honor roll,” she wrote. “She also received the good citizen award. We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye.”
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Hours before the shooting Tuesday morning, Amerie Jo Garza, 10, had posed at school for a photo, smiling as she held a bright certificate celebrating her “A-B” honor roll.
“Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby,” her father, Angel Garza, wrote on Facebook shortly after midnight. “She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.”
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
The family of Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez was among many who waited for answers after the shooting. Around 7 p.m. Tuesday, her sister, Lidia Anthony Luna, wrote on Facebook that Annabell was among those killed.
“My little sister didn’t make it she’s not longer with us my poor sweet little girl,” Luna wrote. “Why god why these sweet babies who didn’t deserve this who were all happy for summer vacation.”
Family members told Houston TV station KHOU that she was 10 years old.
Eliahana Cruz Torres
Adolfo Cruz told ABC News late Tuesday night that his granddaughter, Eliahana Cruz Torres, was among those killed in the shooting.
A woman who said she is Eliahana’s aunt told a reporter KENS-TV News that the girl was a fourth grader and a softball player, excited to play her final game that was scheduled the day of the shooting.
The woman, who didn’t give her name, said her sister Sandra Torres, the girl’s mother, had been looking for her child throughout the day with no luck.
“It’s not like my niece not to reach out because when she feels threatened or scared, she’s always calling on her phone. She’ll blow up somebody until somebody answers her.”
The woman said she spoke to her niece the day before the shooting about her upcoming softball game and showed a picture of Eliahana in her softball gear.
“She was very excited about her softball game today. She was kind of nervous,” her aunt said. “She was excited because they were … going to announce the ones that made it to All-Stars. And she was also saying, like, ‘What if I make it? I’m going to be so nervous.’ And I was like, ‘Girl, you got this. You’re going to be good at it. You got this.’ So she was excited.”
Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9
Fourth grader Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9, was the second eldest of five girls in her family, a helper around the house who loved “Encanto,” cheerleading and basketball, her grandparents said. She dreamed of wearing a purple dress to her quinceanera, they said, and becoming a teacher.
Grandfather Rogelio Lugo, 63, spent Tuesday driving between hospitals, then waiting at the civic center for the grim news. He watched as officials swabbed his daughter’s and son-in-law’s mouths for DNA to identify his granddaughter.
At about 9:30 p.m., he said, officials started calling parents’ names, summoning them to a back room to inform them that their children were dead.
“When you go in, you know your baby is deceased,” he recalled as he sat in his living room Wednesday, surrounded by family and friends.
When Lugo heard officials call his daughter and son-in-law’s names, he knew his granddaughter was gone. He had last seen Ellie on Sunday. She spent weekends with her grandparents, reminding them to take their pills, helping to mow the lawn, make tostadas and chalupas and babysit her younger sisters. She would even ask to help her grandfather with his excavating work.
“When you’re older,” he would say.
Her older sister Janel Garcia, 11, was her constant companion, flaquita to her gordita. By Wednesday, Janel knew Ellie was dead, but couldn’t really understand, Lugo said.
“She wants her back. They’re always together,” he said.
Lugo raised his children in Uvalde and never felt unsafe. “I’ve seen all the stuff happen in other states, hoping it doesn’t happen here. Now it has,” he said.
His wife, Nelda Lugo, 63, worked as a cook at another Uvalde elementary school that was also placed on lockdown after the shooting. She knew both of the teachers who were killed. Sitting in her kitchen Wednesday surrounded by loved ones, she said the deaths still didn’t seem real.
“This morning I got up and thought, ‘What a dream I had,’” she said.
She had been stockpiling gifts for Ellie’s birthday June 4: leggings and Legos. Ellie’s father, a car salesman and DJ, planned to handle the music — lots of cumbias, which Ellie liked to dance to at her grandparents’ house, filming TikTok videos, she said.
Lugo said she struggled to explain the shooting to Ellie’s 5-year-old sister, who saw her parents on television late Tuesday.
“Why are they at the civic center?” she asked.
“They’re looking for Ellie,” Lugo said.
“Why?” the girl asked.
“They lost her at the school,” Lugo said.
“Why?”
“Because she died,” Lugo said.
Then she put the girl to bed. By morning, Lugo said her granddaughter had stopped asking questions. But her daughter awoke crying.
“It’s very, very sad,” she said.
Eva Mireles, 44
One of the two adult victims in Uvalde was Eva Mireles, a fourth-grade teacher who had worked for the school district for about 17 years. Her husband, Ruben Ruiz, is a police officer in the district. He was one of several officers who responded to the shooting and were apparently shot at by the shooter, but he was not injured.
Mireles’ aunt, Lydia Martinez Delgado, said in a message to the Los Angeles Times that she was furious to lose her niece in such a “tragic” and “senseless” way. The U.S., she said, needed to act on gun laws and expand background checks.
“It’s so easy for young, mental kids to get guns and randomly shoot innocent victims,” she said. “My niece, Eva, lost her life protecting her students. It shouldn’t have to be like this: teachers, parents and students afraid to go to school or send their kids to school.”
In a post on Twitter, Mireles’ daughter described her mother as “the half that makes me whole.”
