One student was an avid runner, so fast she swept the races on field day. Another was learning football plays from his grandfather. One girl sensed something was wrong and wanted to skip school.On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were gunned down behind a barricaded door at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde. Video above: Revisiting Robb Elementary School one year after Uvalde mass shootingHere’s what friends and relatives, in the days after the Uvalde mass shooting, said they wanted everyone to remember about the people they lost:Irma GarciaIrma Garcia, a teacher at Robb Elementary, was identified as a victim in the mass shooting, CNN confirmed in the days after the shooting through a GoFundMe site set up to raise funds for funeral expenses and family needs.Garcia was a wife and mother to four children, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money for funeral expenses and family needs after the shooting.”Sweet, kind, loving. Fun with the greatest personality. A wonderful fourthgrade teacher at Robb Elementary that was a victim in a Texas school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero. She was loved by many and will truly be missed,” the campaign said.Garcia’s nephew, John Martinez, last year told The Washington Post that officials informed the family that she helped shield students from the gunfire.”I want her to be remembered as someone who sacrificed her life and put her life on the line for her kids,” Martinez told the Post last year. “They weren’t just her students. Those were her kids, and she put her life on the line, she lost her life to protect them. That’s the type of person she was.”According to Garcia’s profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website, she had been an educator for 23 years. It was her fifth-year co-teaching with Eva Mireles, who was also tragically gunned down at the elementary school.Amerie Jo Garza, 10For seven hours after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, Angel Garza scrambled to find his 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo. He pleaded for the public’s help on Facebook.”I don’t ask for much or hardly even post on here but please It’s been seven hours and I still haven’t heard anything on my love,” Garza wrote the day of the shooting. “Please help me find my daughter.”Eventually, Garza gave a heartbreaking update.”Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above,” Garza posted.”Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.”Garza told CNN’s Anderson Cooper last year that his daughter had just turned 10 years old two weeks before. The family gifted her with a phone, which she had been asking for, Garza said.Garza found out his daughter was trying to use her phone to call authorities during the shooting, two students told him. He explained he was a med-aid and responded to the scene where he saw one girl covered in blood who told him that someone had shot her best friend. When Garza asked who her best friend was, the girl said his daughter’s name.”I just want people to know she died trying to save her classmates. She just wanted to save everyone,” Garza said.Video above: Sandy Hook survivors’ advice for Uvalde kidsThe family has been trying to cope with Amerie’s death. Garza said his son, who was 3 years old at the time, had been asking for his sister every morning when he woke up.”We informed him that his sister is now with God and she will no longer be with us,” he said through tears.”She was the sweetest girl who did nothing wrong,” Garza said, breaking down. “I just wanna know what she did to be a victim.”Eva MirelesA fourth-grade teacher, Eva Mireles, was also killed at the school, family members told CNN.Mireles had been an educator for 17 years. Erica Torres recalled the care with which Mireles treated her son Stanley, who has autism, while he was in her third- and fourth-grade classes. In an effort to stop him from wandering around the school, Mireles put Stanley in charge of rounding up students to get to class.”She made you feel like she was only teaching your child,” Torres said. “Like there’s no other students but him. She made you feel so good.”Mireles’ daughter, Adalynn, tweeted a tribute to her mother after the shooting, a family member confirmed to CNN. The tweet also included a picture of Adalynn and her mom.”Mom, you are a hero. I keep telling myself that this isn’t real. I just want to hear your voice,” the tribute read. “I want to thank you mom, for being such an inspiration to me. I will forever be so proud to be your daughter. My sweet mommy, I will see you again.”In her spare time, Mireles enjoyed running, hiking, biking and being with her family, according to her profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s website.”She was a vivacious soul. She spread laughter and joy everywhere she went,” relative Amber Ybarra told CNN. “She was a loving and caring mom, relative, teacher to her students, and it’s absolutely tragic what’s happening.”Xavier Lopez, 10Just hours before he was killed, 10-year-old Xavier Lopez was lauded at Robb