APTOPIX Texas School Shooting

Crosses with the names of Tuesday’s shooting victims are placed outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday. Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

The students were 9 or 10 years old, the teachers in their 40s. Some children had just made the honor roll. Two of the girls played basketball together on a team called the Spurs. One boy loved soccer and dancing with his brothers at home. The veteran teachers were long accustomed to teaming up in their fourth-grade classroom. One was an expert in special education and remembered for her dedication to a student with Down syndrome.

The names of those slain by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday – including at least 19 children and two teachers – were emerging in the days after, as the grief-stricken community of 16,000 about 80 miles west of San Antonio tried to process what happened. Just before summer break, an 18-year-old opened fire in a classroom, unleashing carnage not seen at a U.S. school in nearly a decade.

Here is what we know so far about victims who died in the attack.

EVA MIRELES, 44

Mireles, an educator for 17 years, taught fourth-graders at Robb Elementary, according to family members. In a tribute on Twitter, Mireles’ daughter, Adalynn Ruiz, praised her mother’s heroism and talked about how “outgoing and funny” Mireles was.

She spoke directly to her mother, expressing anguish about all the things – big and small – she would miss: the calluses on her hands from CrossFit workouts, the way she talked to the family dogs, reenacting TikToks to drive Ruiz’s father crazy, the way she could rouse her mom from a nap for on-call cooking advice, the way she would call her daughter every weekday at 4:30 p.m., when she typically left campus.

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“I want everything back,” she wrote. “I want you to come back to me mom.”

Mireles’s husband, Ruben Ruiz, is a school police officer, and her mother-in-law works in the district’s central office, according to Lydia Martinez Delgado, who is the mother-in-law’s sister. Martinez Delgado said her sister relayed to her that Ruiz rushed to the elementary school when he heard reports of the shooting and entered the building, then he saw it was his wife’s classroom.

He tried to enter but had to be held back by other officers, Martinez Delgado said she was told. Eventually, Ruiz returned to his mother’s office, where they got the news that Mireles was dead.

Martinez Delgado said Mireles was cheerful and active, and recalled a time she got up before sunrise with other relatives for a hike during a family gathering. “She did all she could to live a long life, and here it was cut short,” Martinez Delgado said in a phone interview early Wednesday.

Audrey Garcia said she will never forget the attention Mireles paid to her daughter Gabby, now 23, when she was in third grade.

“My daughter has Down syndrome, and she was one of the first students at that time to be included in a regular classroom,” said Garcia, who lives in San Antonio. “Ms. Mireles always went above and beyond. She never saw Gabby as having less potential than any of the other students.”

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On Tuesday, Garcia posted a photo on Twitter of her daughter and Mireles that she said demonstrated the teacher’s dedication. Garcia said she last heard from Mireles about two years ago, after a local television station did a story on her daughter’s graduation from high school and her new jewelry business. Mireles would often reach out around Christmas, Garcia said, because Gabby had given her an ornament as a gift.

“She would say that she always thought about Gabby when she put up her Christmas tree,” Garcia said. “After all those years, she still cared about Gabby as a student. I just want everyone to know what kind of person she was and what kind of educator she was. I don’t want her to be forgotten.”

XAVIER LOPEZ, 10

The Lopez household was teeming with children’s laughter and music – and its source, more often than not, was 10-year-old Xavier cracking a joke or dancing cumbia.

But the giggles and grooving sounds that once filled the air were replaced Tuesday by the pain of a life cut short, Xavier’s family said. The fourth-grader at Robb Elementary was among those slain during Tuesday’s shooting rampage, his mother, Felicha Martinez, told The Washington Post.

“He was funny, never serious, and his smile,” Martinez said, her voice breaking. “That smile I will never forget. It would always cheer anyone up.”

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Xavier “was so full of life,” she said, and a bright light for the family. Never one to shy away from the camera, he would sway his hips, wave his arms and energetically dance in the house with his brothers – moments of glee that Martinez captured for her TikTok account.

At school, Xavier enjoyed sports – soccer and baseball – and had a great interest in art, his favorite subject, Martinez said.

“He loved any activity in which he could be creative and especially get to draw,” Martinez said.

Nearly finished with his last year of elementary school, Xavier was counting the days until he would officially move up the academic ladder to Flores Middle School in Uvalde. “He really couldn’t wait to go to middle school,” his mother said.

His dreams seemed so close Tuesday at Robb Elementary’s honor roll ceremony. Martinez was there to cheer him on as Xavier’s name was called to receive his certificate.

Hours before the tragedy, Martinez snapped a photo of Xavier. She told him she was proud and that she loved him, before hugging him goodbye. She said she did not imagine that would be the last moment she would share with her “mama’s boy.”

