The orphaned daughter of slain Uvalde teacher Irma Garcia has penned a heartbreaking tribute to her parents.
Irma, 48, was gunned down alongside fellow teacher Eva Mireles, 44, and 21 students on Tuesday when crazed gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire on an elementary school.
Eva's husband Joe - full name Jose Antonio - died two days later from a heart attack which his family put down to grief at losing his wife of 24 years.
The couple's devastated daughter Lyliana, 15, told Irma and husband Joe: "Your names will not be forgotten.”
One of the last things the 50-year-old dad-of-four did was lay flowers at a memorial for the victims in the square outside the town’s courthouse.
A cross bearing his name has now been added, where mourners have left flowers, cards and rosary beads.
This weekend, Lyliana made a pilgrimage to write a message on it.
She wrote: "Dad, I know this was too much for you. Your heart could not take it.
"I will spend the rest of my life fighting for you and mum. Your names will not be forgotten. Your daughter, Lyliana."
The family of another victim - 10-year-old Annabell Rodriguez - were inconsolable as they read the tributes to her at the same memorial this weekend.
Irma and Eva tried desperately to shield fourth grade students at Robb Elementary School from a hail of bullets as Ramos stormed into the classroom just after noon.
He used an AK15 rifle he’d bought on his 18th birthday just days earlier.
Before arriving at the school, he’d shot gran Celia Gonzalez, 66, in the head.
She is still being treated in a hospital almost 90 miles away in San Antonio alongside some of the children who survived the onslaught.
Police officers came under fire after it was revealed they did not enter the classroom for more than 40 minutes despite frantic 911 calls from children.
On Friday, Colonel Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said: “That was the wrong decision.”
Joe and Irma - who also had sons Cristian, 23 and Jose, 19, and younger daughter Alysandra, 13 - will be laid to rest on Wednesday.
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The couple - who married in 1997 after falling in love at high school - will be buried together following a private ceremony at Uvalde's Sacred Heart Church.
A notice posted on the website of a local mortuary read: “Irma Linda Garcia of Uvalde, Texas, was welcomed by our Lord and Saviour while selflessly protecting her angels on May 24, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas, at the age of 48.
“Jose Antonio Garcia joined the love of his life and was also welcomed into the arms of his wife, Irma and our Lord on May 26, 2022.”
The family will be allowed to visit Jose and Irma in the mortuary on Tuesday afternoon, before reciting the rosary - a Catholic ritual following death.
Cristian, who is completing Marine boot camp, is expected to help carry his parents’ coffins.
It is understood the younger children are being looked after by members of Joe’s family as they try to come to terms with their loss.
An online fundraiser organised by Irma’s cousin Debra Austin has now raised almost £2 million for them.