Elementary’s honor roll ceremony, his mother, Felicha Martinez, told The Washington Post.Martinez took a photo of her fourth-grader and told him she was proud of him and loved him. That was the last moment she was to share with her “mama’s boy.””He was funny, never serious, and his smile …” Felicha Martinez told the Post, her voice breaking. “That smile I will never forget. It would always cheer anyone up.”Just a few days shy of completing his last year of elementary school, Xavier was counting down to his official move up the academic ladder into Flores Middle School in Uvalde, his mother told the Post.”He really couldn’t wait to go to middle school,” she said.Uziyah Garcia, 10The family of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia told CNN that their fourth-grader was among those killed at Robb Elementary.Uziyah was “full of life,” according to an uncle, Mitch Renfro. He loved video games and anything with wheels, and leaves behind two sisters.”The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Garcia’s grandfather Manny Renfro told CNN affiliate KSAT. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”Prior to the shooting, Uziyah last visited his grandfather in San Angelo during spring break. Renfro recalls tossing around a football with him and how quickly his grandson took to the sport.”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,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”Jose Flores Jr., 10Jose Flores Jr., 10, was also among those killed at Robb Elementary, his father Jose Flores Sr. told CNN.Flores described the fourth-grader as an amazing kid and big brother to his two siblings. Jose loved baseball and video games.”He was always full of energy,” Flores said. “Ready to play till the night.”Lexi Rubio, 10Felix and Kimberly Rubio had just celebrated their daughter Lexi’s achievements at school before she was killed.Lexi, who was 10 years old and in the fourth grade, had made the All-A honor roll and received a good citizen award, her parents told CNN.”We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye,” Kimberly Rubio wrote in a post on Facebook.The parents told CNN they were proud of their daughter, who loved softball and basketball. She wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up, the family told CNN.”She was kind, sweet, and appreciated life. She was going to be an all-star in softball and had a bright future, whether it’s sports or academic. Please let the world know we miss our baby.”Felix Rubio, a deputy with the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, told CNN’s Jason Carroll he was one of many authorities who responded to the scene of the shooting. The grieving father said he wants to see gun violence addressed.”All I can hope is that she’s just not a number,” he said through tears. “This is enough. No one else needs to go through this. We never needed to go through this, but we are.”Tess Marie Mata, 10Tess Marie Mata, 10, had been saving money for a trip to Disney World with her family before she was killed at Robb Elementary, her sister, Faith Mata, told The Washington Post.Video above: Uvalde victim’s mother perseveres through teaching, connecting with daughter’s memoryTess was in the fourth grade and loved TikTok dances, Ariana Grande and the Houston Astros, Faith Mata told the Post.”My precious angel you are loved so deeply. In my eyes you are not a victim but a survivor. I love you always and past forever baby sister, may your wings soar higher then you could ever dream,” Faith Mata wrote on Twitter.Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10Ten-year-old Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo was killed in the shooting, her cousin told the Washington Post.Austin Ayala told the paper the family is devastated after losing Nevaeh, whom he said put a smile on everyone’s face.Eliahna García, 10Eliahna, or Ellie as her friends and family called her, was confirmed by her parents on Facebook as among those killed in the shooting.”She was very happy and very outgoing,” said Eliahna’s aunt, Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same school district. “She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.” Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10Family members identified Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, as one of the victims, according to CNN affiliate KHOU-TV.She was a third-grader at the school. Her family told KHOU that she was in the same classroom as her cousin, who was also shot and killed.Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10Veronica Luevanos, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jailah Nicole Silguero, was among the victims, tearfully told Univision that her daughter did not want to go to school the day of the shooting and seemed to sense something bad was going to happen. Jailah’s cousin also died in the shooting.Eliahana ‘Elijah’ Cruz Torres, 10Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres, 10, was also killed in the shooting, her aunt Leandra Vera told CNN. “Our baby gained her wings,” Vera said.Jacklyn Cazares, 9As soon as he heard the gunshots coming from inside his daughter’s school, Javier Cazares wanted to rush into the building.Cazares told The Washington Post that he arrived at Robb Elementary School shortly after hearing that something was going on, joined near the building’s front door by several other men who had children at the school.”There were five or six of (us) fathers, hearing the gunshots, and (police officers) were telling us to move back,” Cazares told the paper. “We didn’t care about us. We wanted to storm the building. We were saying, ‘Let’s go’ because that is how worried we were, and we wanted to get our babies out.”Hours later, he learned his daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, 9, had been shot and killed, the Post reported.Layla Salazar, 10Vincent Salazar said his 10-year-old daughter, Layla, loved to swim and dance to TikTok videos. She was fast — she won six races at the school’s field day, and Salazar proudly posted a photo of Layla showing off two of her ribbons on Facebook.Each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, Salazar would play “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns ‘n’ Roses and they’d sing along, he said.”She was just a whole lot of fun,” he said.Makenna Elrod, 10Makenna’s mother, April Elrod, confirmed her child’s death to CNN.”Her smile would light up a room,” Allison McCullough, Makenna’s aunt, told ABC. She added that Makenna loved to play softball, do gymnastics and spend time with her family. She was a natural leader and loved school. McCullough described her niece as “a light to all who knew her.””She loved her family and friends so much,” McCullough said.Jayce Luevanos, 10A GoFundMe site that was raising funds for Jayce Luevanos’ funeral expenses and family needs last year said: “We are all deeply saddened by the news we received from the Robb School shooting. It breaks my heart having to create a fundraiser for such a need but Jayce’s parents, Christina and Jose Luevanos need as much help as possible in these terrible times.”Luevanos’ grandfather Carmelo Quiroz told USA Today that the 10-year-old and his mother lived with him. He said Jayce was happy and loved. “He was our baby,” Quiroz said.Veronica Luevanos, Jayce’s aunt and mother of shooting victim Jailah Nicole Silguero, posted a picture the day after the shooting on Facebook of her daughter and Jayce and wrote, “My baby you didn’t deserve this neither did your classmates n cousin Jayce.”Video above: Since Uvalde school massacre, New laws – but more deathsAlithia Ramirez, 10Ten-year-old Alithia Ramirez was in fourth grade and loved to draw, her father, Ryan Ramirez, told CNN affiliate KSAT. Alithia wanted to be an artist.Alithia’s grandmother, Rosa Maria Ramirez, told ABC News: “She was a very talented little girl… She was real sweet.”Maranda Mathis, 11Maranda Mathis was 11 years old. The City of Uvalde’s website confirmed her as one of the victims.Leslie Ruiz, who identified herself as a friend of Mathis’ mother, told The Washington Post that Mathis was a bright girl who was fun and spunky. She said that Miranda’s best friend was her brother and he was also at Robb Elementary when the shooting happened.After the shooting, Mathis’ cousin Deanna Miller posted on Facebook: “My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly I’m so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers.”Maite Rodriguez, 10Maite Rodriguez, 10, dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and had her heart set on attending Texas A&M in Corpus Christi, said her mother, Ana Rodriguez, last year in a post on Facebook.Maite was “sweet, charismatic, loving, caring, loyal, free, ambitious, funny, silly, goal driven” and her best friend, she said.Ana Rodriguez wrote that her daughter loved animals and photography and learned to sew on her own by watching YouTube videos.Rodriguez ended her Facebook post with a message to her daughter, which read, “it’s not goodbye it’s I’ll see you later my sweet girl. I LOVE YOU.”Rojelio Torres, 10Rojelio Torres was 10 years old, his aunt Precious Perez told CNN affiliate KSAT.The family waited nearly 12 hours to find out if her nephew was one of the victims, Perez said.”We are devastated and heartbroken,” she said. “Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten.”Before receiving the news about his son, Torres’ father, Federico Torres told CNN affiliate KHOU that he learned about the shooting through friends. He left work and rushed to the school, but officials there did not give him information right away, he said.In a Facebook post, Torres’ mother Evadulia Orta posted a photo of her son and wrote “RIP to my son Rojelio Torres we love you and miss you.”CNN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
One student was an avid runner, so fast she swept the races on field day. Another was learning football plays from his grandfather. One girl sensed something was wrong and wanted to skip school.
On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were gunned down behind a barricaded door at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town of Uvalde.
