Here’s what families of some of the victims killed at Robb Elementary School want everyone to remember about their lost loved ones.
More details are emerging about the 19 children and two teachers who were killed after a gunman opened fire inside a classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. As of Friday, all 21 of the victims have been publicly identified by the City of Uvalde. In the midst of their grief, family members are sharing photos and memories about the loved ones they lost in Tuesday’s massacre — from the big dreams they had to the simple things that brought them joy. LIVE UPDATES: 21 killed in Texas school massacre
Here’s what friends and relatives want everyone to remember about the people they lost. Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo
Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo was 10 years old, her cousin told the . Austin Ayala told the paper the family is devastated after losing Nevaeh, whom he said put a smile on everyone’s face. Funeral services are pending, according to an online obituary by Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home. Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares
Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares was killed along with her cousin, friend and classmate Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, according to posts by her family on social media.
“She was full of love and full of life. She would do anything for anybody”, Cazares’ father Jacinto Cazares told reporters in a video distributed by Reuters. “And to me, she’s a little firecracker, man. It comforts me a little bit to think she would be the one to help her friends in need.”
Cazares’ family recently came together to celebrate her first Communion, her father said.
“Through COVID, through the death of a family member a year ago, it brought us together and it was something beautiful”, he added. “And now, we’re being brought together, but it is in tragedy.”
Jacinto Cazares arrived at the scene at Robb Elementary School shortly after he heard that something was going on, joined near the building’s front door by several other men who had children at the school, he told The . He said he wanted to rush into the building as soon as he heard the gunshots coming from inside the school.
“There were five or six of (us) fathers, hearing the gunshots, and (police officers) were telling us to move back”, Cazares told the paper. “We didn’t care about us. We wanted to storm the building. We were saying, ‘Let’s go’ because that is how worried we were, and we wanted to get our babies out.”
Hours later, he learned his daughter had been shot and killed, the Post reported. Makenna Lee Elrod
Makenna’s mother, April Elrod, confirmed her child’s death to CNN.
“Her smile would light up a room”, Allison McCullough, Makenna’s aunt, told ABC. She added that Makenna loved to play softball, do gymnastics and spend time with her family. She was a natural leader and loved school. McCullough described her niece as “a light to all who knew her.”
“She loved her family and friends so much”, McCullough said. Jose Flores Jr.
10-year-old Jose Flores Jr. was an amazing kid and big brother to his siblings, his father Jose Flores Sr. told CNN. And he loved baseball and video games.
“He was always full of energy”, Flores said. “Ready to play till the night.”
Jose Jr. wanted to be a police officer when he grew up because he wanted to protect others. His mother, Cynthia Flores, remembered how he would always help her around the house, especially when it came to his baby brother.
“He would just be like my little shadow”, she told CNN’s Gary Tuchman. “He would just be helping me with the baby. He had a thing with babies, like my friends’ babies. He just had a thing with babies. He was always nice.”
Jose Jr.’s sister Endrea Flores was also in the fourth grade at Robb Elementary, though Endrea was in a different class than her brother. What she appreciated most about her older brother, she said, “that he would always support me and he would always play with me.”
Eliana ‘Ellie’ Garcia
Eliana “Ellie” Garcia was nine years old and about to turn 10, family members told CNN affiliate KHOU. Rogelio Lugo and Nelda Lugo, Garcia’s grandparents, told the Los Angeles Times that she was a fourth grader at the school and the second-eldest of five girls in the family. She loved the movie “Encanto”, cheerleading and basketball, according to her grandparents. They said she dreamed of becoming a teacher. Irma Garcia
Irma Garcia was a teacher, a wife and mother to four children, according to a GoFundMe set up to raise funds for her funeral expenses and family needs.
“Sweet, kind, loving. Fun with the greatest personality. A wonderful 4th grade teacher at Robb Elementary that was a victim in a Texas school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero. She was loved by many and will truly be missed”, the campaign site reads. Garcia’s nephew, John Martinez, told The that officials informed the family that she helped shield students from the gunfire.
“I want her to be remembered as someone who sacrificed her life and put her life on the line for her kids”, Martinez told the paper. “They weren’t just her students. Those were her kids, and she put her life on the line, she lost her life to protect them. That’s the type of person she was.”
Two days after Garcia’s death, her husband, Joe, suffered a fatal heart attack, the Archdiocese of San Antonio told CNN.
