Last act a tribute to his slain wife
The grief-stricken husband of a fourth-grade teacher slain in the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre was seen in heart-wrenching video placing flowers at a memorial for her — shortly before he died of a heart attack.
Joe Garcia, 50, on Thursday morning placed a vase of red roses at a cross bearing the name of his wife and highschool sweetheart, Irma, 46, who was gunned down protecting students in the rampage at Robb Elementary School, video posted by KHOU-TV shows.
The Garcias’ nephew John Martinez described his uncle’s final hours of anguish in an interview with the Detroit Free Press.
“What happened was my Uncle Joe went to go leave flowers for my Tia Irma, his wife, and whenever he got back, he sat down at the kitchen table with his entire
family, and after three minutes, he just fell over,” Martinez said.
“I’m told my mom was giving him chest compressions. It happened around 10 o’clock. I know my little brother was there,” he said. “They called the ambulance, and I was told they couldn’t bring him back. They took him to Uvalde Memorial Hospital. I’m not sure if they confirmed his death at the house or the hospital.”
The nephew said the loss of his uncle so soon after his aunt’s death felt like the family was “hit by another truck.”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Martinez said. “My heart hurts so bad for my four cousins. I did hear from my little brother that my dad’s chest was hurting, as well. My parents lost family and their best friends.”
Irma’s cousin Debra Austin shared her grief in a GoFundMe campaign for the family, which had raised more than $2.3 million as of Friday night.
“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,” she wrote.
The couple’s children are ages 23, 19, 15 and 13, said Martinez, who called them a hardworking and “true American family.”
The 23-year-old son was completing boot camp with the Marines, and the 19-year-old son is a student at Texas State University, The Guardian reported, citing Irma’s school profile, which apparently has been removed.
One daughter is a high-school sophomore, and the other is a seventh-grader, the newspaper reported.