'The light will never go out': Uvalde community relying on faith to pull them through tragedy
While the community has a lot of unanswered questions, they're trying to take steps towards healing.
This week was supposed to kick off the summer vacation for Robb Elementary School students in Uvalde, Texas, but following a mass shooting last week, many people in the community are instead spending their week attending the funeral services for the 21 victims.
A gathering for 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza was held at Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home Monday, while another visitation for 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez was at the small town's other funeral home.
A woman with two comfort dogs enters a mortuary during a visitation for Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, one of the victims killed in last week's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Monday, May 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Eleven more funerals are planned later this week, which will include a service for teacher Irma Garcia.
Additional funeral services will be spaced out over the next two-and-a-half weeks as the community says its goodbyes to the 19 children and two teachers who were killed by a lone gunman on May 24.
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A funeral for one of the victims, Eliahna "Ellie" Garcia, will be held on June 6, the day after she would have celebrated her 10th birthday.
Salvatore Di Grazia, a teacher visiting from Rio Grande Valley, Texas, prays at a memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas Monday, May 30, 2022, for the victims killed in last week's school shooting. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Uvalde’s limited resources made the volume of funeral services difficult to manage, so funeral directors, embalmers and morticians from across the state of Texas have assisted in the process.
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During a Memorial Day event, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott described last week’s mass shooting as "a horrific act of evil."
"As Texans, we must come together and lift up Uvalde and support them in every way that we possibly can," the governor added. "It is going to take time to heal the devastation that the families there have gone through and are going through. But be assured, we will not relent until Uvalde recovers."
A heart-shaped balloon flies decorating a memorial site outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Monday, May 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
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President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Uvalde Sunday afternoon, where they paid their respects to the victims. The couple visited Robb Elementary School and a memorial for the victims, before they met privately with the victims' families.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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