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Texas School Shooting

George Rodriguez holds up a picture of his grandson, Jose Flores, Jr., one of victims in Tuesday’s shootings at Robb Elementary School, on Thursday in Uvalde, Texas. Kin Man Hui/The San Antonio Express-News via Associated Press

JOSE FLORES, 10

Jose, 10, was a fourth-grader at Robb Elementary who loved to play baseball, according to his uncle Christopher Salazar, who confirmed his nephew’s death.

“He was a very happy little boy. He loved both his parents . . . and loved to laugh and have fun,” Salazar said.

He said his nephew, who had two brothers and a sister, “loved going to school.” On Tuesday, hours before the shooting, Jose had received an award for making the honor roll.

“He was very smart,” Salazar said. “He wasn’t a kid who would look for trouble.”

IRMA GARCIA, 48

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Irma Garcia, a fourth-grade teacher at Robb Elementary, loved to cook and fish and teach youngsters how to read, said Jose Garcia, 19, one of her sons. She was wrapping up her 23rd year as a teacher – all of it spent at Robb – and she had won professional honors such as teacher of the year, her son said.

Jose Garcia said authorities confirmed his mother’s death on Tuesday evening.

“She treated her students as her own,” Jose Garcia said, recalling how his mother would rave about the children she was teaching at family dinners. He said his mother often decorated her classroom with college pennants, mascots and other items to inspire students to pursue higher education.

“She wanted to instill that in their brains,” he said. “They were her lifeblood. She loved engaging with children and teaching them. She loved her job and she loved her co-workers.”

John Martinez, 21, a nephew of Irma Garcia’s, said relatives will remember the beloved teacher as a hero. “They weren’t just her students,” he said Wednesday. “She lost her life to protect them. That’s the type of person she was.”

From year to year, her teaching assignments might vary among second, third or fourth grade. One year, Jose Garcia said, his mother was his third-grade teacher. Garcia said his mother and father, Joe Garcia, had four children – two sons and two daughters, ages 12 to 23 – and often hosted the extended family, including nieces, nephews and cousins, for holiday meals.

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“She loved, loved, loved cooking,” Jose Garcia said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “She’s the best cook I have ever known. She’d always love feeding everyone, the whole family.”

Menudo was one of her favorite dishes, he said, along with everyday meals such as breakfast tacos with potatoes, chorizo and eggs. She also loved fishing, the son said, sometimes joining her husband on a pier along the Gulf Coast.

She had been married for more than 24 years, according to a biography the teacher posted on a school website at the beginning of the academic year. “Hello Boys and Girls! Let me introduce myself,” Irma Garcia wrote. “I am Mrs. Garcia and I will be one of your 4th grade teachers this year. I am so excited to begin this new school year already! I want to share some fun facts about myself.”

Among those facts, she wrote: “I love to BBQ with my husband, listen to music, and take country cruises to Concan.” She also wrote that she had been co-teaching for five years with Eva Mireles, another teacher slain Tuesday.

Jose Garcia, who just finished his freshman year at Texas State University, said he woke up to a text from his mother on Tuesday morning. She asked whether he’d be interested in a job as a physical education coach during summer school. He replied yes. Then came the news of the shooting and lockdown and agonizing hours of waiting. “It was very incoherent yesterday,” he said, “the way the whole day played out. I started getting worried. I texted her and never got a response back.”

Martinez said Irma Garcia was a constant presence for him, filling his life with laughter, love and support. She was there at moments big and small, he said, recalling how she encouraged him to tackle a steep roller coaster at Universal Studios when he was a child. Martinez said he often wished he was older, closer to Garcia’s age, so they could hang out, like friends.

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“She was so funny and sweet,” Martinez said. “She had this random-joke kind of humor. Whatever you wouldn’t expect someone to say, she would say it.” Today, Martinez said, the family is in shock, angry, struggling to understand that Garcia will not be coming home. “Honestly, we’re all in shock. All of us are,” he said. “I mean, wouldn’t anyone be? In a circumstance like this?”

APTOPIX Texas School Shooting

Esmeralda Bravo, 63, cries while holding a photo of her granddaughter, Nevaeh, one of the Robb Elementary School shooting victims, during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday. Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

NEVAEH BRAVO, 10

Austin Ayala said his cousin Nevaeh was one of the children killed in the shooting.

Nevaeh’s family waited for hours to find out what happened, according to Ayala.

“We thought that she was missing, but lo and behold we heard late last night that she didn’t make it,” he said. “We were all devastated.”

