UVALDE, Texas – Instead of making summer plans, the families of 19 school children and 2 teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde are making funeral plans. Their young, innocent lives were ended by an 18-year-old gunman with just two days left in the school year during what is now the deadliest elementary school shooting since Sandy Hook.
As reported by KSAT-TV, the victims were in fourth-grade. Before they were victims, they were children, brothers, sisters, and elementary school students.
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Here’s what we know about them:
Tess Mata, 10-year-old student
Tess’ mom said her daughter had the biggest smile ever and she wants her to be remembered “for the awesome little girl that she was.”
Irma Garcia, 4th grade teacher
Irma Garcia was a fourth-grade teacher at the elementary school. According to her school biography, she taught with fellow teacher Eva Mireles for five years. Mireles was also killed on Tuesday.
“My husband’s name is Joe Garcia. We have been married for 24 years and have 4 children. I love to BBQ with my husband, listen to music, and take country cruises to Concan,” her webpage states.
According to News4JAX sister station KSAT in San Antonio, Garcia’s family confirmed her husband died of grief.
This year marked her 23rd year of teaching.
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10-year-old student
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio went by Lexi. She was an honor student at Robb Elementary school. She was killed in the attack on the same day she received a good citizen award from her school, according to her family.
“My beautiful, smart, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio was recognized today for All-A honor roll,” the girl’s mother, Kimberly Mata-Rubio wrote on Facebook the day her daughter died. “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.”
Jose Flores Jr., 10-year-old student
Jose Flores Jr., 10, was also among those killed at Robb Elementary, his father Jose Flores Sr. said.
Flores described the fourth grader as an amazing kid and big brother to his two siblings. Jose loved baseball and video games.
“He was always full of energy,” Flores said. “Ready to play till the night.”
Jose Flores Jr. received this honor roll certificate at Robb Elementary School just hours before the shooting.
Jose’s father, Jose Flores Sr., told CNN he went to the local hospital hoping to find out his son was just wounded but received the worst news. When he asked a Texas Ranger if he could see his son, the man told him “as a father, I wouldn’t let you go back there and see him. because he was not recognizable.”
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10-year-old student
Veronica Luevanos, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jailah Nicole Silguero, was among the victims, told Univision in a tearful interview that her daughter did not want to go to school Tuesday and that the girl seemed to sense something was going to happen.
Naveah Bravo, 10-year-old student
Jailah’s friend, Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, also was killed and her aunt noted Naveah’s first name is Heaven spelled backward. In a Facebook posting, Yvonne White described Nevaeh and Jailah as “Our Angels.”
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10-year-old student
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos was cousins with Jailah Silguero. “They were nothing but loving baby angels, always had a smile on their face just full of life,” their cousin said in a statement to ABC News. “I can’t believe this happened to our angels.”
Jackie Cazares, 10-year-old student
Jackie Cazares, 10, was killed along with her cousin Annabell Rodriguez. They were cousins, friends and classmates in their fourth grade class at Robb Elementary.
Uziyah Garcia, 10-year-old student
Uziyah Garcia was a 10-year-old student at the elementary school, according to the Associated Press. His grandfather, Manny Renfro, confirmed his identity.
“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.”
Amerie Jo Garza, 10-year-old student
Amerie Jo Garza, 10, was just finishing her 4th-grade year at Robb Elementary. Her father waited hours for news about her whereabouts after Tuesday’s shooting only to learn that she was among the victims.
Angel Garza, her father, wrote on Facebook: “Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. 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.”
Xavier Lopez, 10-year-old student
The first student to be identified by family as one of the 19 killed on Tuesday is Xavier Lopez. His family said he was in fourth grade.
His mother was with him at the school during an awards ceremony just hours before the shooting, not realizing it would be the last time she would see him.
Eva Mireles, 4th grade teacher
According to her bio on the school’s employee page, Eva Mireles,44, was married to a Uvalde CISD police officer and had one daughter. She loved her pets and loved running and hiking.
Audrey Garcia, whose daughter was a former student of Eva Mireles, said she was the best teacher her child has ever had.
Garcia’s daughter is diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and Mireles was constantly going the extra mile for her daughter and integrated her into her classroom, she said.
My daughter’s beautiful teacher was the teacher who was killed in Uvalde, TX. Eva (Ms Mireles) taught Gabby in elementary school. She was a beautiful person & dedicated teacher. She believed in Gabby & went above & beyond to teach her as you can see below. There are no words. pic.twitter.com/qMlVoVEUrY
— Audrey (@audreymg0928) May 24, 2022
“My niece, Eva Mireles, approximately 17 yr teacher for UCISD along with another teacher and 18 children lost her lives to a senseless tragic shooting. I’m furious that these shooting continue, these children are innocent, rifles should not be easily available to all. This is a my hometown a small community of less then 20,000. I never imagined this would happen to especially to loved ones. not all the facts have been released yet all we can do is pray hard for our country, state, schools and especially the families of all, " said Lydia Martinez Delgado, aunt of Eva Mireles.
Alithia Ramirez, 10-year-old student
Alithia Ramirez loved to draw and wanted to be an artist, her father said, and she had recently submitted a drawing to the Doodle for Google contest.
Ryan Ramirez said they were trying to get family together. “That’s what my daughter would want us right now to do, is to be strong.”
Maite Rodriguez, 10-year-old student
Maite Rodriguez was killed in the Robb Elementary shooting.
Raquel Silva wrote a Facebook post about Maite and said “our hearts are shattered. Keep the Coronado Rodriguez family in your prayers, this senseless act of violence hit close to home.”
Annabell Rodriguez, 10-year-old student
Annabell Rodriguez, 10, was killed along with her cousin Jackie Cazares. They were cousins, friends and classmates in their fourth grade class at Robb Elementary.
Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10-year-old student
The family of Eliahana Cruz Torres learned late Tuesday night that she was one of the children who was killed.
Rojelio Torres, 10-year-old student
“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. We are devastated and heartbroken. Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten,” said Precious Perez, Rojelio’s aunt.
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10-year-old student
Her aunt, Allison McCullough, confirmed her identity to ABC News. McCullough said Makenna loved to play softball, do gymnastics, sing and dance. “Her smile would light up a room,” she said.
Layla Salazar, 10-year-old student
Vincent Salazar said his 10-year-old daughter 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.
“She was just a whole lot of fun,” he said.
Miranda Mathis, 11-year-old student
Miranda Mathis was one of the victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Her cousin, Deanna Miller, posted a tribute to Miranda on Facebook saying “my sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly I’m so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers.”
Eliahna ‘Ellie’ Garcia, 10-year-old student
Eliahna Garcia was “very happy and very outgoing,” her aunt, Siria Arizmendi, told the Associated Press.
Arizmendi, an elementary school teacher in the same district, said the 10-year-old “loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.”