Video above: Revisiting Robb Elementary School one year after Uvalde mass shooting
Here’s what friends and relatives, in the days after the Uvalde mass shooting, said they wanted everyone to remember about the people they lost:
Irma Garcia
Irma Garcia, a teacher at Robb Elementary, was identified as a victim in the mass shooting, CNN confirmed in the days after the shooting through a GoFundMe site set up to raise funds for funeral expenses and family needs.
Garcia was a wife and mother to four children, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to raise money for funeral expenses and family needs after the shooting.
“Sweet, kind, loving. Fun with the greatest personality. A wonderful fourthgrade teacher at Robb Elementary that was a victim in a Texas school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero. She was loved by many and will truly be missed,” the campaign said.
Garcia’s nephew, John Martinez, last year told The Washington Post that officials informed the family that she helped shield students from the gunfire.
“I want her to be remembered as someone who sacrificed her life and put her life on the line for her kids,” Martinez told the Post last year. “They weren’t just her students. Those were her kids, and she put her life on the line, she lost her life to protect them. That’s the type of person she was.”
According to Garcia’s profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District website, she had been an educator for 23 years. It was her fifth-year co-teaching with Eva Mireles, who was also tragically gunned down at the elementary school.
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
For seven hours after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, Angel Garza scrambled to find his 10-year-old daughter, Amerie Jo. He pleaded for the public’s help on Facebook.
“I don’t ask for much or hardly even post on here but please It’s been seven hours and I still haven’t heard anything on my love,” Garza wrote the day of the shooting. “Please help me find my daughter.”
Eventually, Garza gave a heartbreaking update.
“Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby. She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above,” Garza posted.
“Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.”
Garza told CNN’s Anderson Cooper last year that his daughter had just turned 10 years old two weeks before. The family gifted her with a phone, which she had been asking for, Garza said.
Garza found out his daughter was trying to use her phone to call authorities during the shooting, two students told him. He explained he was a med-aid and responded to the scene where he saw one girl covered in blood who told him that someone had shot her best friend. When Garza asked who her best friend was, the girl said his daughter’s name.
“I just want people to know she died trying to save her classmates. She just wanted to save everyone,” Garza said.
Video above: Sandy Hook survivors’ advice for Uvalde kids
The family has been trying to cope with Amerie’s death. Garza said his son, who was 3 years old at the time, had been asking for his sister every morning when he woke up.
“We informed him that his sister is now with God and she will no longer be with us,” he said through tears.
“She was the sweetest girl who did nothing wrong,” Garza said, breaking down. “I just wanna know what she did to be a victim.”
Eva Mireles
A fourth-grade teacher, Eva Mireles, was also killed at the school, family members told CNN.
Mireles had been an educator for 17 years. Erica Torres recalled the care with which Mireles treated her son Stanley, who has autism, while he was in her third- and fourth-grade classes. In an effort to stop him from wandering around the school, Mireles put Stanley in charge of rounding up students to get to class.
“She made you feel like she was only teaching your child,” Torres said. “Like there’s no other students but him. She made you feel so good.”
Mireles’ daughter, Adalynn, tweeted a tribute to her mother after the shooting, a family member confirmed to CNN. The tweet also included a picture of Adalynn and her mom.
“Mom, you are a hero. I keep telling myself that this isn’t real. I just want to hear your voice,” the tribute read. “I want to thank you mom, for being such an inspiration to me. I will forever be so proud to be your daughter. My sweet mommy, I will see you again.”
In her spare time, Mireles enjoyed running, hiking, biking and being with her family, according to her profile on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s website.
“She was a vivacious soul. She spread laughter and joy everywhere she went,” relative Amber Ybarra told CNN. “She was a loving and caring mom, relative, teacher to her students, and it’s absolutely tragic what’s happening.”
Xavier Lopez, 10
Just hours before he was killed, 10-year-old Xavier Lopez was lauded at Robb Elementary’s honor roll ceremony, his mother, Felicha Martinez, told The Washington Post.
Martinez took a photo of her fourth-grader and told him she was proud of him and loved him. That was the last moment she was to share with her “mama’s boy.”
“He was funny, never serious, and his smile …” Felicha Martinez told the Post, her voice breaking. “That smile I will never forget. It would always cheer anyone up.”
