May 27, 2022, 04:15 PM
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Irma Garcia was one of two teachers killed in the primary school mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday (May 25).
She was described to be "embracing children in her arms pretty much until her last breath", New York Times reported.
Two days later, her husband Joe Garcia passed away due to a fatal heart attack, as reported by CNN.
Texas news station KHOU-TV captured a photograph of Joe visiting a memorial site for the shooting victims hours before he suffered the heart attack.
via Confirmed by family members
One of the couple's nephews shared the tragic news on his Twitter page, saying that Joe is "with his wife now".
Lord god please on our family, my tias husband passed away this morning due to a heart attack at home he’s with his wife now, these two will make anyone feel loved no matter what they have the purest hearts ever I love you sm tia and tio please be with me every step of the way pic.twitter.com/opivBERMvv
— Joey.mtz (@Joeymtz4) May 26, 2022
Another nephew, John Martinez, said on Twitter that his uncle "passed away due to grief".
EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief, i truly am at a loss for words for how we are all feeling, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY, God have mercy on us, this isn’t easy pic.twitter.com/GlUSOutRVV
— john martinez (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
Irma's cousin, Debra Austin, had also confirmed Joe's death on the verified GoFundMe page intended to help the Garcia family.
Austin wrote:
"Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. 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."
The GoFundMe page was created with a goal of raising USD10,000 (S$13,705) for the Garcia family.
But as of Friday (May 27) afternoon (Singapore time), over USD1 million were raised.
Had four children
According to BBC, the Garcias were married for 24 years.
They leave behind four children aged 13, 15, 19 and 23.
My Tia Irma and Joe garcia were high school sweethearts and leave behind 4 beautiful children, their ages being 23, 19, 15 and the youngest only being 13 years old, no child should have to go through this, my heart breaks for them
— john martinez (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
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Top image via John Martinez on Twitter.
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