Currents News Staff
The community of Uvalde is turning to prayer as they mourn the 19 children and two teachers gunned down inside a fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School.
Twenty-one people in total are now gone including 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza whose father confirmed her death on Facebook, writing in part “my little love is now flying high with the angels above.”
Eva Mireles was a fourth-grade teacher and educator for 17 years according to her online school profile. She was a wife and mother who loved running, hiking and bike riding. Her co-teacher Irma Garcia worked at the school for 23 years and was married with four children.
Xavier Lopez was seen smiling in a photo after making Honor Roll that morning. Then, there’s 10-year-old Annabelle Rodriguez whose parents were frantically searching for her during the chaos after the shooting.
“Looking for my daughter,” said Jessie Rodriguez. “I mean, after the shooting, they don’t know where she’s at. We don’t know a list of who’s gotten flown out and you’re not letting us in at the hospital right now. So we’re at, we don’t know where to go. We need somebody reply to us, you know, where, tell us where, where my daughter’s at.”
San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller vowed that the archdiocese will be there for the victims’ families and do whatever it takes to support them. He celebrated Mass last night at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Earlier in the day, in an interview with The Tablet newspaper, he spoke out against U.S. gun culture and our elected leaders.
“This is just outrageous,” the archbishop said. “So many people are killed daily all over the country because of the use of guns and we protect them. We need to protect people.”
The archbishop is challenging the Catholic Church in the U.S. to be more vocal on the topic of gun violence.