Nineteen children were massacred by a lone gunman \u2015 barricaded in the classroom 23-year veteran teacher Irma Garcia shared with co-teacher Eva Mireles, 44, who also was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday morning, the Marine\u2019s father, Joe Garcia \u2015 Irma Garcia\u2019s grieving high school sweetheart and husband of more than 24 years \u2015 dropped flowers off at her memorial. It wasn\u2019t long after that he himself died, perhaps of a broken heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He \u201cpretty much just fell over\u201d and had a heart attack after returning home, nephew John Martinez told The New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marine Corps community must rally around Pfc. Cristian Garcia amid these overwhelming losses, said Uvalde, Texas, resident and Marine veteran Layla Martinez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a Marine Corps brother, yet his family is in total shambles right now,\u201d she told Marine Corps Times in a Thursday phone call. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a tragic loss in our Marine Corps family. … I want him to know that we are here for him. We\u2019re not abandoning him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reserve Marine Pfc. Cristian Garcia, 23, is an admin clerk with 4th Recon Battalion out of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, the Marine Corps said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He just graduated boot camp in October 2021, according to his mother\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pfc. Cristian Garcia did not have a comment at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tuesday\u2019s rampage was the nation\u2019s deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 students and six adults were shot and killed in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Uvalde, Texas \u2015 a largely Hispanic town of 15,000 some residents about 75 miles from the Mexican border \u2015 alleged 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos was inside the elementary school classroom for more than an hour before he was killed in a shootout, authorities said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The motive for the rampage remains under investigation, with authorities saying Thursday night the alleged gunman had no known criminal or mental health history, though there were some warning signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martinez, who served in the Marine Corps from 2005\u20132009 as an air delivery specialist and got out as a lance corporal, said she and other veterans in town already have been discussing how they can bolster a safe presence on school grounds when classes start again in the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe do care about our community and the children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The registered nurse, who returned to Uvalde, Texas, after her time in the Marine Corps, says she has friends who lost children and grandchildren in the shooting and that her heart goes out to Pfc. Cristian Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI could never imagine having to go through something like this and then losing my father on top of it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd now my siblings are without their mom and dad. He\u2019s going to have to take that role. That would be a lot, especially at his young age. I want him to know our Marine Corps family is there for him and he knows we\u2019re here for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maj. Jim Stenger, Marine Corps spokesman, said, \u201cI offer my sincerest condolences to any Marine who may have been affected by this tragedy. I am confident the Marines \u2015 veterans in the community and back at the unit \u2015 will rally around the grieving as they mourn their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Irma Garcia loved to \u201cBBQ with [her] husband, listen to music, and take country cruises to Concan,\u201d according to her page on the school\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Irma and Joe Garcia shared four children: Pfc. Cristian Garcia at the top, followed by brother, Jose, who attends Texas State University. Lyliana just finished sophomore year of high school, and Alysandra just finished seventh grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A GoFundMe account<\/a> for the family had raised more than $1.6 million as of Thursday evening, with another, now closed, fundraiser garnering more than $500,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garc\u00eda-Siller will hold a Mass on Thursday evening at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, Texas, for the Garcia family and the wider community, the archdiocese said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 3 p.m. visitation and 7 p.m. recitation of the rosary for Irma Garcia will take place Tuesday at Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary in Uvalde, Texas, according to an online obituary. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, followed by interment at Hillcrest Cemetery in Uvalde, Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nephew John Martinez told Th<\/a>e Washington Post<\/a> on Wednesday that he wanted Irma Garcia \u201cto be remembered as someone who sacrificed her life and put her life on the line for her kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t just her students. Those were her kids, and she put her life on the line, she lost her life to protect them. That\u2019s the type of person she was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22146654769979.jpg.jpg\")