Felix Rubio consoling his wife after the horror
(Picture: James Breeden for DailyMail.com)A heart-breaking photo captures the moment a Texas sheriff’s deputy responding to Tuesday’s school shooting was told his daughter was among the victims.
A visibly anguished Felix Rubio clutched his wife Kimberly for support in Uvalde after finding out their precious daughter Lexi, 10, was among 19 children shot dead at Robb Elementary School by 19-year-old Salvador Ramos.
Tragically, just hours before Lexi’s killing, her father had proudly posed with her after she received a school certificate for making the all-A honour roll.
Her mother, Kimberly, wrote on Facebook: “We told her we loved her and would pick her up after school. We had no idea this was goodbye.”
A devastated Mr Rubio told CNN: “All I can hope is that she’s just not a number. This is enough. No one else needs to go through this. We never needed to go through this, but we are.”
He added: “I’ve had enough with guns. I don’t want my daughter’s name to be just another name.”
Mr Rubio called for tougher action against violence and guns, saying: “I’m a cop. I’m a deputy here in Uvalde County. This is enough.”
The couple said their daughter was “kind, sweet, and appreciated life” who was going to be an “all-star” in softball, and had a bright future ahead of her.
They added: “Please let the world know we miss our baby.”
The state’s governor had earlier confirmed that the daughter of a deputy sheriff, who he did not name, was one of those tragically killed in Tuesday’s mass shooting.
“One deputy sheriff lost a daughter in that school,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott told reporters.
A fundraiser to support the couple after their devastating loss has been established by Lexi’s cousin, and raised more than $11,000 in the first 12 hours.
All of the dead were in the same classroom, where the shooter barricaded himself and opened fire on the children and their teachers on Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a news conference on Wednesday.
Schools Superintendent Hal Harrell fought back tears at the conference as he spoke of the children and their teachers.
“You can just tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved," Harrell said of the children.
“That they loved coming to school, that they were just precious individuals."
