Inside, 19 fourth-graders were fatally wounded along with two teachers as police lining the hallways waited more than an hour to confront and kill Ramos. While nagging questions remain about the police response and exactly what happened in the school, the funerals of the victims began last week, with Hillcrest directing five of them.
So, despite his brush with the killer, Limones went back to his job at the family-owned funeral home, which is small and was quickly overwhelmed. It put out a plea for donations including tissues and cleaning supplies and got help from morticians from outside Uvalde.
Jason Horn, a volunteer funeral director from Longview, Texas, described working in shifts with others at Hillcrest to prepare the young victims for burial.
“We had five cases that were extremely difficult cases, and all five families were able to see their babies, and they all decided to go ahead with open caskets,” he said in a video about the effort. Simply compiling obituaries took time: Write-ups and photos of the dead accounted for most of three pages in the Thursday edition of the Uvalde Leader-News.
The most fortunate of the victims at Robb Elementary are recovering. Fourth-grade teacher Arnulfo Reyes, who was hospitalized with gunshot wounds, posted a public message on social media last week thanking friends for their prayers and love.
“I have long journey ahead, but I know I’ll get through it. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who continue to grieve their loved ones,” said Reyes, who runs a small plant and gift store when not teaching.
Others are coping with a mix of emotions. After a school board meeting on Friday night, Angela Turner, the aunt of shooting victim Maranda Mathis, shook with anger as she talked about the effect the shooting has had on her family.
“I have a fourth-grader that was in the room next door that’s terrified. My niece died. I have a 6-year-old that just told me, ‘I don’t want to go to school. Why, to be shot?’ I have one going into junior high. I have a third grader,” Turner said. “We want answers to where the security is going to take place. This was all a joke. I’m so disappointed in our school district.”
Another mother, Dawn Poitevent, said her 7-year-old son, who was scheduled to transfer to Robb Elementary next year, is afraid of school now and wants to remain at his current campus.
“What he knows right now is that when he goes to another school he is going to get shot by a bad man,” she said.
It’s unclear where Poitevent’s son might wind up but it won’t be at Robb, which superintendent Hal Harrell has said will not reopen.
In his sermon, Limones said he believes the victims are in a better place, and he recounted the hundreds of people who have come to town with donations of food, water, prayers and more. Uvalde, he said, “is surrounded by love.”
While townspeople are hurting badly right now and seeking answers, he said, they need to come together. God’s justice will ultimately prevail.
“You don’t think that the shooter is having to speak to our father about what he did?” Limones said.
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More on the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting
This article originally appeared on APNews.com.
