A new Justice Department report has found that Uvalde police officers listened to the gunman shoot children who called out for ‘help’ and still did nothing at Robb Elementary School in 2022.
The scathing 575-page report found there were ‘critical, cascading failures’ in the delayed police response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas – where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
It is the most comprehensive federal accounting of the haphazard police response to the May 24, 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School – and has identified a vast array of problems of the police’s sluggish action.
The DOJ report still fell short of recommending how certain key characters on May 24 – including the police chief – ought to be punished for their lethal inaction.
From failed communication and leadership, to outdated technology and training, federal officials say law enforcement’s evident inadequacies resulted in the massacre lasting far longer than it should have.
Visceral shortcomings at Uvalde included the lack of ‘leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training’ the Critical Incident Review found.
It took a total of 77 minutes for the 376 law enforcement personnel at the scene to kill 18-year-old Salvador Ramos. He murdered 21 people across multiple classrooms.
Even for a mass shooting that has already been the subject of intense scrutiny and in-depth examinations, the nearly 600-page Justice Department report adds to the public understanding of how police in Uvalde failed to stop the attack.
Law enforcement officers are told to stay back as an officer – whose daughter was one of the 19 children who were killed – is seen physically held back by fellow enforcement officers
The victims of the Uvalde school shooting on May 24, 2022
‘The response to the May 24, 2022, mass casualty incident at Robb Elementary School was a failure,’ the Justice Department report concluded.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: ‘The victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School deserved better. The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022 – and the response by officials in the hours and days after – was a failure.’
Some bullet wound victims were put on busses without being alerted to medics, and some parents were told their children had survived the mass shooting when they had in fact not, Garland said in a news briefing on Thursday.
The Justice Department collected more than 14,100 items from the scene for for analysis. This included hours of video, photos, 260 interviews, multiple visits to Uvalde, as well as police policies, procedures, and training.
Federal officials said that their review of the mass shooting was made public ‘to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses; identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events; and provide a roadmap for community safety and engagement before, during, and after such incidents.’
KEY CHARACTERS AND THEIR FAILINGS
Pictured: Shooter Salvador Ramos
The DOJ report fell short of recommending how certain key characters on May 24 ought to be punished for their response.
Police Chief Pete Arredondo, Uvalde Police Chief Mariano Pargas and Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco were all singled out in the report.
They were on the scene within minutes, but none took command of the situation.
Arredondo – who was the de facto on-scene commander – was slammed in the federal report for intentionally not trying to save people who were alive and trapped in the classroom with the shooter.
The report said that he: ‘Acknowledged the likelihood that there were victims and deceased in the room with the shooter and intentionally prioritized the evacuations over immediate breach and entry into the room.
‘This is counter to active shooter response principles, which state the priority is to address and eliminate the threat.’
The federal report also details well-documented communication issues that officials say hindered the response. This included Arredondo discarding his radios on arrival because he thought they were unnecessary.
Although Arredondo tried to communicate by phone with officers elsewhere in the school hallway, he told them not to enter the classrooms ‘because he appeared to determine that other victims should first be removed from nearby classrooms to prevent further injury.’
The scathing report summarized: ‘Chief Arredondo had the necessary authority, training, and tools.
‘He did not provide appropriate leadership, command, and control, including not establishing an incident command structure nor directing entry into classrooms 111 and 112.’
Sheriff Nolasco was singled out by the DOJ with critical rigor.
He had vital information about the gunman he did not share, the report found.
The DOJ wrote: ‘Sheriff Nolasco did not seek out or establish a command post, establish unified command, share the intelligence he learned from (the shooter’s) relatives, nor did he assign an intelligence officer to gather intelligence on the subject.
‘At one point, Sheriff Nolasco and UPD Acting Chief Pargas were within 10-15 feet of each other outside the exterior door of the northwest hallway.
‘However, they were not coordinating with one another and continued to act independently.
‘Without proper command and control, a game warden and constable were taking on roles traditionally performed by an incident commander.
‘On the day of the incident, no leader effectively questioned the decisions and lack of urgency of UCISD PD Chief Arredondo and UPD Acting Chief Pargas toward entering classrooms 111/112.’
Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo was singled out in the new DOJ report for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the mass shooting
City police Lt. Mariano Pargas was singled out in the new DOJ report for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the mass shooting
Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco, left, is comforted by Ted Cruz. Nolasco was singled out for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the mass shooting
DIDN’T TREAT THE SHOOTING AS ‘ACTIVE’
One key finding was how first responders decided to treat the situation as a ‘barricaded suspect’ rather than an active shooter situation. This decision was made – despite the fact multiple rounds of gunfire could be heard from inside the school.
There were ‘at least 10 stimulus events’ that should have ‘driven the law enforcement response to take steps to immediately stop the killing’ – but they did not.
During the ordeal, multiple survivors heard someone say ‘Say ‘help’ if you need help,’ – at which point a child said ‘help.’ Ramos shot the child dead. Police still did not respond.
The report states: ‘Officers on scene should have recognized the incident as an active shooter scenario and moved and pushed forward immediately and continuously toward the threat until the room was entered, and the threat was eliminated. That did not occur.’
This was called the ‘single most critical tactical failure.’
The DOJ report continued: ‘During that period, no one assumed a leadership role to direct the response toward the active shooter, provide situational status to responding officers, establish some form of incident command, or clearly assume and communicate the role of incident commander.
‘Interviews with responding officers confirmed that there was confusion about who, if anyone, was in charge, what to do, or the status of the incident.
‘Some officers were confused about why there was no attempt to confront the active shooter and rescue the children.
‘Without structure, agency leadership was unaware of the facts surrounding the incident and therefore unable to challenge the repeated decisions not to make entry into the classrooms.’
FLAWED MEDICAL RESPONSE
Not only were errors committed by law enforcement before Ramos was neutralized, but issues continued to prevail after he was shot dead.
The report found that instead of preserving the ‘integrity of the crime scene,’ and shielding victims from the destruction, no such actions took place. Instead, the hallway descended into ‘chaos.’
This was despite the fact there were multiple people physically at the scene that had training and ‘could have filled this role,’ the DOJ found.
Emergency medical teams were also stopped from doing their job.
The report said: ‘EMS staff were not the first to assess the situation in the classrooms and ensure the most appropriate use of critical resources.
‘Deceased victims were moved out of the classrooms, left in or outside of the hallway, or transported to the hospital; at the same time, injured child victims were being tended to or put on school buses with injuries unknown to law enforcement.’
As EMS personnel started working on patients, law enforcement in a rush to help other patients started pulling equipment and supplies from the ambulances and medical bags.
One ambulance rushed from the scene had two patients inside who were not secured on stretchers. Another ambulance transported both a deceased victim and an injured survivor to the hospital, the report found.
The DOJ report said: ‘One of the responders reported observing law enforcement moving injured kids in ways that were probably more harmful.
‘Still breathing, injured victims were moved out of the classrooms, but there were no stretchers inside the hallway readily available to move them. For an unknown reason, responders placed one of the victims on the ground outside the door to administer care.
‘The victim, one of the teachers, died on the walkway and was covered before being moved into an ambulance. Another deceased victim was placed outside of another exterior door and left unattended while law enforcement gathered only steps away.’
The DOJ also found that some ambulance services reported that they were restricted from deploying to the school once entry was made, delaying valuable resources and access to whole blood.
Reports indicated that one of the private EMS companies thoughtfully and rapidly accessed air ambulance services to bring blood supplies to the school site that went unused.
The report continued: ‘The chaos continued with EMS personnel bringing out a victim on a stretcher to find that their ambulance was missing after a crew from another agency had commandeered it.’
As well as the critical and deceased victims, students and teachers who were injured were also neglected at the scene, the DOJ found.
The report stated: ‘Several students with bullet wounds, grazes, and other injuries were directed onto buses that went to the civic center without ever having been brought to the medics’ attention.’
‘THERE IS NO JUSTICE UNTIL COPS GET INDICTED’
Democrat Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez said on Thursday that the families don’t even have the ability to sue the Texas Department of Public Safety or other law enforcement agencies whose botched response has been blamed.
This is because of governmental immunity.
Gutierrez said: ‘There’s not a whole lot in this report that we don’t know already know and that you haven’t already broken to the public, not a whole lot.
‘But I think the final conclusion, the only solace that we can take from it is that it’s final in black and white and writing for all of us to see.
‘It’s my hope that this report tells the entire world that we need change.
‘There is no justice. There is no justice until some cops get indicted for malfeasance.’
In a message to Texas lawmakers and the governor, he added: ‘Give these parents permission to sue the state of Texas so that these families can have some justice.’
