Hours before Amerie Jo Garza was murdered in her classroom, the 10-year-old had collected a certificate naming her an honor roll student.
In just two days, the fourth grader was expected to graduate from Robb Elementary School in the Texas city of Uvalde. She, along with a handful of other students in her class, attended a ceremony Tuesday morning to celebrate their achievements before the academic year ended. Clutching her rainbow colored award in both hands, Garza, described by her grandmother as a “teacher’s pet,” is seen grinning up at the camera with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
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But instead of being able to celebrate Garza’s achievement, her family was thrown into a painful, hours-long limbo of not knowing whether she was dead or alive. A gunman had opened fire in Amerie Jo’s school, they’d learned, where several victims had yet to be identified.
“I don’t ask for much or hardly even post on here but please It’s been 7 hours and I still haven’t heard anything on my love,” her stepfather, Angel Garza, wrote on Facebook.
“Please fb help me find my daughter.”
At least 19 children and 2 adults were killed in the massacre on Tuesday morning, the deadliest school shooting in Texas state history. The 18-year-old suspect, Salvador Ramos, shot his grandmother before driving a vehicle to the school and crashing in a ditch near the campus, Erick Estrada, a sergeant from the Texas Department of Public Safety, told CNN. There he opened fire on students and teachers, before he was eventually killed by a border patrol agent, police said.
Like countless other families who couldn’t immediately locate their children after the suspect opened fire in several classrooms, Garza took to social media to scour for information.
On various platforms, families begged for information on their children’s whereabouts. Some paced inside the Willie de Leon Civic Center—where students were evacuated to—for hours, as parents underwent DNA tests to confirm they were related to the victims. The center, normally an event space, became a hub of anguish where parents painfully waited to reunite with their children. As some relieved parents hugged their kids, others screamed in grief.
The limited capacity of the local hospital is one of the reasons it took so long to identify the victims. Uvalde Memorial Hospital, which received 13 children, is a rural hospital with only four full-time physicians and space for 25 inpatients. At least three patients were transferred to University Hospital in San Antonio, the closest trauma care center, which is nearly 80 miles away.
The severity of the injuries only adds to the challenge.
“The ability to make visual identification can be impeded based on how badly the person has been injured,” Jaclyn Schildkraut, an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York, told VICE World News. In cases where visual identification is not possible, DNA or dental records may be needed to confirm a match, she added.
In particular, the assailant was using an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, law enforcement sources told CBS News. He bought two rifles this month soon after he reached the legal age to acquire the weapons. “That was the first thing he did on his 18th birthday,” State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who was briefed by state police, told the Associated Press.
Because of its high-velocity bullets, the AR-15 is known to be devastatingly lethal and leave gaping exit wounds. “The force that hits the body is so fast that there’s a blast range,” said Lillian Liao, a pediatric trauma surgeon at the University Hospital in San Antonio, in a previous interview with VICE News. Liao treated victims of the Sutherland Springs church shooting, where the gunman killed 26 people with the same weapon.
Though officials are yet to announce the full list of victims, families have begun independently confirming their children were among those killed.
About four hours after his initial post, Garza posted an update on his daughter, confirming his worst fear. “She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
For those who finally learnt the death of their loved ones after hours of excruciating wait, their grief has only just begun. “In the days and weeks ahead, they will have to bury their loved ones and deal with trying to figure out how to exist in this new normal,” Schildkraut said.
And it would be a long journey, for not just the primary witnesses but also the families of the victims and the rest of the community. “Survivors often work toward resilience rather than recovery, because one never truly recovers from this,” Schildkraut said.
Other victims include 10-year-old Xavier Lopez, who was another honor roll student, according to a Gofundme page asking for donations for his funeral expenses. Eliahana Torres, also 10, was expected to play her last softball game of the season that day, her family said in an interview. But the young athlete was among the 19 students killed, a relative told VICE World News.
8-year-old Uziyah Garcia was killed on Tuesday, his grandfather Manny Renfro told the Associated Press. Garcia had visited him 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.
At the civic center, P.J. Talavera, who runs a martial school in town, learnt that his wife’s niece was among those who died. “It’s surreal. It’s unbelievable. There is a hollow emptiness inside,” he told Reuters.
Another victim, Eva Mireles, a fourth-grade teacher, died trying to protect her students. An educator for over 17 years, the 44-year-old mother of one loved to run and hike when she wasn’t in the classroom.
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