Texas school massacre: Slain teacher’s husband dies of ‘grief,’ relative says

Joe Garcia, the widower of a teacher killed during the recent Texas school massacre, died on Thursday. Relatives announced the cause of death was “grief” and “a broken heart.”

Debra Austin, a relative who organized a GoFundMe fundraiser, attributed Garcia’s death to a sudden medical emergency on Thursday morning. He had visited the growing memorial outside of the school.

“I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life of more than 25 years was too much to bear,” Austin wrote.

Garcia was married to Irma Garcia and they had four children: Cristian, Jose, Lyliana, and Alysandra.

“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,” John Martinez, the teacher’s nephew, wrote on Twitter.

Garcia, the fourth-grade teacher, died after Salvador Ramos, 18, shot her Tuesday in her classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a city near the U.S.-Mexico border to the west and San Antonio to the east.

Ramos also killed Eva Mireles, a teacher who worked with Garcia, and 19 of their fourth-grade students. Law enforcement personnel confronted and killed Ramos at the school. There were many injured.

The shooting at Robb Elementary School took the place of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas as the third massacre with the most deaths at a school in the United States. The first was Virginia Tech with 32 fatalities in 2007 and the second is the Sandy Hook Elementary School with 27 fatalities in 2012.

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Here is the list of the children Ramos killed:

1. Nevaeh Bravo
2. Jayce Carmelo Luevanos
3. Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares
4. Eliahana Cruz Torres
5. Jose Flores Jr.
6. Eliahna Garcia
7. Uziyah Garcia
8. Amerie Garza
9. Xavier Javier Lopez
10. Makenna Lee Elrod
11. Tess Marie Mata
12. Miranda Mathis
13. Alithia Ramirez
14. Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez
15. Maite Rodriguez
16. Lexi Rubio
17. Layla Salazar
18. Jailah Nicole Silguero
19. Rojelio Torres

San Antonio’s KSAT contributed to this story.

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