Uvalde, a community of more than 15,000, continues to struggle with the trauma of the event, nearly two years on.
Images from the scene showed multiple police officers hanging around in corridors outside fourth-grade classrooms, while shooter Ramos wrote ‘LOL’ on a whiteboard with the blood of his elementary school victims.
Ramos holed up in two adjoining classrooms and went on a killing spree – as the lackadaisical officers failed to confront him for over an hour.
Students were still making panicked 911 calls when police were just a wall away.
The DOJ report found that police officials who responded to the deadly school shooting ‘demonstrated no urgency’ in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation.
It identified ‘cascading failures’ in law enforcement´s handling of one of the deadliest massacres at a school in American history.
Salvador Ramos is seen with his gun, making his way through the school in 2022
Police deploy in a hallway after Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary school to kill 19 children
The police in Uvalde were slammed for their untimely response to the mass shooting – as officers were seen standing around in corridors before they breached the classroom
A U.S. Border Patrol-led tactical team ultimately burst into the classroom and killed the gunman – but 19 children had already been murdered, as well as two teachers.
Attorney General Garland said in a press release on Thursday: ‘The victims and survivors of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School deserved better.
‘The law enforcement response at Robb Elementary on May 24th, 2022 — and the response by officials in the hours and days after — was a failure. As a consequence of failed leadership, training, and policies, 33 students and three of their teachers — many of whom had been shot — were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour as law enforcement officials remained outside.
‘We hope to honor the victims and survivors by working together to try to prevent anything like this from happening again, here or anywhere.’
Director Hugh T. Clements, Jr. of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) said: ‘The observations and recommendations in this report are based on national standards, generally accepted standards and practices, current research, and the expectations of communities.
‘Reports like this are critical to law enforcement and, by extension, to the community.
‘As agencies constantly strive to do better and be more fully prepared, detailed observations and recommendations like those within this report are invaluable to agencies planning for the future.’
A previous July 2022 report from Texas lawmakers described an ‘atmosphere of chaos’ at the scene and concluded that law enforcement ‘failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.’
Attorney General Merrick Garland was in Uvalde on Wednesday ahead of the release of the report, visiting murals of the victims that have been painted around the center of the town. Later that night, Justice Department officials privately briefed family members at a community center in Uvalde before the findings were made public.
Alfred Garza III, whose 10-year-old daughter Amerie Jo Garza was killed, told reporters the meeting with the DOJ on Wednesday night ‘went OK.’
He said he hopes the report will ‘answer some of the questions that we didn’t know.’
‘We had a lot of questions asked in there and I think they’re really going to give us a lot of insight (in the report) on some of the stuff we maybe didn’t know.’
Mom Sandra Torres, whose daughter, Eliahna, 10, was killed, said: ‘I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know what they’re going to have. The thing that I want the most is justice, accountability.’
In October 2022, the entire Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police force was suspended over their failed response to the shooting.
Days earlier a Uvalde cop who resigned after being slammed by parents for failing to intervene in the massacre was rehired to protect the school.
Crimson Elizondo was lateer fired from her position at the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District after another outcry from parents.
Elizondo, a former officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety, was among the first cops to arrive at the scene of the May 24 shooting.
She was caught on bodycam outside the building, failing to make any attempt to enter it. Elizondo quietly resigned when an investigation was launched into the police response.
She was then hired at the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD).
In her new position, she was tasked with protecting the survivors of the shooting that left 19 kids and two teacher dead.
Parents said they immediately recognized her when they spotted Elizondo this week in the school and demanded she be fired.
The school district said she was terminated from her position on Thursday and apologized to the families of the victims.
After the UCISD Chief Pete Arredondo resigned over criticisms of his leadership to end the shooting quickly, Elizondo was one of seven DPS officers under investigation for failing to act alongside the former chief.
She was among the first officers at the scene, where Salvador Ramos was left alone for 77-minutes as he killed 19 students and two teachers, and injured 17 others.
A Texas House committee investigation, released in July 2022, previously said that state and federal cops were largely responsible for the bloody massacre.
The better trained and equipped responders failed to exert the leadership needed when local officers were out of their depth.
The report slammed them for ‘failing to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety’.
The 19 children and two teachers butchered in Texas elementary school shooting
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Amerie Jo Garza (right)
Amerie Jo Garza, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary, was one of 19 students confirmed to be killed Tuesday morning by Ramos, who cops say was carrying a handgun and an AR-15 during the attack that also killed two teachers in the classroom.