Just a few days shy of completing his last year of elementary school, Xavier was counting down to his official move up the academic ladder into Flores Middle School in Uvalde, his mother told the Post.
“He really couldn’t wait to go to middle school,” she said.
Uziyah Garcia, 10
The family of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia told CNN that their fourth-grader was among those killed at Robb Elementary.
Uziyah was “full of life,” according to an uncle, Mitch Renfro. He loved video games and anything with wheels, and leaves behind two sisters.
“The sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known,” Garcia’s grandfather Manny Renfro told CNN affiliate KSAT. “I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid.”
Prior to the shooting, Uziyah last visited his grandfather in San Angelo during spring break. Renfro recalls tossing around a football with him and how quickly his grandson took to the sport.
“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,” Renfro said. “There were certain plays that I would call that he would remember and he would do it exactly like we practiced.”
Jose Flores Jr., 10
Jose Flores Jr., 10, was also among those killed at Robb Elementary, his father Jose Flores Sr. told CNN.
Flores described the fourth-grader as an amazing kid and big brother to his two siblings. Jose loved baseball and video games.
“He was always full of energy,” Flores said. “Ready to play till the night.”
Lexi Rubio, 10
Felix and Kimberly Rubio had just celebrated their daughter Lexi’s achievements at school before she was killed.
Lexi, who was 10 years old and in the fourth grade, had made the All-A honor roll and received a good citizen award, her parents told CNN.
“We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye,” Kimberly Rubio wrote in a post on Facebook.
The parents told CNN they were proud of their daughter, who loved softball and basketball. She wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up, the family told CNN.
“She was kind, sweet, and appreciated life. She was going to be an all-star in softball and had a bright future, whether it’s sports or academic. Please let the world know we miss our baby.”
Felix Rubio, a deputy with the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, told CNN’s Jason Carroll he was one of many authorities who responded to the scene of the shooting. The grieving father said he wants to see gun violence addressed.
“All I can hope is that she’s just not a number,” he said through tears. “This is enough. No one else needs to go through this. We never needed to go through this, but we are.”
Tess Marie Mata, 10
Tess Marie Mata, 10, had been saving money for a trip to Disney World with her family before she was killed at Robb Elementary, her sister, Faith Mata, told The Washington Post.
Video above: Uvalde victim’s mother perseveres through teaching, connecting with daughter’s memory
Tess was in the fourth grade and loved TikTok dances, Ariana Grande and the Houston Astros, Faith Mata told the Post.
“My precious angel you are loved so deeply. In my eyes you are not a victim but a survivor. I love you always and past forever baby sister, may your wings soar higher then you could ever dream,” Faith Mata wrote on Twitter.
Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10
Ten-year-old Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo was killed in the shooting, her cousin told the Washington Post.
Austin Ayala told the paper the family is devastated after losing Nevaeh, whom he said put a smile on everyone’s face.
Eliahna García, 10
Eliahna, or Ellie as her friends and family called her, was confirmed by her parents on Facebook as among those killed in the shooting.
“She was very happy and very outgoing,” said Eliahna’s aunt, Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Elementary School in the same school district. “She loved to dance and play sports. She was big into family, enjoyed being with the family.”
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Family members identified Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10, as one of the victims, according to CNN affiliate KHOU-TV.
She was a third-grader at the school. Her family told KHOU that she was in the same classroom as her cousin, who was also shot and killed.
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Veronica Luevanos, whose 10-year-old daughter, Jailah Nicole Silguero, was among the victims, tearfully told Univision that her daughter did not want to go to school the day of the shooting and seemed to sense something bad was going to happen. Jailah’s cousin also died in the shooting.
Eliahana ‘Elijah’ Cruz Torres, 10
Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres, 10, was also killed in the shooting, her aunt Leandra Vera told CNN. “Our baby gained her wings,” Vera said.
Jacklyn Cazares, 9
As soon as he heard the gunshots coming from inside his daughter’s school, Javier Cazares wanted to rush into the building.
Cazares told The Washington Post that he arrived at Robb Elementary School shortly after hearing that something was going on, joined near the building’s front door by several other men who had children at the school.