The girl celebrated her 10th birthday in January, Ayala said. He said her family is now trying to understand why a shooter killed this child who “put a smile on everyone’s faces.”

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“It just feels like a nightmare that we cannot wake up from,” he said. “Her siblings have to wake up every day knowing that she’s not there with them.”

Eliahna García, 10, was the second-oldest of five girls. Siria Arizmendi via Associated Press

ELLIE GARCIA, 9

Ellie Garcia loved her family. The second-oldest of five girls, the fourth-grader was always around her sisters. Ellie’s father is a DJ, and the girl was constantly singing and dancing with her siblings to the cumbia – a type of Latin music – he’d play. Her great aunt, Siria Arizmendi, described Ellie as “spontaneous,” saying the girl would break into song and dance at the family’s frequent gatherings.

She didn’t really care who you were,” Arizmendi said. “If you showed her you cared for her, she was very loving to you.”

Arizmendi said the family was full of love and she can’t remember Ellie ever fighting with her sisters. She also had a close bond with her maternal grandmother.

Outside of family, Ellie was an athlete. A little tall for her age, the girl liked basketball the most. “She was just very happy,” Arizmendi said.

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The Garcia family spent Tuesday afternoon looking for Ellie. They went to the hospital, community places, searching for their daughter, Arizmendi said.

They learned of her death Tuesday evening, after authorities took DNA from parents to identify the fourth-grade victims.

TESS MATA, 10

Tess Mata was saving up. Her purple bedroom in Uvalde boasts a jar full of cash, which she was hoping to use for a family vacation to Disney World in Florida. She loved her family and spent as many milestone moments with them as possible – like her 10th birthday celebration in February at a San Antonio shopping center, or the college ring ceremony for her older sister Faith last year at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Tess, known by many as Tessy, was among those slain at Robb Elementary, relatives said.

In an interview, relatives said she loved TikTok dance videos, the Nickelodeon show “Victorious” starring Ariana Grande and the discount store Five Below. Her favorite team? Easy. The Houston Astros. Near that jar of cash in her bedroom hangs a poster of Astros second baseman José Altuve.

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“Every time he came up to bat, she would scream and yell for him,” said Tess’s mother, Veronica Mata, a kindergarten teacher at another local school.

That was Tessy’s style. She was always positive. She rarely complained, her mom said.

“Her teachers would always say she was so nice and calm,” Veronica said.

ALEXANDRIA “LEXI” RUBIO, 10

Lexi Rubio, 10, was a standout student and athlete who played basketball and softball, according to those who knew her.

Like Ellie Garcia, she was a member of the Spurs, a girls basketball team that won a local championship in March, the coach’s wife said. In a photo from that day, she stands beaming next to her teammates in a maroon and black uniform, a medal around her neck.

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Earlier on Tuesday, her parents came to Robb Elementary to see her receive a certificate for making the honor roll, as well as a good-citizen award, her mother, Kimberly Rubio, wrote in a Facebook post.

“We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school,” she wrote. “We had no idea this was goodbye.”

Lexi’s father, Felix Rubio, a deputy with the Uvalde County sheriff’s office, told CNN that he wants to see action on gun violence.

“All I can hope is that she’s just not a number,” he told the cable network, overcome by emotion. “This is enough. No one else needs to go through this.”

JACKLYN CAZARES, 9

Javier Cazares said his 9-year-old daughter, Jacklyn, was shot in the school and later died at the hospital.

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Cazares said he rushed to the school when he heard about the incident, but Jacklyn never emerged from the building. A short time later, Cazares’s niece happened to be at a local hospital and saw Jacklyn arrive in an ambulance, Cazares said. She died about two and a half hours after Cazares arrived at the hospital.

“She was full of life and she touched a lot of people,” Cazares said, describing his daughter as his “little firecracker.”

Jacklyn recently celebrated her First Communion, a right of passage for young Catholics, Cazares said.

“Through covid, through the death of a family member about a year ago, she brought us together in something beautiful,” Cazares said.

“It comforts me a little bit to think she would be the one to help her friends in need” at the school, he added.

JAILAH NICOLE SILGUERO, 10

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Jailah Nicole Silguero was a bespectacled 10-year-old from Uvalde. Her death was confirmed in a brief obituary posted online by the Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, which said services for the fourth-grader will be held there at an unspecified date.

In a photo provided to the funeral home by her family, Silguero looks at the camera with a hand on her hip and a pink-flowered lei around her neck. She is wearing a cheerleading uniform, the initials for Uvalde’s teams emblazoned on her chest in white and silver.

Silguero’s mother, Veronica Luevanos, posted the obituary and funeral information on her Facebook page with the message, “I’m not ready for this,” followed by a broken heart. Luevanos – who took to Facebook to ask others to help search for her daughter in the hours after the attack at Robb Elementary – has since turned her social media into a living memorial.