Her grandmother, Berlinda Irene Arreola, said the 10-year-old was killed as she tried to phone 911 while sitting next to her best friend, who ended up ‘covered in her blood.’
Arreola said Ramos told the students and staffers inside the room, ‘You’re going to die,’ before opening fire – shooting her granddaughter dead as she tried to phone for help.
‘So the gunman went in and he told the children, ‘You’re going to die,’ Berlinda told The Daily Beast.
‘And [Amerie] had her phone and she called 911. And instead of grabbing it and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her. She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood.’
Uziyah Garcia
Uziyah Garcia, 8
Uziyah Garcia, the youngest victim at age eight, was also killed in the attack.
The child’s family announced he was killed hours after announcing he was among the many children unaccounted for following the tragedy.
The boy’s grandfather, Manny Renfro, broke the news early Wednesday after being notified by authorities.
‘[He was] the sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,’ Renfro said. ‘I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.’
Renfro recalled how Uziyah last visited him in San Angelo over spring break.
‘We started throwing the football together and I was teaching him pass patterns.
‘Such a fast little boy and he could catch a ball so good,’ the grieving grandad said.
‘There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.’
Makenna Elrod, 10
Makenna Lee Elrod
Makenna Elrod, 10, had also been among the missing in the chaos that followed the massacre, with her father, Brandon Elrod telling reporters at the time he feared ‘she may not be alive.’
Her death was eventually confirmed by a family friend on Wednesday. ‘It’s pretty sad what this world’s coming to,’ the girl’s father told local outlet KTRK after the shooting.
A mother of one of Makenna’s friends lamented the loss in a post to Facebook.
‘Sweet Makenna Rest in Paradise!! My heart is shattered as my daughter Chloe loved her so much!!’ the mom wrote. A relative Wednesday confirmed that the girl had been among the victims.
Xavier Lopez, 10
Xavier Lopez
Xavier Lopez, 10, was the first student victim to be identified as one of Ramos’ victims.
The child’s mother, Felicha Martinez, told the Washington Post Tuesday that just hours before the massacre, the mom had been at the school to see her son participate an honor roll ceremony.
She took a picture showing her son showing off his certificate.
In the last exchange she had with the child, the mom heartbreakingly told the boy that she was proud of him and that she loved him, giving him a hug goodbye – not knowing it would be the last time she would see him alive.
‘He was funny, never serious and his smile… that smile I will never forget,’ she recalled after learning of his death from police. ‘It would always cheer anyone up.’
The boy’s cousin, Lisa Garza, 54, of Arlington, said Xavier enjoyed swimming and had been looking forward to the summer.
‘He was just a loving 10-year-old little boy, just enjoying life, not knowing that this tragedy was going to happen today,’ she said.
‘He was very bubbly, loved to dance with his brothers, his mom. This has just taken a toll on all of us.’
Amelia Sandoval, Lopez’s grandmother, said: ‘It’s just so hard… you send your kids to school thinking they are going to make it back home but they’re not.’
Eliahana Torres, 10
Eliahana Cruz Torres
Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10, had also been missing for hours until she was confirmed to be among the dead.
Adolfo Cruz, her great-grandfather, said she didn’t want to attend school the day of the shooting – but was told by her family that she had to attend.
He said he remained outside the school gates throughout the night until he leanrned of her fate from local authorities.
‘I hope she is alive,’ he said at the time.
Torres was an avid baseball player and played the sport in a local little league.
Ellie Lugo, 10
Ellie Lugo
Ellie Lugo was named as a victim of Tuesday’s attack by her parents, with Steven Garcia and Jennifer Lugo confirming her death several hours after she was listed among the missing.
‘It’s hard to issue out a statement on anything right now my mind is going at 1000 miles per hour… but I do wanna send our thoughts and prayers to those who also didn’t make it home tonight!!! Our Ellie was a doll and was the happiest ever,’ Steven Lugo said Wednesday.
‘Mom and Dad love you never forget that and please try and stay by our side.’
Nevaeh Bravo, 10
Nevaeh Bravo
Nevaeh Bravo was confirmed to be among the dead late Tuesday, after her cousin posted on social media following the shooting to ask for helping the girl.
Around 9 pm, she broke the news on Twitter.