“You are so known by many now and I’m so happy that people know your name and that beautiful face of yours and they know what a hero looks like,” she wrote, adding: “My heart will forever be broken.”
Irma Garcia
“My tia did not make it,” John Martinez wrote on Twitter about his aunt, Irma Garcia, a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary. “She sacrificed herself by protecting the kids in her classroom … She died a HERO. She was loved by many and will be truly missed.”
According to a GoFundMe page organized for Garcia’s family by Steven Martinez, she was a wife and mother of four children.
“Sweet, kind, loving,” Martinez wrote. “Fun with the greatest personality.”
Her age could not immediately be confirmed.
Jackie Cazares, 10
Fourth grader Jackie Cazares, 10, was among those killed along with her cousin Annabell Rodriguez, according to San Antonio TV station KSAT.
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Ten-year-old Jailah Nicole Silguero was killed in the shooting, her mother, Veronica Luevanos, told Univision through tears.
Luevanos said Jailah loved to dance and film videos on TikTok.
“I took her to school, but she didn’t want to go. She told her father, ‘Can I stay home?’” Luevanos said, adding that Jailah didn’t often ask to stay home. “I think she knew something would happen.”
Jailah’s cousin, 10-year-old Jayce Luevanos, was also killed in the shooting, according to Luevanos. She said her brother, Jacye’s father, was taking his death hard.
Jayce Luevanos, 10
Jayce Luevanos, 10, died in the shooting along with his cousin, Jailah Nicole Silguero, according to Jailah’s mother.
In a Facebook post, their uncle Unberto Gonzalez shared photos of both children.
“My babies going to miss them like crazy!!!,” Gonzalez wrote. “We luv y’all so much!!! I’m just lost right now!!! Fly high my beautiful Angels!!”
Jose Flores, 10
Christopher Salazar confirmed to The Washington Post that his 10-year-old nephew, Jose Flores, was killed in the shooting.
“I love you and I miss you,” Salazar wrote in a post on Facebook alongside photos of the boy.
In one photo, Jose can be seen grinning after catching a fish. In another, he is proudly displaying his honor roll certificate under a “Robb ’22″ banner.
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
On Tuesday, Brandon Elrod told ABC News that he was still searching for his 10-year-old daughter, Makenna.
“Pretty sad,” he said, choking back tears. “Really sad. I don’t know what this world is coming to.”
Later, a family friend said on Facebook that Makenna had been killed.
“My heart is shattered as my daughter Chloe loved her so much!!” Pilar Newberry wrote, adding: “Just a few weeks ago she got a friendship bracelet from her at the ballpark and she wears it everyday!”
Maite Rodriguez
“It is with a heavy heart I come on here on behalf of my cousin Ana who lost her sweet baby girl in yesterday’s senseless shooting,” Raquel Silva wrote on Facebook about one of the victims, Maite Rodriguez. “Our hearts are shattered.”
Another family member shared a photo of Maite with her honor roll certificate in front of a school banner.
Her age could not immediately be confirmed.
Nevaeh Bravo
Nevaeh Bravo’s cousin posted on social media after the shooting to ask for the public’s help locating the girl. Around 9 p.m., she wrote on Twitter: “Unfortunately my beautiful Nevaeh was one of the many victims from todays tragedy.”
“Thank you for the support and help,” she wrote. “Rest in peace my sweet girl, you didn’t deserve this.”
Her age could not immediately be confirmed.
Rojelio Torres, 10
“Our entire family waited almost 12 hours since the shooting to find out Rojelio Torres, my 10-year-old nephew, was killed in this tragedy,” Torres’ aunt, Precious Perez, told KSAT. “We are devastated and heartbroken. Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten.”
Tess Marie Mata
Tess Marie Mata was among the students killed, according to a Facebook post by her sister, Faith Mata.
“I honestly have no words just sadness, confusion, and anger,” she wrote. “I’m sad because we will never get to tag team on mom and dad again and tell each other how much we mean to each other, I’m confused because how can something like this happen to my sweet, caring, and beautiful sister, and I’m angry because a coward took you from us.”
A series of pictures accompanying the post showed Tess smiling in a baby photo, snoozing in bed, snuggling with a cat, doing the splits, flashing a peace sign and posing in front of a large heart mural.
“Sissy I miss you so much, I just want to hold you and tell you how pretty you are, I want to take you outside and practice softball, I want to go on one last family vacation, I want to hear your contagious laugh, and I want you to hear me tell you how much I love you,” her sister wrote.
Her age could not immediately be confirmed.
Uziyah Garcia, 8
Eight-year-old Uziyah Garcia was among the Robb Elementary students killed Tuesday, his grandfather, Manny Renfro, told The Associated Press.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Renfro said. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”
Xavier Lopez, 10
Felicha Martinez told The Washington Post that her 10-year-old son, Xavier Lopez, was killed.
“He was funny, never serious and his smile,” she said. “That smile I will never forget. It would always cheer anyone up.”
She watched him receive an honor roll certificate just hours before he was killed.
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(Hennessy-Fiske reported from Uvalde, Jarvie from Atlanta, and Smith and Reyes-Velarde from Los Angeles.)
