‘My heart hurts’: First funeral held for student after Texas school shooting
UVALDE, Texas – A heroic fourth-grader who died while calling 911 to get help for her classmates during last week’s tragic Texas school shooting was remembered at her funeral Tuesday as a “sweet, sassy” youngster.
“My heart hurts for everyone in this town,” relative Jysenia Garcia said outside Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde where the short tragic life of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza was being remembered by friends, loved ones and members of the community.
“When you know the families of the kids who lost their kids and the shooter’s family, you don’t know where to put your heart,” added Garcia.
“We’ve had a few moments of laughter in our home since the shooting, but then we all look at each other in guilt. I feel guilty smiling. I even felt guilty putting makeup on for the funeral. I don’t know why, I just did.”
Amerie, who called 911 for help at Robb Elementary School when she was gunned down, was laid to rest in the first of what will be a string of somber ceremonies for the hard hit town of 16,000.
She had just turned 10 two weeks before her death.
“Amerie was sweet, sassy, funny,” the girl’s cousin Zaedy Martinez told The Post. “Everyone’s calling her a hero for calling 911. She was so brave.”
Amerie’s aunt, Angie Ortega, said the family is “just trying to hang on.
“We’re just trying to get through today,” she said.
Her stepfather, medical technician Angel Garza, was tending to another victim when he learned the girl he raised as his own was dead, his mother told People magazine.
“He was helping children,” Berlinda Arreola said of her son.
He said he was told the tragic news about his stepdaughter when another student, covered in blood, told him it was Amerie’s blood on her.
Later Tuesday at the Rushing-Estes-Knowles Chapel in Uvalde, the family of 10-year-old shooting victim Maite Yuleana Rodriguez held a funeral for their “caring, smart and beautiful” little girl.
Rodriguez’s cousin, Destiny Esquivel, explained the tranquil setting inside the funeral home disguised the horror of the massacre.
“Maite’s wearing a beautiful white dress, so it looks like she died in peace, but we all know the reality,” she told the Post outside the funeral home.
“The reality is she didn’t get her angel wings, someone gave them to her.”
Maite wanted to grow up to become a marine biologist, which was reflected on her small casket.
“Maite liked anime, painting and animals,” Destiny said.
“Maite has a custom-designed casket, which is marine-themed. It’s a white casket with dolphins, turtles and fish. There’s flowers everywhere. There’s plenty of her favorite color, lime green.”
The Rodriguez family, including parents Adrien and Ana, were consumed by grief.
“We’re not doing well,” Destiny said. “It’s really hard in there, I can’t even describe how sad it is.
Destiny said she wants the world to remember that Maite Rodriguez died a hero, trying to help her friends escape the horror inside her Robb Elementary classroom.
The Rodriguez family wants to know why nobody intervened when teen gunman Salvador Ramos’ first displayed cruel and unusual tendencies and why police waited for 45 minutes before storming the classroom where kids were calling 911 for help.
Destiny also wants to see wholesale changes to make schools safer.
“I want more officers at schools and metal detectors,” she said.
“I’m not against guns for protection but they should not be sold to teenagers who aren’t even old enough to buy beer.”
Three other wakes are being held on Tuesday for other victims, including schoolteacher Irma Garcia, 46, one of two educators killed in the massacre.
The two other wakes are for students Nevaeh Bravo and Jose Flores.
