The toll of the Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers reached extended family on campus on Thursday, when the husband of one of the teachers killed died of a heart attack.
Guadalupe “Joe” Garcia – the husband of Irma Garcia, 46, who was shot and killed while sheltering children in her classroom – died two days after the massacre that shattered her family, a cousin has confirmed of his wife. GoFundMe page.
The Garcias had been together for over 30 years. They were high school sweethearts before they married and had four children, cousin Debra Austin wrote.
Shortly before his fatal heart attack, reporters recorded Joe Garcia laying flowers on 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 – have now lost both parents.
My Tia Irma and Joe Garcia were high school sweethearts and leave behind 4 beautiful children, ages 23, 19, 15 and the youngest only 13, no child should have to go through this, my heart breaks for them
— john martinez ❤️🔥 (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
Irma Garcia taught fourth-grade students at Robb Elementary School, 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, enjoy barbecues, listening to music and vacationing in the nearby community of Concan, located along the river. Frio in Texas.
The couple’s first child — one of two boys — was finishing boot camp with the Marines, and their second, another son, was attending Texas State University, according to the profile. The two youngest children, both girls, are in their second year of high school and in their seventh year.
While full details of Joe Garcia’s death were not 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 have deadly consequences on his body in what is called broken. cardiac syndrome.
Martinez asked the public to consider donating to the GoFundMe campaign set up to help the Garcias cover various expenses.