“There were five or six of (us) fathers, hearing the gunshots, and (police officers) were telling us to move back,” Cazares told the paper. “We didn’t care about us. We wanted to storm the building. We were saying, ‘Let’s go’ because that is how worried we were, and we wanted to get our babies out.”
Hours later, he learned his daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, 9, had been shot and killed, the Post reported.
Layla Salazar, 10
Vincent Salazar said his 10-year-old daughter, Layla, loved to swim and dance to TikTok videos. She was fast — she won six races at the school’s field day, and Salazar proudly posted a photo of Layla showing off two of her ribbons on Facebook.
Each morning as he drove her to school in his pickup, Salazar would play “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns ‘n’ Roses and they’d sing along, he said.
“She was just a whole lot of fun,” he said.
Makenna Elrod, 10
Makenna’s mother, April Elrod, confirmed her child’s death to CNN.
“Her smile would light up a room,” Allison McCullough, Makenna’s aunt, told ABC. She added that Makenna loved to play softball, do gymnastics and spend time with her family. She was a natural leader and loved school. McCullough described her niece as “a light to all who knew her.”
“She loved her family and friends so much,” McCullough said.
Jayce Luevanos, 10
A GoFundMe site that was raising funds for Jayce Luevanos’ funeral expenses and family needs last year said: “We are all deeply saddened by the news we received from the Robb School shooting. It breaks my heart having to create a fundraiser for such a need but Jayce’s parents, Christina and Jose Luevanos need as much help as possible in these terrible times.”
Luevanos’ grandfather Carmelo Quiroz told USA Today that the 10-year-old and his mother lived with him. He said Jayce was happy and loved. “He was our baby,” Quiroz said.
Veronica Luevanos, Jayce’s aunt and mother of shooting victim Jailah Nicole Silguero, posted a picture the day after the shooting on Facebook of her daughter and Jayce and wrote, “My baby you didn’t deserve this neither did your classmates n cousin Jayce.”
Video above: Since Uvalde school massacre, New laws – but more deaths
Alithia Ramirez, 10
Ten-year-old Alithia Ramirez was in fourth grade and loved to draw, her father, Ryan Ramirez, told CNN affiliate KSAT. Alithia wanted to be an artist.
Alithia’s grandmother, Rosa Maria Ramirez, told ABC News: “She was a very talented little girl… She was real sweet.”
Maranda Mathis, 11
Maranda Mathis was 11 years old. The City of Uvalde’s website confirmed her as one of the victims.
Leslie Ruiz, who identified herself as a friend of Mathis’ mother, told The Washington Post that Mathis was a bright girl who was fun and spunky. She said that Miranda’s best friend was her brother and he was also at Robb Elementary when the shooting happened.
After the shooting, Mathis’ cousin Deanna Miller posted on Facebook: “My sweet baby cousin we loved u dearly I’m so sorry this happen to u baby please keep my family in your prayers.”
Maite Rodriguez, 10
Maite Rodriguez, 10, dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and had her heart set on attending Texas A&M in Corpus Christi, said her mother, Ana Rodriguez, last year in a post on Facebook.
Maite was “sweet, charismatic, loving, caring, loyal, free, ambitious, funny, silly, goal driven” and her best friend, she said.
Ana Rodriguez wrote that her daughter loved animals and photography and learned to sew on her own by watching YouTube videos.
Rodriguez ended her Facebook post with a message to her daughter, which read, “it’s not goodbye it’s I’ll see you later my sweet girl. I LOVE YOU.”
Rojelio Torres, 10
Rojelio Torres was 10 years old, his aunt Precious Perez told CNN affiliate KSAT.
The family waited nearly 12 hours to find out if her nephew was one of the victims, Perez said.
“We are devastated and heartbroken,” she said. “Rojer was a very intelligent, hard-working and helpful person. He will be missed and never forgotten.”
Before receiving the news about his son, Torres’ father, Federico Torres told CNN affiliate KHOU that he learned about the shooting through friends. He left work and rushed to the school, but officials there did not give him information right away, he said.
In a Facebook post, Torres’ mother Evadulia Orta posted a photo of her son and wrote “RIP to my son Rojelio Torres we love you and miss you.”
CNN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