Throughout the night following the shooting, Luevanos posted updates: “I’m so heart broken,” she wrote just before 3 a.m. Wednesday, changing her profile picture to an image of her daughter holding up a medal from the 2021 Turkey Trot footrace. Behind her in the photo, white angel wings spread outward and a glowing ladder of light runs beneath her feet. “My baby you didn’t deserve this neither did your classmates,” she wrote later. “R.I.P my beautiful angel.”

JAYCE LUEVANOS, 10

Jayce Luevanos was among those slain, according to a Facebook post from his aunt and an interview his grandfather gave to USA Today.

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Carmelo Quiroz said his grandson lived with him and would make him a pot of coffee each morning.

“He was our baby,” Quiroz said.

In a Facebook post, Veronica Luevanos – Jayce’s aunt and mother of shooting victim Jaliah Nicole Silguero – wrote over pictures of her daughter and his cousin: “My baby you didn’t deserve this neither did your classmates.”

MIRANDA MATHIS, 11

Miranda Mathis was among those killed in her fourth-grade class, according to a family friend and a Facebook post by her cousin.

“My sweet baby cousin,” Deanna Miller wrote on Facebook, “we loved u dearly I’m so sorry this happen to u baby.”

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Leslie Ruiz, a friend of Miranda’s mother who had counseled her about the death, said in a message to The Post that Miranda was “fun” and “spunky.” The 11-year-old was also “very smart,” she added.

“She had manners,” Ruiz wrote in a message. “She was a bright girl.”

Miranda’s best friend was her brother, Ruiz said, adding that the boy was also in the school when gunfire broke out in his sister’s class.

AMERIE JO GARZA, 10

Amerie Jo Garza was an honor-roll student, a proud big sister and an all-around good kid who brushed her teeth without a fuss and listened to her mother and teachers, family said.

Angel Garza, the girl’s father, confirmed her death online and in a tearful interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper late Wednesday. After learning of his daughter’s death, Garza posted photos of his daughter with the caption, “I will never be happy or complete again.”

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On Wednesday, as he spoke to Cooper standing in front of a line of yellow police tape, Garza clutched a framed picture of Amerie to his chest. In it, the dark-haired girl smiled as she held up her honor roll certificate.

Amerie was a cautious child, her father said. She was afraid of strangers, and didn’t like being left alone — even if it was only for a moment, while Garza stepped out of the car to fill it up with gas.

“She would lock the door,” he said on CNN. “This is literally like her worst fear.”

In her last moments, Garza said, Amerie tried to call for help. Garza, a first-responder who arrived at the bloody scene on Tuesday to render emergency medical aid to those inside the school, said he was treating a little girl covered in blood when the child told him her friend had been killed just as she called 9-1-1.

“She was hysterical, saying they shot her best friend, her best friend wasn’t breathing and she was just trying to call the cops,” Garza said through broken sobs. “I asked the little girl the name and she said, she told me Amerie.”

On Wednesday, Kimberly Garcia, the girl’s mother, posted a photo of her daughter posing with the honor roll certificate she had received just hours before the shooting.

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“You did not deserve this my sweet baby girl,” Garcia wrote. “Mommy loves you, mommy can’t sleep without you. Mommy needs you, Amerie, I can’t do this life without you. How am I supposed to live life without you? I will never understand. I love you and I’ll never be the same, ever again.”

MAKENNA LEE ELROD, 10

Makenna Lee Elrod loved to dance and sing and “made friends everywhere she went,” an aunt told ABC News.

The aunt, Allison McCullough, confirmed to ABC that the 10-year-old was one of the victims in the Tuesday shooting. Another relative, who declined to be named, also confirmed Makenna’s death to The Washington Post, and news of the family’s loss was circulating on social media.

“She was beautiful, funny, smart, and amazing,” McCullough wrote on a GoFundMe page that was seeking support for the family. “She had the biggest heart and loved her family and friends so much. Her smile would light up a room.”

Makenna’s father, Brandon Elrod, spoke with ABC Tuesday afternoon amid the chaos in Uvalde. At the time, he was one of many frantic Robb Elementary parents searching for their children. He said, choking up, that he didn’t know “what this world’s coming to.”

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LAYLA SALAZAR, 10

Layla Salazar, 10, was among those killed in the shooting Tuesday, according to a Facebook post from her father Vincent Salazar, who also confirmed her death to the Associated Press.

“Yesterday we lost our heart our whole world,” Salazar wrote. “We Love you Baby girl.”

