Girl Scouts of the USA on Tuesday posthumously awarded one of its highest honors to the brave fourth-grader who was shot dead while trying to dial 911 during last week’s Texas school shooting.
The organization awarded Amerie Jo Garza with the Bronze Cross, which is given to a Girl Scout who saves or attempts to save a life at the risk of her own life, and presented the honor to her family on Friday.
“On May 24, 2022, Amerie did all she could to save the lives of her classmates and teachers. It was our honor as Amerie’s council to present the Bronze Cross to her family,” Girl Scouts of the USA said in a statement.
Amerie was killed when she attempted to call 911 to get help for herself and her classmates at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The twisted gunman, Salavdor Ramos, fatally shot the 10-year-old before she could complete the call, according to witnesses and the girl’s devastated grandmother.
“Instead of grabbing [the phone] and breaking it or taking it from her, he shot her,” Berlinda Irene Arreola told the Daily Beast. “She was sitting right next to her best friend. Her best friend was covered in her blood.”
The young girl’s stepfather, a medical aide who responded to the mass shooting, found out his stepdaughter died when the girl’s best friend told him the blood she was covered in was Amerie’s.
About an hour and a half before Ramos entered the school and killed Amerie, 18 of her classmates and her two teachers, the fourth-grader was celebrating making honor roll at a ceremony with her parents.
She completed her Girl Scout bridging ceremony the week before her death and turned 10 two weeks before she was killed.
Amerie was the first victim of the mass shooting — the second worst school shooting in the country’s history — to be laid to rest at a ceremony Tuesday.
The Girl Scouts paid tribute to Amerie at her funeral services with a Presentation of Colors.
“We will carry her story with us always and ensure her brave actions will endure for generations,” the organization said.
The youngster was remembered as a “sweet, sassy, funny” girl by relatives at the ceremony.
She was a bright and outgoing child who loved Play-Doh, playing with friends at recess and being a Girl Scout, according to Girl Scouts of the USA.
“I just want people to know that she died trying to save her classmates,” Amerie’s stepfather Angel Garza said in an emotional CNN interview last week. “She just wanted to save everyone.”