‘Unfortunately my beautiful Nevaeh was one of the many victims from todays tragedy,’ she wrote.
Sje said the schoolchild was ‘flying high’ and asked for the family to be kept in people’s prayers
‘Our Nevaeh has been found. She is flying with the angels above. We love you Navaeh very much princess.’
‘Thank you for the support and help,’ she wrote. ‘Rest in peace my sweet girl, you didn’t deserve this.’
Bravo’s age could not immediately be confirmed.
Tess Marie Mata
Tess Marie Mata
Tess Marie Mata was also among those to perish in the attack, her sister, Faith Mata, revealed in a post to Facebook Wednesday.
‘I honestly have no words just sadness, confusion, and anger,’ she wrote.
‘I’m sad because we will never get to tag team on mom and dad again and tell each other how much we mean to each other, I’m confused because how can something like this happen to my sweet, caring, and beautiful sister, and I’m angry because a coward took you from us.’
Photos shared with the post showed Tess smiling in a baby photo, snuggling with a cat, doing gymnastics, flashing a peace sign, and posing in front of a large heart mural.
‘Sissy I miss you so much, I just want to hold you and tell you how pretty you are, I want to take you outside and practice softball, I want to go on one last family vacation, I want to hear your contagious laugh, and I want you to hear me tell you how much I love you,’ she wrote.
Her age could not immediately be confirmed.
Rojelio Torres, 10
Rojelio Torres
Rojelio Torres, 10, was initially reported missing by his father, but on Wednesday was confirmed dead by his family.
A person who said she was the boy’s cousin wrote on Twitter: ‘It breaks my heart to say my rojelio is now with the angels I’ll forever miss you and love you my angel.’
The child’s father , Federico Torres, told Houston reporters that he was at work when he learned about the shooting and immediately raced to the school.
‘They sent us to the hospital, to the civic center, to the hospital and here again, nothing, not even in San Antonio,’ he said. ‘They don’t tell us anything, only a photo, wait, hope that everything is well.’
Nearly half a day later, cops broke the news to the boy’s family.
‘Our entire family waited almost 12 hours since the shooting to find out Rojelio Torres, my 10-year-old nephew, was killed in this tragedy,’ Torres’ aunt, Precious Perez, told KSAT. ‘We are devastated and heartbroken. Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten.’
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10
Jayce Luevanos
Jayce Luevanos, 10, died in the shooting along with his ten-year-old cousin, Jailah, the child’s mother said Wednesday.
In a Facebook post, uncle Unberto Gonzalez shared photos of both kids while offering a touching tribute.
‘My babies going to miss them like crazy!!!,’ Gonzalez wrote. ‘We luv y’all so much!!! I’m just lost right now!!! Fly high my beautiful Angels!!’
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero
Ten-year-old Jailah Nicole Silguero was also killed in the shooting, her mother, Veronica Luevanos, tearfully revealed to Univision Wednesday.
She also lost her 10-year-old nephew Jayce to the tragedy.
She said Jailah loved to dance and film videos on TikTok.
The child reportedly also asked her mom the morning of the shooting if she could stay home from school – a request the now mourning mom rebuffed.
‘I took her to school, but she didn’t want to go. She told her father, ‘Can I stay home?” Luevanos said, noting that it was not a common occurrence for her daughter to make such a request. ‘I think she knew something would happen.’
Luevanos’ mom confirmed the loss on Facebook Wednesday.
‘Fly high my angels. We’re going to miss yall so much,’ wrote Veronica Luevanos – whose dad had died just a week earlier.
‘I’m so heart broken,’ she wrote with a photo of her daughter and nephew.
‘My baby I love u so much … fly high baby girl.’
Alithia Ramirez, 10
Alithia Ramirez
Fourth grader Alithia Ramirez was confirmed dead early Wednesday by her father, Ryan Ramirez, who shared a post to Facebook showing the 10-year-old with angel’s wings. He had used the same photo the previous day as he pleaded for help finding her after the massacre
He had heartbreakingly used the same photo the previous day as he desperately pleaded for help finding her after the massacre.
‘Trying to find my daughter Alithia. I called all the hospitals and nothing,’ he wrote at the time.
He also reporters during his frantic search, ‘I’m trying to find out where my baby’s at.’
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, was another killed by Ramos Tuesday – along with her cousin, who has yet to be identified.
