Husband Of Teacher Killed In Texas School Shooting Dies Of Heart Attack

This breaks our hearts…

As you know, an 18-year-old gunman entered Robb Elementary School in the small town of Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two teachers with an AR-15 assault rifle on Tuesday. And now, two days after the tragedy, the family of one of those teachers, Irma Garcia, has announced some more devastating news.

The Garcia family revealed on Thursday that her husband, Joe Garcia, has passed away as well. Their nephew John Martinez first expressed on Twitter that “the pain doesn’t stop” before writing:

“EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief, I truly am at a loss for words for how we are all feeling, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY, God have mercy on us, this isn’t easy.”

He further shared his heartbreak over the situation in a follow-up tweet, noting that Irma and Joe left behind four children:

“My Tia Irma and Joe garcia were high school sweethearts and leave behind 4 beautiful children, their ages being 23, 19, 15 and the youngest only being 13 years old, no child should have to go through this, my heart breaks for them”

While John did not reveal what happened to Joe on social media at the time, a GoFundMe created by Irma’s cousin Debra Austin shared that he died on Thursday morning “as a result of a medical emergency.” She then added:

“Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. I truly believe Joe died of a broken heart and losing the love of his life of more than 30 years was too much to bear.”

Meanwhile, local reporter Ernie Zuniga confirmed that he had suffered from a heart attack. Truly awful news.

According to her biography on the school’s website, Joe and Irma had been married for 24 years. She also had been teaching at Robb Elementary for 23 years before her tragic death. One of the GoFundMe fundraisers set up to cover her funeral expenses also described her as a “sweet, kind, loving” person, adding:

“She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero. She was loved by many and will truly be missed. We love you so much Irma.”

We cannot imagine how much pain this family must be feeling after already experiencing such a horrific nightmare and now this. It is just unimaginable. We are offering our condolences to Irma and Joe’s children and family, and we are keeping them all in our thoughts right now. You can donate to the family’s GoFundMe HERE.

[Image via John Martinez/Twitter]