Husband of teacher killed in Texas mass shooting dies of heart attack: Report

Joe Garcia, the husband of fourth-grade teacher Joe Garcia who was one of the victims of the shootout in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, reportedly died of a heart attack two days after her killing.

Joe Garcia, 50, had dropped off flowers at his wife’s memorial on Thursday morning, a report by the New York Times said. Speaking to the NYT on Thursday, he (Joe) “pretty much just fell over” after returning home and died of a heart attack, his nephew John Martinez said.

Taking to Twitter, Martinez, said “EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia (aunt) 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 added that a GoFundMe has been set up for Joe and Irma Garcia. “Please donate anything you can to help her family. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Garcia family for various expenses. Thank you and God bless,” Irma’s cousin Debra Austin wrote on the crowdfunding platform.

Irma Garcia had been a teacher at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde for 23 years, reports say. She was among the second teacher and 19 students who were killed in a shootout at the school carried out by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.

Garcia had four children with her husband Joe and they had been married for 24 years. Their oldest child, Cristian, is serving in the United States Marine Corps as his brother, Jose, attended Texas State University, a report by news agency AP said on Thursday.

The couple’s eldest daughter Lyliana is a high school sophomore, and her younger sister is a seventh grade student.

On Thursday evening, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller will hold a Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Uvalde for the Garcia family and the wider community, the archdiocese told AP.