Husband of teacher killed in Texas school
shooting dies of heart attack
Joe Garcia, 48, died just two days after his wife,
Irma Garcia, 46, a teacher at Uvalde’s Robb elementary school, was killed
Ramon
Antonio Vargas
Thu 26 May
2022 21.24 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/26/texas-school-shooting-teacher-husband-heart-attack
The death
toll from the Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers
reached the campus’ extended family Thursday, when the husband of one of the
slain teachers died of a heart attack.
Guadalupe
“Joe” Garcia – the husband of 46-year-old Irma Garcia, who was shot and killed
while sheltering children in her classroom – died two days after the mass
killing that shattered his family, a cousin of his wife confirmed on a verified
GoFundMe page.
The Garcias
had been together for more than 30 years. They were high school sweethearts
before marrying and having four children, the cousin, Debra Austin, wrote.
Shortly
before his fatal heart attack, journalists recorded Joe Garcia dropping flowers
off at a cross with his wife’s name written on it, Houston news station KHOU-TV
reported.
“I truly
believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life … was too
much to bear,” Austin wrote.
The
Garcias’ nephew, John Martinez, said via Twitter that the couple’s children –
ages 13, 15, 19 and 23 – had now lost both parents.
Irma Garcia
taught fourth-grade students at Robb elementary, in a mostly Hispanic community
about 85 miles west of San Antonio, where she had worked for 23 years.
On her
profile on the school’s website, she wrote that she and Joe, 48, enjoyed
barbecuing, listening to music, and vacationing at the nearby community of
Concan, which sits along Texas’ Frio River.
The
couple’s first child – one of two boys – was completing boot camp with the
Marines, and their second, another son, was attending Texas State University,
according to the profile. The two youngest children, both daughters, are a high
school sophomore and a seventh grader.
A of
Makenna Lee Elrod, one of the victims, is seen at a makeshift memorial in front
of Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
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gunman allegedly texted German teenager plans for attack
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While
complete details about Joe Garcia’s death weren’t immediately available
Thursday, research has shown that the death of a spouse is one of the most
stressful things a person can endure, and grief can take a deadly toll on one’s
body in what is termed broken heart syndrome.
Martinez
asked the public to consider donating to the GoFundMe campaign set up to help
the Garcias cover various expenses.
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