JAKARTA - Sad news comes from the families of victims of a bloody elementary school shooting in Texas, United States, when the husband of a teacher who died in the tragedy died of a heart attack, according to the family.
Joe Garcia was preparing for the funeral of Irma Garcia, his high school sweetheart-turned-wife for the past 24 years, when he collapsed and died Thursday, his nephew John Martinez told The New York Times.
Joe's death followed Irma, making his four children no longer have parents. According to The Times, the oldest child is 23 years old.
Irma Garcia, 46, was one of two teachers who died Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, along with 19 children at the sting of an 18-year-old teenager.
Families briefed by authorities said both Garcia and his fellow teacher Eva Mireles died trying to protect their students from the shooting.
"So heartbreaking and come with deep sadness to say that my husband (aunt) Irma, Joe Garcia has passed away of grief, I am truly at a loss for words for how we all feel," Martinez wrote on his Twitter account, using The Spanish word for 'aunt' and asks for prayers for the family, reports The National News May 27.
"God have mercy on us, this is not easy," he continued.
Martinez, 21, a student at Texas State University, said Joe Garcia died after returning home from delivering flowers for his wife's funeral.
He almost fell. I'm really in shock right now," he said.
As previously reported, a teenage gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers after storming a Texas elementary school on Tuesday, the latest in a series of mass gun killings in the United States and the country's worst school shooting in nearly a decade.
The perpetrator, identified as 18 years old and named Salvador Ramos, was said to have been subdued and shot dead by police at the scene.
The motive was not immediately clear. Law enforcement officers saw the gunman, wearing body armor, emerge from the crashed vehicle carrying a rifle and 'engage' the suspect, who managed to enter the building and opened fire, Texas Department of Public Security (DPS) Sergeant Erick Estrada told CNN, as reported by Reuters.
EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma's husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief, i truly am at a loss for words for how we are all feeling, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY, God have mercy on us, this isn't easy pic.twitter.com/GlUSOutRVV
— john martinez ❤️🔥 (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
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