Annabell’s father spent the afternoon after the shooting in frantic search for his daughter.
Speaking to KHOU11 Tuesday, he lamented at how he was at a loss as to what do, having little success with the search.
‘They’re not letting us in at the hospital right now so we don’t know where to go.’
She has since been declared to be among the dead.
Miranda Mathis, 11
Miranda Mathis
Miranda Mathis, 11, was also confirmed as another casualty from the mass shooting early Wednesday, in a Facebook post by an older cousin who earlier that day had posted a desperate plea for help in locating the child.
‘My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly,’ Deanna Miller wrote alongside a photo of the child with angel wings.
‘I’m so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers,’ she grieved.
Miller’s kids had also been at the school at the time of the shooting, but survived the attack.
One of her sons told her that they were ushered out of a window by staffers during the attack and subsequently ran to a nearby funeral home after ‘he heard the shooter say he was gonna kill all the kids.’
Alexandria ‘Lexi’ Aniyah Rubio, 10
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio – who was better known to friends as ‘Lexi’ – was confirmed dead just before midnight on Tuesday.
The ten-year-old was shot dead just hours after posing for a photo with her parents at the school’s honor roll ceremony.
Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the girl’s mother, wrote of the loss: ‘My beautiful, smart, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio was recognized today for All-A honor roll. She also received the good citizen award. We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye.’
Maite Yuleana
Maite Yuleana
Maite Yuleana was another student to die in the attack that had attended the honor roll ceremony just hours before.
A cousin of the girl’s mother, Ana Rodriguez, announced the loss Wednesday.
‘It is with a heavy heart I come on here on behalf of my cousin Ana who lost her sweet baby girl in yesterday’s senseless shooting.
‘We are deeply saddened by the lose [sic] of this sweet smart little girl…. God bless and may she R.I.P Maite Rodriguez we love you.’
Another relative shared a photo of Maite with her honor roll certificate.
Her age could not immediately be confirmed.
Jose Flores Jr, 10
Jose Flores
Jose Flores, 10, was also killed in the shooting after attending the honor roll ceremony, where he was pictured triumphantly clutching a certificate celebrating the accomplishment.
Uncle Christopher Salazar confirmed to the Washington Post Wednesday that his 10-year-old nephew was among the dead, after sharing a tribute to the child on Facebook.
‘I love you and I miss you,’ Salazar wrote in the post.
The boy’s father described Jose to CNN as an amazing boy and big brother to his two younger siblings.
‘He was always fill of energy,’ Jose Flores Sr. said. ‘Ready to play till the night.’
He said the boy loved playing baseball and video games.
Jackie Cazares
Jackie Cazares, 10
Jackie Cazares, 10, was another to be killed during the vicious attack at the elementary school.
Her father Jacinto confirmed she lost her life inside her fourth-grade classroom.
‘My baby girl has been taken away from my family and I,’ the grieving father said in an online post.
‘We’re devastated in ways I hope no one ever goes through. … It hurts us to our souls.’
Cazares said his daughter, who was with her cousin, Annabell Rodriguez, when she died, was ‘full of life and love’.
Layla Salazar, 10
The 10-year-old student was the last of the slaying victims to be identified.
Vincent Salazar told the Philadelphia Inquirer his young daughter was among those killed.
He said she was ‘a lot of fun’ and recalled how they sang along to ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns ‘n’ Roses whenever he drove her to school.
Layla Salazar
Irma Garcia, 46 – fourth grade teacher
Irma Garcia
Irma Garcia, who co-taught with Mireles for the last five year, had been at Robb Elementary for 23 years.
Married to Joe for 24 years, she was a mother of four – Cristian, completing Marine boot camp; Jose, attending Texas State university University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a 7th grader.
‘My tia did not make it, she sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom, i beg of you to keep my family including all of her family in y’all’s prayers , IRMA GARCIA IS HER NAME and she died a HERO,’ tweeted her nephew John.
‘She was loved by many and will truly be missed.’
She was nominated as teacher of the year for the 2018-19 awards, organized by Trinity University.
Eva Mireles, 44 – fourth grade teacher
Eva Mireles
Eva Mireles, a fourth grade teacher, was identified by her family as being one of the staff members shot dead. She had worked in education for 17 years.
Her husband Ruben Ruiz, a veteran detective and SWAT team member currently serving as a police officer with the school district, held regular active shooter drills for the schools – most recently at the end of March.