The post was accompanied by photos of Layla holding first place field day ribbons and smiling with her family. Salazar told the Associated Press that she won six races at the school’s field day, and on Thursday shared a video of his daughter racing with the caption, “run with the angels baby!”

He wrote that he and Layla would listen to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses on the way to school in the mornings. Salazar said the song is now the only thing bringing him peace.

MAITE RODRIGUEZ, 10

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Maite had a beautiful smile and was kind to others, her cousin wrote on Facebook.

“She was her mommy’s only girl. She was her mom’s best friend. She was the light of her life!” Aiko Coronado wrote. “She was beyond smart. Her dream was to attend Texas A&M University to become a marine biologist.”

Maite was among those slain Tuesday at Robb Elementary, according to the Facebook post and a family friend.

The family friend confirmed to The Post that Maite was slain, but asked not to be named to protect his privacy.

ANNABELL RODRIGUEZ

Annabell Rodriguez was among those slain, according to a Facebook post from a relative and an interviews family members gave media outlets.

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Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn Cazares was also killed in the shooting, said his daughter was close with Rodriguez, who was her second cousin.

“They are all gone now,” Cazares told the Associated Press, which spelled the girl’s name Annabelle.

Polly Flores, Rodriguez’s great-aunt, told the New York Times that the young girl was outgoing and loved being the center of attention.

“She was my little diva,” Flores said.

In a Facebook post on the day of the shooting, Lidia Anthony Luna wrote that she was seeking help to find “my little sister Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez,” then added an update. ”She’s no longer with us my poor sweet little girl,” she wrote.

Texas School Shooting Victims

Uziyah Garcia, 8, was among those killed by a gunman at a school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. The family photo was provide by his grandfather. The children at Robb Elementary were two days away from their summer break when the attacker burst into their classroom. Manny Renfro via Associated Press

UZIYAH GARCIA, 8

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Uziyah Garcia was getting ready for long days of football, swimming, video games and whatever other fun the summer might offer after he finished fourth grade.

“He was the sweetest, the kindest child,” his aunt Leticia Garcia, of Grand Prairie, Texas, said in a telephone interview. “Very polite. Loved Jesus. He loved, absolutely loved his parents.”

The 10-year-old was among those slain Tuesday at Robb Elementary, Garcia said.

He had two sisters, Garcia said, ages 15 and 7. A grandfather, Manny Renfro, told The Associated Press that Uziyah had last visited him in San Angelo, Texas, during spring break, and he taught his grandson football pass patterns. Renfro said Uziyah was the “sweetest little boy that I’ve ever known.”

“I’m not just saying that because he was my grandkid,” he said.

ELIAHANA CRUZ TORRES, 10

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Eliahana Cruz Torres played on a softball team and wondered if she would become an all-star. An aunt who spoke with her recently, quoted by the CBS television affiliate KENS Channel 5, said the 10-year-old didn’t want the season to end. She was “excited,” the aunt said, about whether she would land on the all-star roster. “What if I make it? I’m going to be so nervous,” Eliahana said, according to the aunt’s recollection.The aunt was not named in the report.

Eliahana was one of the students killed at Robb Elementary, her grandfather Adolfo Cruz confirmed to ABC News.

Rob Trevino, an older cousin of Eliahana, also confirmed her death in a text to The Post and said: “We’re still in shock and trying to wrap our heads around this.”

ROJELIO TORRES, 10

Rojelio Torres, a round-faced 10-year-old, was killed in the attack at Robb Elementary.

Eva Dulia Orta, his mother, told ABC News that Rojelio was a “very smart and loving child.” Losing him, she added, felt like losing “a piece of my heart.”

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On her Facebook page, Orta posted a picture of her son, smiling and wearing a blue polo shirt. She wrote: “R.I.P. to my son Rojelio Torres we love you and miss you.”

ALITHIA RAMIREZ, 10

Alithia Ramirez looked happy to proclaim that she was no longer 9. A photograph circulating on social media shows her with a broad smile, wearing a multicolored T-shirt that declared “Peace out single digits #I’m 10.”

A friend of the Ramirez family, Fernanda Sedeno, told a CBS News affiliate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that Alithia was “very kind, very caring, loved art.” She also loved to play soccer.

On Tuesday, according to CBS and ABC News, Alithia was one of the students slain at Robb Elementary.

She was a very talented little girl,” Alithia’s grandmother Rosa Maria Ramirez told ABC. “She loved to draw. She was real sweet. Never getting into trouble.”

 

Alice Crites, Jennifer Jenkins, Lauren Lumpkin, Monika Mathur, Razzan Nakhlawi and Claire Tran contributed to this report.

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